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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.
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Street vendors line the road in each direction. |
The scooters are taxi and will take you anywhere in the city.
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We bought lunch from here as well. |
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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.
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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.
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Neels and Mike relaxing in the pool. |
These lizards love to hang out in the sun. |
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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.
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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.
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The place is very peaceful. |
The restaurant/bar on the beach. |
The beach looking north. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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Looking north from the Chutes de la Lobe. |
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The beach is covered with fishing boats. |
Locals coming in from an early morning fishing trip.
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A fishing net inside a wooden dug-out canoe. |
The parking lot to one of Cameroon%u2019s top attraction (waterfall).
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Most churches on the west side of Africa look in rough shape.
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Grave sites are decorated with tiles & family members are buried in the front yard of your house. |
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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,...
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...while we were strolling along the beach. |
We were not sure what he was catching in there. |
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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.
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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... |
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...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. |
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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...
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...of a typical road. |
Furniture%u2019s are sold on the side of the street. |
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Another furniture vendor. When it rains they cover it with tarp.
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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. |
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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). |
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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.
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We climb up to 1700m from sea level and ... |
...then back down to 300m. |
Some sections are quite washed out. |
The scenery is beautiful. |
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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. |
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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...
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...then we hire a few young lads (no shoes required in this mess)...
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... to help push, shove and pull the motorcycle through the mud.
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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.
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The locals would always stop to talk to us, smiling & friendly...
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...asking us how we liked the road. We had given it the name "The Road from Hell". |
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Aren't we lucky we are in the dry; it might not look like it.
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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...
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...which had been stuck & blocking the road for (3) days.
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Note that the cap of the trucks are to the windshield deep in the mud.
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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...
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...when the trucks from the previous night caught up to us.
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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.
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After passing through every muddy hole we would tell each other...
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...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.
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