18 PLACES VISITED: NIGERIA: 9) Ekukunela Junction, 10) Ikom. CAMEROON: 1) Ekok, 2) Munaya River, 3) Mamfe, 4) Manyemen, 5) Mile 6 Beach, 6) Mile 8 Lava Field, 7) Limbe, 8) Buea, 9) Mount Cameroon, 10) Douala, 11) Kribi, 12) Campo, 13) Dipikar Island, Campo National Park, 14) Campo National Park, 15) Ebodje, 16) Nyambizan, 17) Meyo-Centre.
13 OVERNIGHTS: NIGERIA: 1) Hostel "Lisbon Hotel", Ikom (Elev 186m). CAMEROON: 1) Bush Camp 15km west of Mamfe (Elev 117m), 2) Bush Camp 27km south of Manyemen (Elev 86m), 3-6) Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe, 7) “Motel Clemeka", Campo, 8) Bush Camp with water 34km south east of Campo on Dimikar Island, Campo National Park (Elev 86m), 9) “Auberge Elak”, Campo, 10) Bush Camp with water 35km east of Campo in the Campo National Park (Elev 119m), 11) House with water 8km west of Nyabessan in the Campo National Park (Elev 408m), 12) Bush Camp 10km south of Meyo-Centre (Elev 529m).
12 UNIQUE WILDLIFE: CAMEROON: 1) Black Casque Hornbill, 2) Yellow Casque Hornbill, 3) Black & White Casque Hornbill, 4) Cigar, 5) Colobus Monkey, 6) West African Lowland Gorilla, 7) Yellow Bill Duraco, 8) Sephalus Antelope, 9) Bony Back Frog, 10) Green Tree Frog, 11) Green Serpent (Snake), 12) Firefly.
BLOG POST TRAILER: This blog post is all about CAMEROON (Pop 20.1m), our first Central African country. What pleasant surprise. So much to see and do. It dismay second favourite country after MOROCCO to date. We climbed our first African mountain here - Mt Cameroon (Elev 4,095m) and saw our first gorillas in the wild! We also made great friends with the three local guys who showed us the splendour of Camp National Park.
The milestone in this post is my 100th day away from home - I am now officially in three digits!!! Would I make it to Day 273? Going triple digit must be a good sign and I am determined to get to the end by taking one day at a time and focusing on my African mission! On my 100th day I also finished reading the book my brother had given me called “Dark Star Safari - Cairo to Cape Town” by Paul Theroux. I am glad I was able to finish it before getting to Cape Town. I could relate to many of experiences in the book.
The first two days in my 72nd country of CAMEROON were spent driving from the Nigerian border town of Ekok to the Atlantic coastal town of Limbe where we climbed the countries tallest mountain and semi-active volcano, Mt Cameroon - more on this in a minute.
CAMEROON is definitely more lush and green than NIGERIA. Lots of rainforest, especially near the Atlantic coast. The Chinese are building a new road complete with bridges and overpasses from the Nigerian border to the coast. It is 5yrs from completion and the Chinese managing it do not speak a word of English or French so go figure! As the road is incomplete, it was not long before the truck filled with dust again but this time it was humid - yuck! A bad combination.
Mamfe was our first town. No more Fan Ice, no more kissing sounds. A mix of French and English is spoken in CAMEROON with the Mongo River separating the two. People were calmer, less animated than the Nigerians. The smiling faces and waving hands of village locals also returned much like in SENEGAL.
This is also the land of millions of tiny flies that follow you everywhere and drink the moisture out of the corners of your eyes, nose and lips. Pesky buggers that drive you nuts! At our drink stop in Manyemen, Doug and I continued our new practice of having a beer with the locals and we learned a lot about CAMEROON from the locals here.
English and French are compulsory at school and the local dialect is taught by parents and grandparents. The only German speaking area of CAMEROON is in a town called Buea at the base of Mt Cameroon.
The current President has been in power for decades and people want change.
Limbe (Pop 80,000) is on the Atlantic coast and is a place Cameroons go on holiday. Our hotel here was right on the water next to a very nice Botanical Garden but we shared it with two oil platforms about 1km off the coast. CAMEROON exports most of its crude to France. We used Limbe as our base for climbing Mt Cameroon. Most people ascend and descend over two days with an overnight at Hut 2. Seven of our group elected to do this whilst Roberto and I opted for the suicidal one day climb!
Our assault of this mountain began with a 4am pickup at our hotel with a local guy called “Ben” who was to become our best buddy. We drove approx 40km to a town called Buea at the base of the mountain where we met our guide Stephen.
At 4:40am under the gaze of a full moon in a clear sky we started our ascent from Elev 1021m. We reached the summit at 12:20pm at Elev 4095m after 5.5hrs of actual climbing and 2hrs of rest. There are 4 “huts” along the way just in case the weather turns bad and for overnight stays for those doing the climb over 2 and 3 days.
The descent took a total of 5 elapsed hours involving 4hrs of movement and 1hr of rest. We left the top at 1pm and arrived at the school yard where e started at 6pm.
The actual terrains and slopes were on most places better than we expected but what killed us was doing the ascent and descent in one day: 13hrs elapsed comprising 9.5hrs of movement and 3.5hrs of rest. We ascended and descended a total of 6,148m (From 1,021m to 4,095m and back) over a total ground distance of 20.8km. The summit was a narrow ridge with gale-force winds and a chill factor of 5-10C. We cleared the clouds at 2,000m with sun and blue sky all the way to the top. From the summit you can see the caldera and surrounding peaks and a sea of clouds below that. The climb starts with a thick lush rainforest which suddenly disappears at 2,000m and after 5km. The descent is twice as hard as the ascent and especially after Hut 2 which is almost a 45 degree slope with loose volcanic sand and pebble - I took a big stack and rolled over several rocks grazing my arm. No matter. I had conquered one of Africa’s key mountains. We were exhausted by the time we got to the car and hotel. Our thighs hurt for the next 2 days! After the climb we celebrated with a lot of wine and cheese and some terrific local BBQ chicken and beef.
I spent all of the next day in bed blogging. The day after that, Thomas, Riza, Roberto and I took off at 8am in Ben’s car for a 6 day, 5 night special solo safari of the Campo National Park. Thomas had researched Campo in Vienna and while he was discussing it with Ben, I overheard him, liked the sound of it and offered to join him. Talk about “ right place at the right time”! We would be amongst the first westerners to enter a new section of the park called “Dipakar", an island with wild West African Lowland Gorillas in it!!! Of we went in Ben’s 1985 Toyota Corolla 4WD Station Wagon!
Our journey on the first day took us through Douala (Pop 2m, Cameroon’s second largest city and commercial centre) and Kribi (where we visited a waterfall not worth visiting!) and finally to Campo for our first overnight.
Campo is a true outpost. Dusty and wild with only one main street full of pot holes and a few wooden shops. Surprisingly it had a nice bar surrounded by a covered deck with plenty of tables and chairs. There a few hostels and simple hotels in town because of the national park and we settled into one of these, showered and enjoyed cold beers and omelettes in town with our guide Ben and Campo contact, Simeon.
The next day we stocked up on food and drove to Dipikar Island which is actually a huge piece of mainland that is bound by three rivers. We then trekked on foot for an hour with all our gear and food arriving at a bush camp in the middle of the jungle set up by the 22 members of a special project called “Project Gorilla Humanisation” which started 2011 and funded until 2017 by World Bank (WWF). Its mission is to get the new-found gorillas on this island used to humans so that a tourism industry can be started here - there are no places on the West Coast to see gorillas in the wild. We were part of this experiment. Unreal.
That afternoon we went for a trek to try to spot elephants. No luck but the sounds of the rainforest were spectacular - just like in my teaser!!! The rainforest here is so thick - reminds me of the Amazon. Ben went back to Campo in the arvo to get some hot food for that night, appearing at 9:30pm with omelettes and bread - we had given up and eaten our emergency can food but did not hesitate to accept this new offering. We watched another James Bond movie on my laptop with 5 local male trackers and a female cook. Funny to see. They all spoke French so we gave the occasional explanation and the more than occasional wine - they loved it.
