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Slideshow

Cameroon Trip Pictures from Apr. 23 to May 08, 2008

To proceed to Cameroon Journal.

Our Route through CAMEROON. Covered approx. 1800km on the motorcycles, of which 250km on dirt/mud.

Apr. 24 & 25, 2008. Staying at the Hotel Mirabel in Douala, close to the Nigerian Embassy to apply for a Visa.

The hotel was located in the midst of a busy market area.

Street vendors line the road in each direction.

The scooters are taxi and will take you anywhere in the city.

We bought lunch from here as well.

Apr. 26, 2008. Neels, a South African working in Douala, opens up his home to us.

He spoiled us rotten with great food, wine and company.

We often buy peanuts in old wine bottles. On the street they are about 1000CFA ($2.20CDN).

Apr. 26 to May 06, 2008 we spent on and off at Neels place.

Neels and Mike relaxing in the pool.

These lizards love to hang out in the sun.

We buy some masks from this street vendor.

We spent 20,000CFA ($50.00CDN) on four masks.

They are amazing quality, let%u2019s hope the postal service in Cameroon is reliable & it makes it back to Canada.

Apr. 30, 2008. While waiting for Mike's motorcycle we head to Kribi. Our Room...

... and our view at the Auberge Tara, just south of Kribi.

Kribi is approx. 250km south-east of Douala on the Atlantic Ocean.

May 01, 2008. The view in the morning from our room.

Our room is the one with the blue window shutters, located over top of the river.

Fisherman out early in the morning in their wooden dug-out canoes.

The place is very peaceful.

The restaurant/bar on the beach.

The beach looking north.

It is 7am in the morning, but even later in the day there is no one on the beach.

The beach looking south.

Wooden dug-out canoe and view of our room.

A few km south are the CHUTES DE LA LOBE (waterfalls).

The waterfalls are much larger than expected...

...and empties into a pool along the Atlantic Ocean.

Brave fisherman and woman get close to the ...

... foaming waterfall.

We can not resist a dip...

... at the base of the waterfalls.

Locals fishing.

Mike taking a stroll in the pool.

The water is very refreshing.

Ruby taking a stroll in the pool.

Wooden dug-out canoes are used to transfer locals...

...from one side of the waterfall to the other.

Here one can see where the fresh water meets the salt water.

Looking north from the Chutes de la Lobe.

The beach is covered with fishing boats.

Locals coming in from an early morning fishing trip.

A fishing net inside a wooden dug-out canoe.

The parking lot to one of Cameroon%u2019s top attraction (waterfall).

Most churches on the west side of Africa look in rough shape.

Grave sites are decorated with tiles & family members are buried in the front yard of your house.

It is relaxing time.

Mike hangs out in the hammock.

Ruby lazes on a chair at the beach.

We come upon a couple of youngsters fishing,...

...while we were strolling along the beach.

We were not sure what he was catching in there.

The Atlantic Ocean was surprisingly warm...

...and we spent hours playing in the waves.

Mike successfully masters this wave.

A bit of an eye soar, in the distance an off shore oil rig.

An oil tanker loading from the stationary ship. (A hose can be seen connecting both ships).

A 12 year old boy sells us a coconut...

...and uses his mechadi to open it.

Though we might look drunk, there was no alcohol.

Afterwards we smash the coconut and eat it.

In the evening we have a perfect sun set.

The best one on this Africa Trip to date.

The sky is on fire and the sun glowing yellow.

The outline of the Bioko Island can be seen on the horizon.

May 02, 2008. Entering Douala on our way to Limbe.

With Ruby sitting on the back we get a chance to take some pictures...

...of a typical road.

Furniture%u2019s are sold on the side of the street.

Another furniture vendor. When it rains they cover it with tarp.

Another Mama on a scooter.

Street vendors line the road for kilometers.

Our original plan was to stay in Buea on Mt. Cameroon, but the weather was not favourable.

Instead we went to Limbe and visited Mile 8...

...where in 1999 Lava from Mt. Cameroon's eruption spilled over the road.

A huge thunderstorm moves in and we barely make it off the mountain of lava.

This is where the road used to go.

The view out of the bathroom window of our hotel in Limbe.

This is how the locals live...

...and this is the Holiday Inn Resort ($35.00CDN/night), not related to the chain.

May 06, 2008. We are back in possession of Mike's motorcycle (see Journal entry for customs problems).

We leave our home away from home (Neels place) behind and head east toward MT. CAMEROON.

May 07, 2008. The road from Dschang to Memfe we pass in the dry.

We climb up to 1700m from sea level and ...

...then back down to 300m.

Some sections are quite washed out.

The scenery is beautiful.

It takes us about (7) hours to cover the 140km...

...from Dschang to Mamfe.

Late afternoon we decide to push on as huge black clouds form all around us.

At least we are passing through these sections in somewhat dry conditions.

There is water hole after water hole.

Mud sections after mud sections.

Most of the time there is a single track through.

This is one of the worst sections of the road.

It looks like a bombed out section.

We walk the 300m section to determine a route through...

...then we hire a few young lads (no shoes required in this mess)...

... to help push, shove and pull the motorcycle through the mud.

A 125cc scooter shows us how it%u2019s done. 300kg vs. 100kg, we wonder what is easier.

The boys help Mike keep the motorcycle upright...

...we only have covered 15kms of the 70km stretch.

Trying to find a spot to park the motorcycle that is not too soft.

The locals would always stop to talk to us, smiling & friendly...

...asking us how we liked the road. We had given it the name "The Road from Hell".

Aren't we lucky we are in the dry; it might not look like it.

Every couple of hundred meters we have to walk the muddy section first...

...sometimes it is like muskeg.

Every step we take is like a suction cup on our boots.

We can not believe we made it through all of this.

We continue riding into the night & come upon these trucks...

...which had been stuck & blocking the road for (3) days.

Note that the cap of the trucks are to the windshield deep in the mud.

It takes us (1) hour to get around the trucks & Ruby after a day playing in the mud.

We set up camp 30km from Memfe in a small settlement (the locals give us shelter in their community hall).

Our worst fear became reality as it poured rain all night & did not stop.

We pushed on meter by meter in the rain and had just passed this mess...

...when the trucks from the previous night caught up to us.

They would spend all day removing water from the almost 2m deep muddy hole to make it passable.

Mike's gloves had leaked...

...black die all over his hands.

Ruby looking muddier and muddier as the day continues.

After passing through every muddy hole we would tell each other...

...one less to go. We are told the road has not been graded in a year, no kidding what road.

Most of the water is waist deep or more.

It took us (7) hours to cover the last 40km to Ekok (the GPS indicated 4km/hr) ...

... the border town of Cameroon & Nigeria. We made it. YES.