Happy March everyone. I can't believe it is March already. 2012 is wheeling through the calender like a jet. As promised, here is my comprehensive guide to having an astronomical amount of fun in Cameroon. Oh Cameroun, tu me manques, enormement. I flew into the
Douala International Airport two weeks before Christmas. I'll be blunt, I hate the airport: it is hot, humid, stuffy, chaotic, disorganised and oh, did I mention hot? However, I always end up dragging my luggage through its dusty floors because it is the closest airport to my hometown. After hours of waiting for my luggage, it finally arrived. I stormed through immigration et voila! I was in
Cameroon.
Oil rig
Limbe
Limbe is a coastal city in the South West region of Cameroon. It is without a doubt, one of my favourite cities in the country: the people are laid back and it has a vast array of pristine beaches.
Roadside procession
Limbe
Solar energy device
Balcony of my parents' house
Buea
Buea (pronounced BO-YA) is home to
Mount Cameroon, the highest peak in West/Central Africa. It is also home to the only English speaking University in the country, University of Buea.
Front yard of the house
Living room
Wine rack
My favourite location
Anone fruit
Delicious
Bobolo
I always travel with my bow-tie
Having a drink in the city of
Douala.
Douala is an amazing city but the traffic is unlike anything you have ever witnessed in your life. It makes New York City congestion look like child's play. Yes! it is that bad. The best way to navigate Douala is hiring a private chauffeur to take you around; it won't cost you a lot of money. The last thing you want to experience is being stuck in Douala traffic, sitting in a crowded taxi without an air conditioner. Trust me on that one. Besides, taxis are always stopping to pick passengers so it takes forever to get to your destination. With a private chauffeur, you have an air conditioner, you are safe and the vehicle moves quicker.
Rod Point, Douala.
le Boj, Douala
Their pizza quality is unmatched. They unequivocally have no rival in that department, simply the best. They also make cocktails, which is rare in Cameroon. Definitely my number 1 hang out spot.
En route to
Yaoundé,
the capital city
Visited an Auntie and she served classic roasted fish, Cameroon style with a dash of Calvé Mayonnaise.
Bar-hopping in Limbe
The guy on the left is one of my best friends. We went to high school together and we use to get into all kinds of trouble. He currently works for the accounting department of Delta Airlines in America. He was visiting Cameroon for the holidays.
After sampling a few bars, we made our way to down beach to eat roasted fish.
Down beach is one of the popular places in Limbe for fish-eating. It is on the beach and servers walk around serving roasted fish and beer. The fish is allegedly always fresh but make sure there is always someone in your group watching the ladies who roast the fish. I've heard stories of people getting served "sleeping" fish and by sleeping I mean "old" fish. You are going to have a hellish date with diarrhea if you eat "old" fish so you definitely don't want that. As long as you monitor the ladies roasting your fish, you should be fine.
The city of Buea
The day after Christmas, I picked my friend up from the airport. He was visiting from New York City and this was his first time in Sub-Saharan Africa (he has visited North Africa before). It was so surreal to see him in Cameroon. The last time I saw him, we were in New York City and before that
South East Asia. The first thing we did was pay a visit to Rue de la Joie in Douala. The ladies who work on those streets roast the best fish known to mankind. I am sincerely not exaggerating. Rue de la Joie is always bustling with festivities 24/7. A Sunday night is no different from a Friday night. There's always music, booze, fish, obscenities, booze and more booze. It never stops.
Devouring our fish
Rue de la Joie, Douala
After fish, we made our way to the club.
My buddy is a trooper. I thought he was going to pass out from being too jet-lagged but he kept on pushing.
On our way back to Buea, we stopped at Marché de Ndobo in Douala for breakfast.
I wanted my buddy to try fresh roasted meat, straight from the slaughterhouse, with roasted plantains.
We got back to Buea, rested, met with some friends and got ready for the next adventure
To be continued...
The amazing thing about Cameroon is, it has all the climatic conditions and natural attractions found in the entire African continent but for some reason, the country is not a touristic hot spot. I think this is a good thing because every experience in the country is authentic and true to the culture of its people. It is not some artificial structure created to carter to the demands and expectations of tourists. As much I loved my time in Thailand, I was somewhat heartbroken to see how overtly touristy some of the major metropolitan cities had become. It is even more heartbreaking when this intense tourism starts to supersede, and even in some cases insult, the culture of the Natives. I mean the whole purpose of traveling is to immerse yourself in a foreign culture right? so what is the point of traveling when we demolish local structures in order to create a new over arching Western structure? aren't you better off just staying at home then? well, what do I know. Anyways, back to Korup park. The one negative aspect about not being a touristy country is the lack of tourism infrastructure. There are literally no roads to get to Korup Park so you need to hire a sturdy vehicle capable to surviving hours of dirt roads and pot holes. I personally won't recommend a trip during the rainy season because the roads would be virtually impassable. My buddy and I hired a who guy claimed to have been to Mundemda (the city where Korup Park is found.) He said the journey was going to be about 4 hours, so we planned on doing a day trip: getting there, looking around, and then make our way back home. My buddy was only in Cameroon for about two weeks so we didn't have time to waste. Well, we soon discovered our driver had never been to the area so the journey ended up taking about 7 hours. When we got to the city of Mundemba, it was late in the afternoon. Driving on those crazy dirt holes at night is a terrible idea, so we had no choice but to spend the night.
Late afternoon lunch in the city of Mundemba. Here is my buddy eating achu like a true Cameroonian.
Crossing the bridge into Korup Park. Our driver almost shit himself.
Prince Charles was here
Treading the jungle. If you want a thorough exploration of the forest, I reckon you do a three days tour or even longer. Then you will be able to properly explore, see chimpanzees, lots of flora and fauna and so many other cool animals. We were only there for a few hours so all we saw were a few monkeys and did some bird watching.
The city of Mundemba is a small village so this was the only "hotel" we could find on such short notice.
My buddy is scared of roaches so I had to murder this little fellow. RIP Mr. Cockroach. After settling in, we hit the streets, found a dodgy place to eat, drank a lot of booze, chatted about life, race, politics and all the good stuff and then returned home. We woke up at 4 A.M and began the odious journey home.
About 6 hours later, we stopped at the town of Kumba for some breakfast. My buddy is completely covered in dust. That's what happens when you spend 6 hours on dirt roads.
Had breakfast in this shed
After that, we headed to the car wash
We finally made it home and had an amazing dinner with friends and family.
THE END. That was an awfully long post wasn't it? I know, I know, I'm exhausted too. So Summer is finally upon us. What are you guys doing for the summer? any exciting travel plans? I anxiously want to know. I think I have two weeks before the semester comes to an end. As usual, I am incredibly busy. My summer has been sorted, so I am looking forward to an incredible adventure. Ok friends, stay safe, one love.
XoXo