At 7am the next day, the trackers went out first to locate the two gorilla families in the area. The news was good and we set out at 9:30am to meet them. This was a terrific morning. It took only an hour to find them and then it was mayhem! We spilt into two groups of two trackers and two if us. We saw 6 individual gorillas and they were more scared of us then we of them! The gorillas were always hiding and when we approached their latest hiding spot the screamed and yelled and charged us but did not come out - it was like a game of peek-a-boo! Read all about it under “DAY 107” below.
We also saw monkeys and a variety of hornbill birds. The only downside was the extremely thick rainforest making it almost impossible to photograph or film the gorillas but the thrill of hearing all that screaming and being rushed was a real adrenaline ride.
That afternoon we left the island camp and headed back to Campo staying at a nice hotel with aircon but no power! We celebrated our gorilla encounter that night by feasting on plenty of BBQ beef and rice in a rich tomato stew (called “soup” in the west).
The fourth and fifth days of our solo trip were sent to the north of the Campo National Park under mozzie nets on the balconies of a guard and rangers houses because it was too muggy and still to sleep inside. We drove through the park and made side trip “treks” at various points where our tracker, Pierre, thought it best to see animals. Wilfred, one of the park rangers, armed with a collapsible 6kg point-76 calibre rifle, was always with us and carried Pierre on the back of his motorbike. Or aim was to see elephants, buffalo, mandrills and even the odd leopard but sadly they were not close by. We saw plenty of monkeys and the odd antelope. We also did a night safari under a starry sky but no animals.
Bottom line for me was that Campo National Park is not the place to come to if you want to photograph or film animals - this is hard . Trekking the thick jungle, sleeping in it and washing in its many rivers was a true adventure. Running alone on the dirt roads surrounded by it on both sides was also a treat.
Returning to the truck was hard. This solo trip made us feel closer to Africa - by interacting with the landscape and people face-to-face and all the time. We looked forward to the next one. Guess what? The next one was tomorrow!!! Solo trip number 3 from Oyem GABON to Matadi DRC over 12 nights visiting Libreville in GABON, Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville in CONGO and Kinshasa and Matadi in DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC). We could hardly wait… Next post will cover our solo3 adventure!
DAY 98, Thu 18FEB16, 240km, Hotel “Naks Hotel & Towers”, Calabar (Run7) to Hostel "Lisbon Hotel", Ikom NIGERIA. The 6am rise was too early - could have used more sleep given the extra wine we downed because of James Bond! Got through the run better than I expected.
We set off at 8:30am towards Ikom, to enter near here into CAMEROON. The truck had been just a few days earlier when we were solo. We were not looking forward to bush camping in the heat and humidity after 9 nights in air-conditioned comfort.
The trip today was exhausting. Bad roads combined with 32C and humid. The only solace was the moving truck! I was on lunch duty with dinner tonight - have no idea how I am going to survive a hot cooking pot inside a hot landscape!
Doug and I continued our West African tradition of drinking a beer with the locals on drink stops, this time at Ekukunela Junction where we met a dozen local guys. Once again they struggled with the concept of us paying for a big trip just for tourism. “Who is sponsoring you?” and “What is your mission?” is the way they put it. No-one sponsors us - we pay ourselves and our mission is to discover Africa and see and learn things about life here first hand - not out of a book. The locals still find it hard to understand.
God was kind to us. We could not find a safe campsite near Ikom so we ended up at “Hotel Lisbon” in Ikom where the truck has stayed while we were solo. Very simple run-down, rickety rooms with a fan, toilet and shower - that is all we needed. I was on cook group tonight and shared my Palm Spirit with the group for desert. Not many people liked it. No worries - more for Roberto. Riza, Doug and myself. I bought 6L of the stuff thinking people would like it. Do not know why - it is fragrant, smooth (does not burn your throat) and completely pure - saw the locals making it in Agoe Sevah in TOGO where I bought it. After a few cups with Doug I was ready for a shower and early sleep since I was doing brekkie in the morning.
DAY 99, Fri 19FEB16, 82km, Hostel "Lisbon Hotel", Ikom NIGERIA to Bush Camp 15km west of Mamfe CAMEROON. It was a great sleep. That fan did the trick. Brekkie was easy. We got a few drops under a cloudy sky but it did not rain. Our miracle of 2 days rain was intact. We made some stops in Ikom to get diesel, drinking water and shop for food.
By 9:30am we were off to the CAMEROON border only 25km away. We arrived at 11am and spent a total 3.5hrs there going through customs and passport control for both countries. It was torture because it was 30C outside with enough humidity to keep you wet and limited breeze. The border is a river and we had lunch on the CAMEROON side. After changing some money we were off - anything to get a breeze again. It got better.
A surprise stop for a swim at the Munaya River just 30min after the border. The water was very warm with a few local women washing clothes by the bank. That was our shower for the night - certainly better than baby wipes. CAMEROON is definitely more lush and green than NIGERIA. The road is terrific with no potholes, lines and wide shoulders.
Bush camp was a small place compared to most but surrounded by lush rainforest and a cacophony of bird sounds - more than we had heard before. Sunset was terrific with that typical crimson disc that can only be associated with an African sun.
DAY 100, Sat 20FEB16, 105km, Bush Camp 15km west of Mamfe (Run1) to Bush Camp 27km south of Manyemen CAMEROON. I slept on the beach because no one else wanted to and we must have at least one person sleeping on the truck in the bush. It was terrific. Had a big mozzie net and a slight breeze. It actually cooled down overnight but the humidity remained.
I woke at 5:40am to run by 67th country by 8am, our departure time. I was on the road when the sun came up and it revealed a landscape around me like Jurassic Park! Lush rain rainforest with every conceivably shaped tree you can think of.
As I approached camp it struck me that today marked the 100th day away from home - unbelievable. Sydney airport and Gibraltar seemed like a lifetime ago. Would I last the complete 273 days! Going triple digits was certainly a good sign and I definitely have a good system and rhythm as far as life on a truck is concerned. I still felt that there were too many rules and too big a preoccupation by members of the group on keeping them with even some lagging! I was determined to focus on Africa and my mission here and take it all the way to Cairo for Day 273!!!
I was able to clean up well after my run despite the humidity because it was cloudy and the temperature was down. Just made it for departure. It did not take long to get to Mamfe. I did truck guard but was able to sneak in an interview with a young local student with passable English. No more Fan Ice, no more kissing sounds. A mix of French and English spoken. People were calmer, less animated than the Nigerians.
About an hour out of Mamfe the great new road disappeared. Turns out that the Chinese are building this new road from the Nigerian border to Limbe on the coast. Suddenly we were rattling around on an orange dirt road with ridges and holes. The truck filled with dust. Somethig we had not seen since Senegal and Guinea. We climbed to just over 200m which took the edge off the humidity but it was still around 30C out there.
At lunch we discovered millions of tiny flies that follow you everywhere and drink the moisture out of the corners of your eyes, nose and lips. Pesky buggers that drive you nuts! Our drink stop was in Manyemen (Elev 380m). English speaking and exporting timber.
Doug and I had our usual local beer with the locals in a nice external covered large space and learned a lot about the area and country. English and French are compulsory at school and the local dialect is taught by parents and grandparents. The only German speaking area of CAMEROON is in a town called Buea at the base of Mt Cameroon. The current President has been in power for decades and people want change. Our company were very proud of the national soccer team but they admit it has suffered a slump in recent years but on the road to recovery.
The road out of town was now broken bitumen. Lots of bumps but no dust. We ascended to just over 400m surrounded by lush rainforest and distant peaks. Villages were a mix of wooden and concrete block houses, all with corrugated iron roofs and quite neat looking. The smiles and waving hands were back. Very friendly locals just like SENEGAL.
Our camp site was at a huge concrete quarry which is the source of material for building the road from the Nigerian border to Limbe. The land and company is owned by the Nigerian government but run by the Chinese. It recently built a huge elevated bypass and will be here for at least the next 5yrs. The security guard who let us stay told us that the locals cannot communicate at all with the Chinese management who speak no English and no French. Go figure. Most of the workers are locals! How do you issue instructions? Despite the quarry, with piles of sand, cement and grade, lurked the best asset of all - a waterfall! Off we went to wash and swim. It was a decent size with plenty of cool water. We had cheated bush camp again and on my 100th day, so we celebrated that evening with extra olives and wine!
