This Christmas break, my brother and his wife came to visit me, and we all went to the Grand North. We saw lots of things, tried lots of new foods, and generally had an adventure. Here is basically our itinerary. Since my camera isn’t working well, I don’t have any photos to go along with the description. Anna has lots of photos of the trip though, so I will try and put some photos to go along with all this text later.
December 24th
On Christmas eve my brother Kevin and his wife Anna came to visit Cameroon. I hired a taxi to drive from my city (Buea) to Douala where the airport is to pick them up. It is about an hour away.
Ethan and Boris were staying at my house after climbing the mountain, and when we got back they had bought some grilled fish and soya for my family to try.
December 25th
Christmas morning we opened presents (thanks for the replacement ipod guys!) and then headed off to the beach. After enjoying a traditional sunny Christmas in the sand, we went to the wildlife sanctuary where we saw lots of monkeys. That night we spent with other volunteers in Buea.
December 26th
In order to get the first bus to Yaounde, we left my house at 5 AM, to get the 6 AM bus. It left about as on time as things get in Cameroon, around 6:45. That night we got on the overnight train that goes to Ngaoundere.
December 27th
Since we were now in the North, Kevin and Anna needed to experience riding motos! We started with a leisurely hour long moto ride to see some waterfalls and lakes. Lake Tisan is a crater lake, and the Vina Waterfalls were pretty, with a picturesque shipping crate in the background.
December 28th
We started the morning off by climbing Mount Ngaoundere. It was a pretty hike, and it was cool to see the city spread out, and fading off into the dust clouds in the distance. We interrupted both a funeral and a group of teenagers meeting at the top, so we didn’t spend too long before heading back down.
In the afternoon we travelled to Lagdo, which is a small village on the edge of a giant lake (Lake Lagdo) that is rumored to have hippos.
December 29th
We woke up early to look for hippos. We climbed over a ton of rocks, and had broken conversations with fishermen and other random people who kept telling us to look in different places. Eventually, someone told us that we had to go to the dam to see hippos, so we wandered into town to find some motos.
Kids mobbed us to try and shake our hands. Anna brought out her camera to ask if we could take a photo, and they all lined up neatly and orderly in about 2 seconds, while older kids who were too cool to try and shake our hands rushed over to be in the photo.
We grabbed 2 motos to take us to the dam. They stopped as soon as we were in sight, and rushed off soon after we had paid. We realized why, when some gendarmes came over to tell us that we couldn’t be there. Instead, we had to go and talk to the man who runs the dam. After he explained to us that the dam was a government facility and we couldn’t see it, he offered to give us a tour. He walked us around the entire place and pointed out where the hippos usually were (we were a few hours too late, or 8 hours too early). He often pointed out towards the dam and said “you can’t take pictures here” and then would turn and say “but you can take a picture of this” and then wait expectantly until Anna took a photo.
Back in Lagdo, we went to the hotel to get our things and try and figure out how to get to a major town. I asked the person who was running the hotel, and was overheard by another guest who offered us a ride to Garoua (about 2 hours away) as long as we were ok with stopping for a drink on the way.
He later said that he was a friend of another Peace Corps volunteer in Ngaoundere. He also asked us a lot of questions about agriculture in the US, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to help with much.
Driving into Garoua you cross a bridge, where our new friend (I never learned his name, I asked twice but never got an answer) pointed out the hippos below. He pulled over momentarily and a man came running up to ask if we wanted to touch the hippo. We declined, and were driven to the bus company that would take us to Mokolo. After we got there, we were told that the last bus had just left, so our friend argued with them for a minute in Fulfulde. We were told to hurry and buy tickets while they called the bus and told them to wait. We used motos to catch up to the bus.
We got to Mokolo a little after dark, where we met up with Emily and Zach, 2 volunteers who live there.
December 30th
On the 30th we went to Rhumsiki, a village known for its strange rock formations. After a 1.5 hour moto ride down a dirt road, we went on a hike through the surreal scenery. We crossed a tiny dried up stream, which marks the border to Nigeria. There are 8 families who live in the valley, 4 Cameroonian families, and 4 Nigerian families who guard the border.