DAY 101, Sun 21FEB16, 115km, Bush Camp 27km south of Manyemen to Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe CAMEROON. According to my tent buddy, Doug, the quarry was quite noisy overnight with the sounds of insects - I could hardly hear them thanks to my trusty blu-tak! Doug is a good sleeper and does not move much or snore! Since he joined in Accra, I have not spent many nights with him because of the higher number of upgrades and our solo travel. I had to sprinkle some water on my chest to get to sleep given the absence of a breeze yesterday night. We left earlier today - 7:30am in order to get to Limbe, so I would delay my run until then.
The morning drive to Kumba was slow given the semi-graded dirt road being slowly converted by the Chinese. As we passed Kumba it hit me that no woman or man wears traditional clothing like we are used to in the West. Even with Sunday today, most people wore the worst of clothes we would wear. Interesting.
The road beyond Kumba was bitumen and sped up our trip. We passed the town of Buea at the base of Mt Cameroon at 500m elevation but could not see it under the haze and cloud. It was much cooler and less humid here. We passed acres of banana, palm and sugar cane plantations. Very fertile given the volcanic slopes of Mt Cameroon. We arrived at the seaside Park Hotel Miramare early at 1pm - it was right on the Atlantic coast along with two oil wells less than a kilometre off shore. There were a number of islands behind the oil wells and the whole scene looked like something out of a James Bond film. It was also VERY hot and humid here, just like Singapore.
After a few minutes wait Andi announced that there was no room or facilities for camping here so we set off for “Mile 6 Beach” an alternative used in the past. This was a short 10km away and on the way we realised that there was some money here with a lot of new concrete houses and hotels lining a very picturesque coastline with high hills covered in lush rainforest in the background. Mile 6 Beach was quite isolated and closed off. Rubbish lined the black volcanic sand beach. A local approached and confirmed that the beach was closed. Thank goodness since there was no hotel in sight but I realised that I should have got off the truck at Miramare. Our plans was to return to town but before doing so we visited the solidified volcanic lava flow at Mile 8 only minutes away. The last eruption of volcano near Mt Cameroon occurred in 1999 that caused a lava flow that ALMOST reached the Atlantic - it stopped only 1km back from the beach at this site. It was a disappointing site with not much to see except rock - did not even look like a lava flow - I had seen plenty including live ones so I opted out of the short hike to see them.
Once back in town we were delighted and puzzled when we turned up to the Miramare for a second time. Andi/Grant were able to negotiate spots for the tents in front of the rooms and book a room for facilities - terrific - that meant an upgrade was possible. Many people took up the option to take an air-conditioned room given the furnace like heat and humidity outside. We settled into room and followed our usual practice of heading to the money changers then supermarket to stock up.
Limbe (Pop 80,000), is a nice place. It has beachside restaurants, fish stalls and a bustling marketplace that is spread out. It looks and feels like a holiday town but the humidity is terrible. Your face just pours with sweat after 30min outside. Yuki joined Riza and I but Roberto stayed back to get information on our Mt Cameroon climb. The only supermarket in town was closed since it was Sunday but we managed to find a small mum and dad grocery store that was not only well equipped but air-conditioned. On our way back we spotted a fantastic outdoor BBQ that was cooking a pile of meats that looked to god to be true. We decided to bag a few cuts and do a movie picnic tonight given the heat and humidity. BBQ chicken, sliced lean beef and plantains were on the picnic menu!
We got back at around 5:30pm and observed a crowd around the truck. Lucky for me, the Mt Cameroon guy, called Ben, was still there. After shaking hands he covered the climbing options. I put myself down for the one-day climb along with Roberto - we were the only two crazy enough to ascend and descend to 4,095m from 1,000m over a total distance of around 20km starting at 5am (pickup at 4am) and ending at 6pm (drop-off at 7pm). Seven of our group chose the 2-day climb with overnight at Hut 2 (Half way) and one person chose the 3-day climb.
As I was picking my shopping in the truck I overheard Thomas (German Architect working in Vienna) talking to Ben about a safari to the Campo National Park and Island to observe wild Gorillas, Leopards, Elephants and Buffalo. I dropped everything and approached them. It was true. Thomas had researched this place in Austria and showed me some material and our local tour guide, Ben, confirmed the details. We would leave Thursday morning and rejoin the truck on Tuesday afternoon. Our itinerary: waterfalls on the coast, sea turtles laying eggs on a beach , wild gorillas on a new National Park island surrounded by 3 rivers and the Campo National Park with more wild gorillas, elephants, buffalo and even leopards. We had an 80% chance of seeing gorillas and a 50% chance of leopards. I was in. I asked Thomas if he wanted company and he said - of course. I raced to my room and informed Riza and Roberto - they were in. The only problem was the size of Ben’s car and the lack of aircon - he would look into getting a larger car with aircon from one of his mates and get back to us tomorrow along with cost based on 4 passengers. I had lost track of time in my excitement and it was now 6:30pm and too late and too hot for a run so I decided to defer to tomorrow morning. That evening we celebrated our second departure solo adventure with our BBQ feast and plenty of wine!
DAY 102, Mon 22FEB16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe CAMEROON (Run2). Today was a rest day. Around 9am I went for a run with Thomas and Yuki. Yes Yuki. I never imagined he would want to run but I have been in his ear about exercise. He is the 22yr old Japanese student and is constantly sleeping and eating. No exercise. Maybe it got to him! We set off back along the coastal road and it was tough. Should have started at 7am and no later than 8am. We even got some uphills. What made the run particularly tough was the absence of a breeze at many points - you just boil and your head feels like its going to explode. I made it back in one piece but Thomas and Yuki stopped about 3km and 2km respectively. Thomas did a slow jog back and Yuki walked. I wa impressed with Yuki since he kept up with me until the 8km mark with no running background. After the run, Riza, Roberto, Yuki, Doug and I set out for the local markets and supermarket. Riza and Roberto were able to change cash on the black market and the supermarket was well stocked. By the time we got back it was time to meet Ben around 2pm. He turned up at 3pm and took Riza, Roberto, Thomas and I over the detailed itinerary and answered many questions. We would be the FIRST westerners to enter the island of wild gorillas!!! He then took us through the costs item by item - based on 4 people it would cost $USD410 ($AUD600) each. We were still in. This price was based on Ben using his own car and driving us everywhere. His car was parked outside so we visited it and sat inside. Bad. It was a 90’s Toyota Corolla all-wheel-drive station wagon with no aircon and the back seat was tight. Boot space was also tight. We all ask him to research using a larger car with aircon. He would try to borrow one of his mates cars and would let us know Wed arvo. Thomas was very keen on a larger car and even offered to pay for it if it where a show stopper - he was hell-bent on seeing the gorillas! Good to see someone with so much passion for wildlife. We paid Ben for the Mt Cameroon climb ad returned to our room to pack for it. We had dinner at the truck tonight since it was too late to go out and I wanted to go to bed at 8pm given our 3am rise the next day for our climb. Grant cooked tonight and it was great - a beef stew with macaroni - perfect for climbing! Getting to sleep at 8pm was tough, especially when you are excited!
DAY 103, Tue 23FEB16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe CAMEROON (Extreme1 - Mt Cameroon Climb). I sprung out of bed at 3:15am. I was very excited about climbing Mt Cameroon today. Roberto was even more excited - he has climbed a few peaks in South America and wants to climb more as a hobby. Ben was right on time and picked us up from he hotel at 4am. It was dark, cool but till humid. We travelled some 40km to Buea via a back road.
By 4:50am we were off with our guide “Stephen”, 30yrs old with a 7yr old son and 4yr old daughter. He has done over 100 climbs over 10yrs. Amazing. The climb is in 5 stages: Buea school car park to Hut 1 to Intermediate Hut 1-2 to Hut 2 to Hut 3 to summit.
We started walking at 4:50am at Elev 1021m under the gaze of a full moon in a clear sky. Did not need to use a torch. It was cool and not humid. I wore my red nylon running shorts and red nylon short sleeve top - same as for running. The climb to Hut 1 starts off easy as we pass by tea and corn fields. We then enter a very lush rainforest. Listening to insects with crunching leaves underfoot and only moonlight was surreal and peaceful. A few aches at first and then we got into a rhythm. Very soon we cud see the lights of all of Buea. Once the sun started to take over from the moon at around 6:30am, we could see that the rainforest was thicker, steeper with more roots and rocks in our way. After 2hrs we arrived at Hut 1 at 6:50am and Elev 1815m nestled in the rainforest. A wooden cabin on stilts with 4 bedrooms and a kitchen it is home to park ranges who maintain the huts, paint rocks whites for the climbing path and ensure tourists have guides.
We met about half a dozen rangers who were very impressed with our single day assault on their mountain. They shouted “Ashawe” (“Courage”) as we left at 7:05am for Hut 2. After 30min the rainforest started to disappear revealing a rocky, steeper rise. We arrived at Intermediate Hut 1-2 at 7:30am (25min of hiking and 5min of breaks) at Elev 2200m. The hut itself was like a large gardening shed - iron sides on a wooden frame with an iron roof. There was hay inside for sleeping on and nothing else - just a place to get out of the weather. Normally the cloud or haze line is between here and Hut 2. Today it was here.
We set off at 7:35am for Hut 2 and after a few minutes we were on above the cloud line under a full sun under a blue sky! It was an amazing sight given that we are used to hazy humid skies. Our enjoyment of this new world quickly came to end. An almost 45degree slope of sharp rock and plenty of loose volcanic rocks and pebbles. Big steps, lots of sliding and plenty of calf pain!
Our guide confirmed this section between Intermediate Hut 1-2 and Hut 2 as the hardest part of the climb. This is the reason for the Intermediate Hut. The locals had set a control fire to this section to reveal tight clumps grassy roots - these were not subject to sliding and we used them like sites to get around sand and loose rock that was subject to sliding and slipping. Breathing was good - altitude had not affected me.
Despite the pain, the view however is awesome - here is were you appreciate the actual size of Mt Cameroon - it is a huge pancake style mountain, spread out over 400 square kilometres with multiple peaks. We arrived at Hut 2 at 8:50am (95min of hiking and 10min of breaks) at Elev 2734m. It was a terrific sight. Not because the hut was anything special but because we were exhausted.
Hut 2 is actually 3 tin huts plus an open covered area with many big blue water containers. It is here that the two-day and three-day climbers would spend their first or only night. After a good break supplemented with banana and chocolate washed down by orange juice we energised ourselves for Hut 3.
Roberto and I felt great and our pace was excellent. If we continued at this pace our guide was confident we could hit the summit at 11am, 6hrs after our start - the record by a local guide in a race is 2hrs/50min with most professional climbers taking 4.5hrs. Not bad.
We set out from Hut 2 at 9:05am with much easier climb along a ridge with much less incline and more footing. The wind picked up and it felt cold so I put on my long sleeve thin bicycle top.
This was quickly replaced about half way through with a steep slope. Not as steep as between Intermediate and Hut 2 but harder because it is here, above 3000m that altitude starts to kick in. Most of the worlds clouds are at this level! I felt my heart beats increase and the need to gasp for more breath. I also felt a slight headache and a very slight light head - all signs of altitude, especially with no time to acclimatise. I found a new rhythm to compensate and I was OK. I felt most pain here and really pushed myself to get to Hut 3. It is here that the reality of mountain climbing hit me - it was so easy to stop or quit. Every step was a quest in itself. Just how did people climb Everest or other difficult leaks involving ropes, spikes, heavy gear on your back and freezing weather! I only had 6kg on my back. Then our first setback hit. Roberto fell behind and the guide and I had to stop and wait for him to catch up. Roberto pointed to his right foreleg muscle and explained that it was painful, twitching and he felt it was about to pop. Not good.
His strategy was to use only his good left foot to make his first “hoisting” step. This worked but it was very slow. We quickly lost ur pace and advantage and arrived at Hut 3 at Elev 3604m much later than expected at 11:30am after 90min of continuous climbing and 25min of breaks. What mattered now was Roberto’s ability to make the summit. We spent 15min resting at Hut 3 to give his bad leg every chance of recovery. We set out from Hut 3 at 11:45am and the climb to the summit from here was easier than any other leg. The view was also the best with several adjacent peaks appearing all around us. It got windier so I put on my wind jacket. Breathing still needed concentration.
After 45min the guide pointed out the summit but it was not a distinct point but a log even hill. Roberto was still slow and getting slower and we waited for him. It was 12:20pm when I turned a corner with the guide just behind me and saw a ledge with a concrete block near its edge, a pile of rocks beside it and an antenna further on.
The guide yelled - you have made it! - this is the summit! I could not believe it. I had made it. It was not an iconic summit but the gale force wind and near freezing conditions were!!! I did not have much time. Got the guide to take some photos and film. The camera struggled - it kept turning off because of the wind. Eventually I stood on the concrete block making the peak with latitude and longitude and elevation of 4,095m and recorded the moment. I even dag danced on it! It was not the highest dag dance. That was on Mt Chacaltaya near the Bolivian capital in South America at 5,897m - the highest peak I have ever climbed.
At 12:30pm, Roberto pulled around the same corner and enjoyed his moment of victory on the same concrete block. We wanted to take a photo together but the guide has already left - he was not really dressed for the wind and cold here. After 10min on the summit we started back to Hut 3. It was a great moment and I was very glad for Roberto that he soldiered on to make it. Later he would tell me just how painful that last leg was. At Hut 3 we rested for almost 30min and had our lunch of canned tuna and lentils.
Our journey home was much faster because the pain in Roberto’s leg disappeared close to Hut 3 - this is not surprising since you are using different muscles on the descent. At Hut 2 we met our 7 fellow travellers who had just arrived there. They were amazed to see us and patted us on the back and cheered our summit success. That was nice feeling. They were all dubious about our ability to do the summit in one day especially given their own experience of the steep section they had just completed. Some of them looked like they were going to collapse. Most asked if we felt we had enough energy for the return descent since they had just covered it in ascent. In many ways, I always find the descent more painful and harder since on ascent you are not as tired and can “lean into the slope” if you slip. On descent there is no support and if you lean back you can slip and land on your bum or venue roll over the rocks.
That happened to me on the steepest part between Hut 2 and Intermediate Hut. Now that Robert was back to normal, we both sped up and took this slope too quickly. I slipped on the loose volcanic rocks and fell sideways, landing n one bum cheek and the rolling down over rocks for a bit. Ouch. I was only in my red running gear so I grazed my right hand opening up bleeding wounds on my palm and along the outside of my arm. At Intermediate Hut
I cleaned by wounds with the water in my drinking bladder and kept going. I was in pain and my legs very wobbly after the fall so I slipped a could more times but landed on both cheeks and did not roll. My toes were in pain trying to grasp the ledges and I was desperate to get to the bottom. The descent between Hut 1 and the school was torture. Not the slope, not the terrain, just the wish to stop the pain and fatigue and replace it with a cold shower and wine. What spurred me on was the emerging view of Buea. I also kept eating my nuts in my spare battery bag!
Finally after a epic day we arrived into the school yard at exactly 6pm, only one hour after our targeted 5pm, which is when we would have arrived if we had made the summit at 11am.Given remade the summit at 12:30pm we gained 30min on our return - all of sudden my fall did not matter any more since there waste benefit! In total the descent had taken 3hrs and 54min of actual descent plus 66min of breaks. We were happy with the result given the two setbacks of Roberto’s leg and my fall. Both Roberto and I felt that the climb itself was easier than we expected - it was the fact that we were doing it in one day that made it challenging and very painful. We could have easily done it over two days so we were very glad we had opted for the one day option.