We then visited the Crab Sorcerer, who told Anna that she would have 2 kids, a boy then a girl, and that she and Kevin would have a tranquil life. In response to my question of “what will I do after I leave Africa?” he told me that I would return to Europe, stay with a friend, study a bit, then get a good job and lead a tranquil life.
We then returned to Mokolo where I argued with the moto drivers over price, because 2 of them didn’t speak French, and they guy who translated either misunderstood or they decided while they were waiting that they wanted a different price.
December 31st
A group of us from Mokolo all travelled together to Maroua. We explored the city a bit before going to the New Year’s Party. It was cool to see all the volunteers in the Grand North.
The first day of 2012
We started the new year off right with Spaghetti Omelette Sandwiches. We then wandered around Maroua some more, exploring the market and other areas.
January 2nd
Kevin, Anna, me, Rose, and her brother all went to Waza National Park. It was a few hour drive to get there, but the drive itself was very interesting. The width of Cameroon in the Extreme North region is very narrow, so you saw many moto drivers who were smuggling goods between Nigeria and Chad. The most scary was the moto drivers who would carry up to 20 large containers of gasoline on their motorcycles.
In Waza we saw a lot of giraffes, some antelopes of various types, a bird that looked like it came out of a disturbing nightmare, and a bird that was a spectacular bright blue.
January 3rd
Our plan for the third was to go to Pouss, but it wasn’t very time sensitive so we didn’t set an alarm. For the first time we slept in until 10, so by the time we got to the bus station the last bus had already gone. However, we were told we could take a bus to Maga (the neighboring village) and take a moto from there. So, we did.
I got our moto drivers to take us all the way to the Chad border, but there was a large river and by the time we made it there it was starting to get late. They asked if we wanted to go see the traditional houses that Pouss is known for, but since it was getting later we decided just to go back to the market. The moto drivers pretended they didn’t understand and took us to the houses anyways. We argued with them for a bit there before they did what we told them to.
We walked around the market a bit, tried some random foods, and enjoyed some warm Fanta. We then decided we should try and go back even though we hadn’t been there long. When we found the busses that were going back to Maroua, they said they we already full, but we could pay twice as much and they would kick someone else off. While Anna and I were debating with our consciences, the bus left, so I asked another woman who was left behind what she would do. She said she would take a moto to Maga and hope there was a bus in Maga, so that is what we did. When we got to Maga, the bus was almost ready to leave so we rushed and bought some tickets and we were off. After a long bumpy bus ride with only a few stops to pray and to close the door when it rattled open, we were back in Maroua.
January 4th
We took the 3 AM bus that left at 4 AM to go all the way from Maroua to Ngaoundere. We arrived in Ngaoundere in the early afternoon. We went to the Lamido’s palace and wandered around a bit.
January 5th
In the morning we chased down the mobile cart of the famous omellete guy and experienced his omelletes. We then wandered through the market to buy some scarves and had to run away on motos to get away from the persistent woman who was propositioning my brother.
We ate dinner with some other volunteers before getting on the overnight train back to Yaounde.
January 6th
After falling asleep in the scrubland of the North, we woke up to the jungle of the grand south. We transferred to a bus in Yaounde, and headed off to Buea.
We enjoyed a meal of traditional Cameroonian food before going back to my house and falling asleep in beds that didn’t move.
January 7th
We went to Limbe in the morning, so that I could go to the bank, and so that we all could enjoy fresh seafood. We then went back to Buea and Kevin and Anna were tolerant spectators while I debated leases with my new landlady. A quick run through the market for food, and it was time to go to Douala and the airport.
So, in 2 weeks, we went to 6 regions and 10 cities. It was a lot more fun than this probably makes it sound, but at least it is an idea. Thanks for coming Kevin and Anna, and I contribute our amazing transportation luck to you two (because I certainly don’t have it on my own).
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