Our ride home took us past many hectares of tea plantations. Ben stopped at the supermarket so we could pick up fresh bottles of cold water. We arrived at the hotel at 7pm. We would see Ben tomorrow to finalise our solo safari and we almost sprinted to our room to start our process of returning to the human race. Just as I was preparing to shower, zap, complete darkness! All the power in the whole hotel failed. I felt like crying. Not now! Not after this epic house of pain when I need power the most to relax! The water worked so I put on my head light and had my shower! I unpacked, soaked my clothes and recharged all my batteries for our safari all under torch! Riza had bought us some BBQ meats and wine to celebrate our one-day summit victory - this was so good of her. We sat down under the light of our Macs and enjoyed a fantastic dinner - the pain in our limbs just fading into the background. It was now 9:30pm and still no power. Generators had come on for the restaurant, bar and pool area and we decided to sit here for a while just in case the internet was included. It was. I was able to call mum and answer all my emails even though I was dead tired and every muscle hurt. I cold beer helped me get through. By 10:30pm I could not hold up any longer and headed to bed. I did not worry about the warm unconditioned room since my fatigue and satisfaction of what I had achieved quickly put me to sleep...
MT CAMEROON CLIMB SUMMARY:
Total height ascended and descended = 6,148m (Elev 1,021m to 4,095m = 3,074m and back), Total distance travelled = 20.8km (Buea to Summit = 10.4km and back), Total ascent time = 7hrs 30min (5hrs/30min moving plus 2hrs resting), Total descent time = 5hrs (4hrs moving plus 1hr resting), Average ascent speed = 1.9km/h, Average descent speed = 2.6km/h. Temperature range = 10C Summit to 28C Buea. Total up and down time = 13hrs (9hrs/30min moving plus 3hrs/30min resting), World record up and down time = 4hrs/10min moving only by a local guide in a race, Professional climber time up and down time = 9hrs (7hrs/30min moving plus 1hrs/30min resting)
DAY 104, Wed 24FEB16, 0km, Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe CAMEROON. Today was DEFINITELY a rest day - my thighs and ankles were as stiff as a board from the climb. I woke up just before 10:30am, just managed to wash and hang my clothes including my boots for the first time since buying them! I then sat down to blog in my room and cull photos.
I raised my weary head at 3pm and could not believe it! I made a quick trip to the restaurant to load my GPS watch data of the climb to the internet and calculate the key stats used in this blog. My GPS watch brand is “Sunto” and the model is “Ambit2”. I can load data for any sport (even swimming) onto a personal website supplied by Sunto including a line in Google Maps to show my completed route. You can the Gorilla Trek at http://www.movescount.com/moves/move95617594 or all of the treks at http://www.movescount.com/moves/move95759039#calendar-month=2016-02
I was back at the restaurant in the late afternoon to process some emails and Ben arrived with the two-day trekkers including Thomas. We then held a meeting with Ben to confirm tomorrow’s departure. We were hoping to get a bigger car with aircon. Ben had found two alternative cars from his mates: a Toyota Hilux Ute for $USD1,300 and a Toyota Forerunner for $USD1,100. Both cars had no aircon and compared to our total trip cost using Ben’s car of $USD1,640, it was clearly too expensive so we stuck with Ben’s car. We had our last dinner at the truck (a wonderful beef stew with coleslaw) and went to our rooms to pack - just as we were walking there all the power went out. Shit. It took me ages to pack with my head torch. By the time I finished it was time for another shower - I was pouring with sweat. Thanks goodness the water pump was powered by a separate generator! We had another huge talk-fest with a lot of laughing and wine to try to get us to sleep without aircon and at about 11:30pm the power returned! Alleluia! We would get a good night’s sleep after all ahead of our solo safari to Campo tomorrow...
DAY 105, Thu 25FEB16, 346km (Solo2), Camping/Hotel “Park Hotel Miramare”, Limbe to “Motel Clemeka", Campo CAMEROON. It was tough waking up again. A little too much wine and still a lot of stiffness and pain in the legs from the climb! Ben turned up at 7:30am and by 8am our fabulous second solo adventure to the Campo National Park on the border with EQUATORIAL GUINEA began! A reality thanks to Thomas and Ben! We made a brief stop at a patisserie in Limbe before heading out towards Douala (Cameroon’s second largest city with Pop 2m). We quickly got accustomed to the slightly crowded conditions of our 4WD Toyota. Being the biggest, Thomas sat in the front, myself in the middle of the back seat and Riza and Roberto on either side. While we were moving things were fine but stopping was like visiting hell!
The heat and humidity just chews you up and spits you out! After 2hrs the traffic of Douala consumed us like sweaty pig eating garbage! The city is ugly, unorganised, polluted and full of rubbish. Douala is the commercial centre since it is on the Atlantic with a huge port. CAMEROON exports a lot of crude to France from here. We made a stop at another Patisserie in the CBD for a drink and for Ben to exchange the US dollars that we paid him for the trip. The only nice thing in the city were the many bars and restaurants and the Catholic Cathedral. It took us a good hour to free ourselves of the traffic chaos of Douala and once outside we got pulled over by a traffic cop. He sited us for not wearing seatbelt and having bald tyres. He looked at out passports and then asked for 25,000CFA ($AUD60) in fines. We paid him 2,000CFA ($AUD5). So much for authority. This is Africa!
We even spotted a speeding camera further afield. Impressive for Africa but pity about the bribes. We were now headed towards the capital Yaounde but would turn off at Ebea to head south to Kribi. What a nice place. Right by the ocean and full of fishing boats. We stopped by a large fish market where you can pick freshly caught fish and have it cooked.
Riza indulged in a kilogram of jumbo prawns that actually looked like scampi. Roberto, Thomas and I selected a fish that looked like Barramundi. Like most cooking places it took ages to cook them up but once they came they were simply delicious, sweet and very light. We ate at a table with the water and fishing boats below us. Plenty of beer and our second solo adventure was off to a great start.
The waterfalls of Kribi were close by but very disappointing. They are a result of the Lobe river emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. There was accumulated dirt and we were swamped by money hungry ”guides” yelling all sorts of ridiculous prices - a real turnoff. We negotiated 4000CFA with one guy who hardly spoke to us and would not even take us all the way to the falls - not that you needed a guide - they were clearly visible but Ben advised that it was more a “community donation” than a fee. I was the only one to swim to the bottom of the fall. When we got back to the car our guide snatched the 5000CFA and walked off. I yelled back “I tell all the world on Facebook not to come here”!!! He looked around, snarled and raced off. It is a crap place. Kribi Waterfalls - don’t bother!
At 5:30pm we set out for Campo. What a road! What a scene! Thick rainforest clutching a decrepit orange dirt road fall of pot holes, ridges and mud pools. This 60km segment took 2.5hrs to travel stopping on the way at Turtle Beach (in the town of Ebodje) where giant sea turtles come on shore to lay eggs between October and April every year. Their favourite laying times are around 8pm, 10pm and 5am - Roberto was on first watch! Only joking!
Campo itself was groovy - much more than we expected. A village of a few hundred people but a musical main street exuding African beats, beer and local food.
We settled into our Motel room, showered and headed into town. Met Simeon, our Campo contact and made out our itinerary for the next 5 days. After a few beers and an omelette with noodles in it we were ready fro bed - exhausted by the long trip here but excited for tomorrow...
DAY 106, Fri 26FEB16, 4km (Solo2), “Motel Clemeka", Campo to Bush Camp with water 34km south east of Campo on Dimikar Island, Campo National Park CAMEROON (Extreme2 - Elephant Trek). Another 5am rise. It was a very warm room but the fan helped. It was a cacophony of loud insect noises that woke me - much like the beginning of my African teaser!
By 6am we had left Campo to drive another 90min of dirt road into the Campo National Park and to a bridge connecting the end of the road to Dipikar Island, home of the West African Lowland Gorilla. Much smaller than the huge Silverbacks that we will see in Rwanda.
From here we locked the car and trekked with all our gear to a trackers camp site, 4.3km and 50min walk away deep into the island. I marvelled at the thick rain rainforest with its tangles trees. odd shaped ferns and myriads of bird and insect sounds. Reminded me of the Amazon.
We could hear and see three varieties of Hornbills: Black Casque, Yellow Casque and Black & White. The noisiest insect that you hear all the time is the Cigar, like a cicada, only larger and it shrills like a bird. Suddenly Ben stopped and we listened. We could hear Colobus Monkeys in a tree very close to us but they were well hidden! The monkeys and gorillas on Dipikar are not used to humans since this past of the park is new to tourists - according to the trackers when they see a human face they get scared and hide - boy I hope this does not prevent us from seeing them! I could not believe that we were finally here, alone and surrounded by wildlife. The camp site was a great set up. Mozzie tents under huge flies, makeshift covered living area hut made of straw, cooking facilities and a still river nearby for washing. It looked like the set of Gilligan’s Island! We had one tent for the three guys and RIza would share with the female cook of the trackers. ]
Unfortunately we arrived at 9:30am and the Gorilla trackers had already left with another couple of visitors at 7:30am. We would now try our luck with our guide Ben, who had been here many times before and our rifleman Wilfred who is not a tracker but a park ranger and armed just in case… We left at 9:45am and returned at 2pm, covering 7.9km with about 1hr of breaks. Unfortunately we did not see any Gorillas or other wildlife.
Only a palm-sized poisonous spider and the famous “Elephant Tree”. This is actually a 200yr old "Despodencia" tree with huge thin twisting style roots, the largest of which had the image of an elephant painted on it by a famous artist called “Moise Mimb Billong” aged 24 bro Limbe and living in Yaounne in 2012. The elephant’s trunk is the extension of the root itself. Clever.
We battled with thick undergrowth as we made our way across the rainforest floor - a track at first but most of it ad-lib. We found a dry creek bed which we followed for a while and came across elephant tracks and poo close to its end where there was some water. Back at the campsite we met a tracker that had gone out in the morning with a fellow from Mexico. They spotted 8 gorilla’s in the trees at around 10am approx 3km from the camp. That was good news. We were told that the gorillas will move around 2km every day so they will be “in range” tomorrow - Ben organised to go out with this tracker and visitor tomorrow morning. Now it was rest time. There a typically no animals out in the heat of the afternoon and the trackers only work mornings. I went down to the river for a bath - not bad. The water was reasonably clean and very refreshing under the darkness of the rainforest. I then settled down to blog whist my colleagues slept.
At around 6pm, everyone woke up and it was time for a movie to pass the time until Ben returned from Campo with dinner and more supplies - he had left at 2:30pm and we were expecting him back at 7:30pm. It was 9pm and we were on to our second movie. It had sprinkled several times during the movie so we figured Ben must be stuck or decided not to make the precarious dirt road journey to the island and stayed in Campo. I whipped out my emergency rations that I had saved from lunch since I did not expect any dinner tonight. The others ate from leftover cans in our stash meant for lunch the next day. As we watched James Bond blow up yet another baddy, the imposing shape of Ben emerged from the moist darkness! We could not believe it. He and our shooter had brought back beers, wine, omelette, bread, chocolate biscuits, cheese and even coffee and powdered milk!
What champs! We wasted no time hoeing into our baguettes filled with omelette and noodles as 007 finished off the last of the baddies!!! Even the trackers watch 007 with us - a very funny unAfrican site. Tonight I decided to sleep with the trackers in the open air on a bench made of sticks under the living room hut! I lit a mozzie coil and covered myself in deet for the night. I was on a roll mat with extra blu-tac in my ears to silence the loud rainforest. Given the coolness of the night I quickly slept.
DAY 107, Sat 27FEB16, 34km (Solo2), Bush Camp with water 34km south east of Campo on Dimikar Island, Campo National Park to “Auberge Elak”, Campo CAMEROON (Extreme3 - Gorilla Trek). The sounds of thousands of adoring insects and a few tracker humans chopping wood stirred me from sleep before the iPhone church bells even had a chance! We all enjoyed an early coffee and mine just happened to have an unwelcome visitor - a bee! It made it into my mouth and stung me on the upper lip. Roberto was there to remove the barb and it hurt! For the next two days I had a thick upper lip like someone had punched me! Today was the day and this morning was the morning that underpinned this second solo trip! Gorilla or no Gorilla!
Our trackers went out at 7am to answer that question. They did. By 9am, a short-wave radio call came into home base to say that THEY HAD SPOTTED THEM!!! Only 3km form camp, south, towards the border with EQUATORIAL GUINEA. That is the way it works. 2-3 trackers go off first so as to limit noise and the rest of the Grizwalds follow later! At 9:30am we started trekking. After one hour we spilt into pairs and walked towards a thicket within a thick rainforest! All of a sudden we heard several “oop oop oops" then "wah wah wahs” then screams and the whole thicket moved with a number of huge bodies moving though it. Over the next 30min it was madness and excitement. We walked towards the “oop oops" and "wah wahs” and the trackers made popping sounds with their mouths, beat their chests and slapped the ground to get them to charge us. Boy did it work, especially the ground slapping - one tracker said to me “the slap ground means I make a house here” - the alpha males do NOT like that! There were six individuals. The alpha male, his son plus other male adults and their male offspring from a total of two families. The alpha male was HUGE! In all this excitement there was only one frustration. The bush was too thick. The camera lenses simply did not know what to focus on so I switched to filing entirely with 3 cameras! At least they recorded the loud and threatening screams and the rustling thicket.
I think the best footage will come from the GoPro. My Canon suffered from a fogging lens because I was sweating like the Niagara Falls - I was completely wet! The Lumix was better because I could retract the lens and keep it dry. The other SLRs also suffered from fogging. Only Riza captured one decent still - I have marked it in this blog. I reckon I got OK film but I have not reviewed it at the time of writing of this blog. My best moment was when only myself and one tracker crawled towards what looked like a space under a tree root. All of a sudden the alpha and one other charge us in a fury of loud but do not come out of the tree root - instead they stop short and turn back without showing their faces - bugger - no images! They are more scared of us than we are of them! I did not care. I wanted first class film.
I continued to move forward towards their hiding space with the tracker behind me, laughing as if to say “this guy is nuts, I am getting behind him!”. “It was like Dr Smith hiding behind Will Robinson to get to the diamonds held by the aliens! Boy it was fun. There were several charges at me and at the others but these gorillas were clearly not used to humans - this is the actual objective of the “project” that is functioning here - to get these particular gorillas used to people so that a tourist site can be established on the west side. At the moment gorillas are only seen up and close in the east - I am booked to see them in Rwanda - the HUGE Silverback Mountain Gorillas that made Meryl Streep famous - not the other way around!
After a solid hour trying to photograph an film the gorillas we let them move on so that they could feed. If we kept pursuing them then there is a risk that they will move out of the area and travel further afield making it hard to take tourists. Even 3km in a hot humid rainforest takes one hour and tires you considerably. We got back to camp at 3pm, exactly 3hrs after we had departed. We were very pleased we had seen the gorillas but frustrated with trying to get a good photos and film.
Back at camp, I interviewed Calvin, the project leader of “Project Gorilla Humanisation”. It started in 2011 with the WWF as the main sponsor until 2017. There are 22 people working on the project including researcher “Francisco” a 32yr old Biologist from Mexico who has been studying primates all his life. We met him on this trip and he walked with us today. He is spending 6mths here with the project who pays for his food and board. A nice fellow, softly spoken and had briefed us on what to do if confronted by a gorilla. Stop, turn your back to the charging gorilla and lower your head. Do NOT run away. Do NOT look at the gorilla in the eyes. Do NOT stand up or beat your chest! Pity we did not have to use any of these - I wanted to because that would have guaranteed me great film footage - anything for Golfco Pictures!
At around 1:30pm we farewelled our new found tracker friends and trekked for one hour back to the car for the 90min drive back to Campo. On the way to the car it was just Ben and myself and I learnt a lot about him. He is 47 with 6 kids aged 5 to 18! He was born in the north-west and moved to Limbe 18yrs ago to sell craftwork.He then got into tourism 15yrs ago.
After 90min in the car, we arrived at the nicer “Auberge Elak” in town because it was newer, with aircon! As we drove into town we noticed a power line long flat on the ground and behold - the whole town was out of power. Including our hotel. No aircon! No water because the pump was attached tot he main power circuit. The hotel had no generator so we had to use water from a well and wash ourselves and our clothes using a bucket and cup! I was used to this from my dad’s village in Greece. It took ages but we got the job done. We relaxed and celebrated the gorillas and our clean selves and clothes by sipping wine and eating olives on a balcony in the breeze! Beautiful.
We then took our car into town to eat outside at a street-side BBQ which we had organised when we picked up supplies in two on our way in from the gorillas. It was terrific. Nice pieces f beef but all overcooked as is the practice in Africa. Add steamed rice with the traditional tomato and pepper sauce with braised meat ad the meal was tasty and filling. We were allowed touring our own wine and kero lamp added the finishing touches to a great dinner and a great day.
DAY 108, Sun 28FEB16, 35km (Solo2), “Auberge Elak”, Campo (Run3) to Guard House with water 35km east of Campo in the Campo National Park CAMEROON. I was very excited today at the prospect of visiting EQUATORIAL GUINEA for a couple of hours - long enough to get a run in! At 8am we drove to the nearby Campo Port, only 400m across the “Ntem River” that pours into the Atlantic and creates the border between CAMEROON and EQUATORIAL GUINEA.
We visited the border police who told us that this water boarder was closed today. Bummer. Instead we drove to Campo Beach for a swim. It was so so tempting to just to swim across but Ben confirmed that they would fish me out of the water and put me in detention! The swim itself was easy! Ben and Roberto went back to Campo to double-check the situation with the police there. Riza and Thomas went to visit the Mayor’s house nearby. I was alone with a foreign country just 400m away from me so I went for it.
Picked a spot out of view of the CAMEROON port and police and swam towards a big tree in EQUATORIAL GUINEA. I swam just over half way figuring I may now be just inside foreign waters and turned back before they could spot me. It was my second time that I had entered a country without a passport but would not count this one since I did not step out onto dry land. When I got back to shore I noticed a small local boat travelling across with 4 people on board! On their return I told Ben what I saw but he confirmed that the border was closed because EQUATORIAL GUINEA was not accepting any visitors - just locals with supplies to sell. Apparently relations between CAMEROON and EQUATORIAL GUINEA was not so good since EQUATORIAL GUINEA does not have much agriculture and needs to buy everything from CAMEROON which it resents. They also not very tourist friendly!
They have years of crude and sell it all to the USA. Corruption here is rampant and out of control - they have had only a few Presidents, mostly military who have made millions from the oil industry with not much flowing to the people. The usual story of most African countries. I decided to run back to the hotel whilst the others would go for lunch and shop so I would not delay them. Boy I suffered. 10:30am and too late in the day! I was glad to be back under my cup of water shower at the hotel! The others had not shopped but come back to wash some more clothes. We left the hotel just after noon and stopped by a shop to stock up on food and water for our two days in the bush in the Campo National Park. We took another dirt road to the north (of Drmakar Island) and drove for 75min covering 35km to a guard house where we would be staying for the next two nights.
Fortunately we had one small stream near us and a larger bamboo covered watering hole further down the road for washing. There were seat flies everywhere crawling into our eyes, ears, nose and hair - anywhere they could find sweat! Ben, Roberto and I visited the bamboo covered river and watering hole and it was spectacular! Completely shaded, dark and cool under the bamboo with a soft floor of the fallen, dried leaves. The stream was flowing and cool. We sat in it for 30min - this would be a great place to stay tomorrow, except for the Tetse Flies that we saw!
On our return we went by the smaller watering hole, nowhere near as nice but much closer. At around 6:30pm, the national park closes to traffic and we went on a sunset safari drive to try and spot buffalo. Riza went on the motorbike with the ranger and Roberto and I sat on the door with our legs inside the car and our torsos and up, out of the car. It was fantastic fun. Just on sunset, we spotted some Colobus Monkeys high up in some trees. Riza saw an antelope. Then all of a sudden the cars headlights went out. After some fiddling around we discovered a blown fuse. We used the light of the ranger motorbike and Roberto’s head lamp. It was an open starry sky with cool moist air rushing by and lots of fireflies above us and in the trees - it was like some of the starts had fallen out of the heavens! Reminded me of my spotlighting days in Mudgee!!!
We returned around 8pm and started cooking. Roberto took the lead and cooked up his signature dish of rice seared in oil, onions and peanuts. I added two small tins of mackerel in tomato sauce and I was very happy. We planned to rise at 6am tomorrow to drive and bushwalk in search of buffalo. We slept under mozzie nets on the porch of the truck inspectors house. A huge semi on its way to haul timber pulled up and spent the night with us. No trucks are allowed through the national park between 6pm and 6am. This truck had fantastic Latin American music so entertained us for a while until we finished our dinner wine. It is an isolated place with the truck guard, his wife, 4yr old daughter and his parents. I felt a little sorry for the little girl who had no other children to play with. More blu-tac tonight as the jungle sounds were even more deafening than before!
DAY 109, Mon 29FEB16, 80km (Solo2), Guard House with water 35km east of Campo to Rangers House with water 8km west of Nyabessan in the Campo National Park CAMEROON (Run4). It was an OK night of sleep. Cool but the concrete porch was a little hard without the roll matt. Up at 6am and off at 6:30am for our series of walks. We did two all together and I did a third by myself. We drove for a few kilometres into the park and got out for our first walk. Wilfred our ranger and Pierre our tracker came along. Ben stayed at the car. Pierre is actually descendant from the “Pygmy” peoples - he is short and small in stature. Our first walk lasted 75min over 1.87km. We saw some Colobus Monkeys up front then deep into the rain forest Pierre stopped and uttered the sounds of a Sephalus Antelope to attract them. Nothing. On the third attempt we saw one in the distance - it actually responded to Pierre’s accurate call. It was very cool and an easy walk.
The sounds of the forest added that extra atmosphere. We were primarily out for buffalo but it would be tough going. The rainforest is extremely thick and very large. It takes a lot of luck to come across them since they are always moving. The best opportunities come early in the morning and the late afternoon when the animals come to drink before and after they travel great distances to find food in the middle of the day. A few more kilometres more in thecae before our second walk. It took 43min over 1.21km. I recorded the walks on my GPS watch.
Once again, no big animals but it is amazing what our tracker can spot on the forest floor. Two types of frog. Both poisonous - pain not death to humans. One was the "Bony Back” and the other the “Green Tree” Frog. The second walk was specifically aimed at trekking to a large watering hole just in case there were animals drinking there. Nothing. It was a great camping spot and lots of water for washing. It was now around 10:30am when we returned to the car and we drove to the park rangers house where Wilfred worked and often stayed. It was fairly new and well equipped by African standards.
Solar lamps out front with a generator for inside lights and power. A separate kitchen with gas stove and separate sink. Even a dining room with trendy glass table. Three bedrooms and a large toilet and shower. This was great. Once we saw this place we all decided, based on advice from Pierre, that we should stay here tonight and use it as a base to visit the watering hole in our second walk at sunset just in case - it was only 6km away and it was our last shot! Before arriving at the rangers house, we passed a spot marking the third walk but no one wanted to trek it except me. So Ben, Riza, Roberto and Thomas set off back to the guard house we stayed last night to get our food and nets while I headed off on the third trek with Wilfred and Pierre. We would all meet back at the rangers house. The third walk was long and steep - 81min over 4km with 100m down and back up again.
Still no large animals. Instead another creature of the forest floor - a small, long, thin, “Green Serpent Snake” - deadly. It had to whisker like extensions on either side of its head with what was left of a bug’s foot hanging out of its mouth. It moved too fast for a photo or film. I was disappointed that I had not seen anything large but the surprise at the apex of the walk was great. A huge rocky river with raging rapids. Looked like the Colorado River! Amazing spot. So large. Enjoyed the views here before returning to Wilfred’s motor bike.
It was a short 3km ride to his house. The others had not yet returned. We settled in and even made coffee. As soon as the coffee was ready the others arrived - it is as if they smelt it! We exchanged stories and relaxed inside sipping coffee and writing our blogs. At 4:30pm we departed for the watering hole of our second walk. I ran and the others drove. I arranged with Ben for Pierre to meet me at the car at 5:30pm to take me to the water hole. Wilfred told me that the watering hole is about 6km from the rangers house.
I started my run. The road was in shade now given the tall rainforest trees on either side. Three huge lorries carrying huge logs went by and covered me in orange dust! At the 6km mark there was no car. On I ran. No car at 7km or 8km. What now? Did I miss the car when the lorries went past? Finally at 9.9km I spotted the car. No worries - I still ran my 10km but I resolved that no African is actually aware of distance - this has happened to me many times now. I will have to rely on my map or time taken instead.
The watering hole is actually a river that flows over several huge rocks. I bath in one of the pools. I had given Thomas my stuff to take and amongst them was my favourite big African bar of soap that lathered perfectly for washing clothes o your body. I was squeaky clean again with welcome relief to all the scratches and divots on my legs from trekking in Campo NP over the last 4 days. We sat silently with cameras in hand for two hours until the sun set and it got dark. No animals. This was one of many watering holes but it was worth a shot.
We made our way back to the car using our camping head torches and were home in 15min. We ate outdoors tonight. Wilfred had plenty of new plastic takes and chairs that he uses for visitors and meetings. He even put on the generator so that we could charge our camera batteries, laptops and phones. We had a riot of a time talking and joking about our adventures in Campo NP between mouthfuls of spaghetti with mackerel and our signature “Don Simeon” red wine from Spain. Finally when the generator went off it was time to crawl under the mozzie nets suspended from 4 plastic chairs on the front concrete balcony and dream about Campo...
DAY 110, Tue 1MAR16, 156km (Solo2), Rangers House with water 8km west of Nyabessan in the Campo National Park to Bush Camp 10km south of Meyo-Centre CAMEROON. I couldn’t believe it. Today was March. Already! This year was beginning to speed up. March was also the start of wet season in these parts. Boy was this literal!
When we left Wilfred and Pierre at 6:30am after a sad farewell, it started to rain - this broke our 55 day record of no rain since Day 54. Another amazing feat. 110 days had passed with only 3 days of rain and even then it only rained overnight or in the morning, never all day!!! Ben drove slowly since the dirt road of yesterday was now a sludgy, muddy mess.
After an hour we came across a logging truck stuck in the middle of the road. Ben and Thomas went to talk tot he driver - he could not start his truck. We were worried about getting bogged on the side of the road as we passed the truck. After some deliberation went for it. Success. We were on our way again.
We stopped for a $AUD1 omelette in the town of Nyambizan. The nescafe was going to take too long so we abandoned it in favour of buying wine to sooth our sadness tonight. In Nyambizan we noticed the front passenger tyre was deflated but not flat. We added air and that bought us time for the next town. We would keep going like this until we got to Ebolowa where we would meet the truck. Not so. All of a sudden, just 1km outside a small village, Ben could not put the car into gear. Nothing. After many attempts we were now well and truly stuck! TIA. Ben walked back tot he village to try and find a mechanic and he did. The mechanic suspected that something was wrong with the clutch plate and was not equipped to fix it so we all decided we would hitch a ride to Meyo-Centre which was 12km away on the junction of the main road that our truck would pass - we would get on the truck there.
Fortunately a ute passed with workers from the nearby new hydroelectric plant construction and they offered us a lift - we put all our stuff in the tray including ourselves and rode the 15min to the junction. I couldn’t help thinking along the way - this is it! This is the African adventure I was always looking for!
At Meyo, Ben called Andi to let her know what was happening but she did not answer - he sent an SMS instead explaining our situation. It was around 12:30pm so we found a simple restaurant to camp out until the truck arrived. Ben found a mechanic and travelled with him back to his car.
I had stewed antelope with pounded yam for lunch just to try the local specialty - it was good. Overcooked and peppery, as usual, but the taste was similar to veal. We expected the truck to pass between 3-4pm so Thomas and I used the time to visit the local high school next door. Thomas had already met the Principal and he allowed us to attend one of the classes to observe a lesson. How fantastic. I introduced myself to the Justin, the Principal and then to one of his 5th grade teachers, Sima Roger who then walked us to his class and introduced us to his 44 students - 18 boys and 26 girls - all wearing a green school tunic over their civies and almost al wearing thongs! They all giggled with excitement. For the next hour we sat at a desk at the back and observed a French grammar lesson where the class learned to conjugate verbs, “independence” being the key one. Mr Roger was excellent. Very enthusiastic, walked around and with excellent pronunciation.
Kids would yell “monsier monster” to be picked for an answer and when correct the whole class would make a rhythmic clap! It was hilarious. What riled the kids even more is when I put up my hand saying “monsier monster” and joined in with the congratulatory clap! The kids laughed. Even Mr Roger smiled. At the end of the lesson I said a few words in French explaining who we were and he trip we were making in Africa. I then thanked the teacher and kids and they clapped us out of the class. What a great experience. It brought tears to my eyes to sit at the back of the class at a little graffiti smitten desk because it reminded me of my brother and I sitting at the back of the primary school in my dad’s village in the summer of 1977 when we visited Greece for the first time. This is what travel is all about.
We returned to the restaurant where Riza and Roberto were camped all this time. Thomas and I waited for the truck by the roadside from 3-4pm and then Riza and Roberto took over. By 4:30pm, Ben showed up and explained to us after contacting Andi, that the truck had been delayed and that it would bush camp BEFORE Meyo so we would have to hitch a ride to it. Ben also had a share part in his hand that he had to have repaired in Ebolowa which was in the same direction. Ben found a village car willing to take us and all 5 of us jammed into it and started our drive. Just outside Meyo town there was a police checkpoint and they stopped us and invited us into their tiny wooden shack to inspect our passports. Just as we were explaining that we were part of a big group, travelling in a truck throughout all of Africa, our big yellow truck suddenly appears out of nowhere and pulls up beside the shack. Amazing.
The female officer was confused about the truck since Thomas was explaining it on broken English, followed by Roberto - I just watched and smiled. Now no more explanation. She was amazed when she saw thee truck because I could see it in her face that she was not buying our story. She promptly gave us back our passports and we cimbed aboard. Once again, the truck looked crowded and everyone aboard looked tired and weary. We all exchanged stories since a few others had also returned to the truck from solo trips. Tonight we camped in a timber yard full of huge “red wood” style logs that we had seen pass us when we were in Campo National Park.
We had hamburgers that night and continued to exchange stories of our solo adventures. Later that night Yuki, Roberto, Riza and I planned our third solo trip to Libreville in GABON, Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville in CONGO and Kinshasa and Matadi in DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC). We always had this on the cards but needed some important itinerary info from Andi on the best place to leave and rejoin the truck. We would leave the truck in Oyem CONGO tomorrow or the next day! Unreal! Alone again. We would then rejoin the truck 12 nights later in Matadi DRC. This solo trip would effectively replace 12 nights straight of bush camping with no water! It would also open up the big cities which embody local food and music. We went to bed that night with a spring in our step!
PS: A LITTLE ON CAMEROON:
CAMEROON (Pop 20.1m) is soccer mad. More than most African countries. It won Gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and has qualified for the World Cup 6 times, more than any other African country. It is also the only African country to reach the World Cup Quarter Finals in 1990. Like NIGERIA it comprises 280 ethnic groups speaking a myriad of dialects and each with its own cultural variations. The north is mainly Muslim and the south Christian. The country was also colonised by 3 European nations starting with the Germans from 1884 to 1918 who then divided it between France and England. Both languages are spoken now but French dominates. The Portuguese were the first here in 1472 and many locals escaping the slave trade escaped here from the West. T
here has also been a big influx of Chinese recently in the capital Yaounde (Pop 1.8m). The country has only ever had three Presidents since full independence in 1960 with the first free election held in 1992. It is amazing that there have been no coupes in this country but government corruption is considered high judging for the long time it takes to get anything done (e.g.: open a business, build a house, get a passport etc). The current first lady is considered an African version of Princess Di given her charity work and glamorous outfits. Food is much like NIGERIA. Lots of starch (yam, rice, couscous) with peppery sauce with meat or fish added. Lots of grilled stall fish on/near the Atlantic coast. CAMEROON is famous for its wooden face carvings, mainly o fantails and also does bronze sculptures and fine china ornaments. It has lots of rainforest and eve some active volcanoes, one is part f Mt Cameroon (Elev 4,095m), the highest in West Africa. CAMEROON is also home to lion, elephants, some gorillas, drills and monkeys.
PPS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA:
In 2012, only 15.6% of the African population has internet. This is increasing rapidly but still less than half the global average. In May 2012, Ethiopia passed a law making it illegal to use Skype, Viber and other VOIPs with up to 15yrs in prison!!!
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