Cameroon: The Champions!!

So far Cameroon is my favourite country, from the lush tropical forests, brilliant bright flowers, red beret-ed gendarmes, bi-lingual language to the friendly chic women or those clad in vibrant smock dresses, handsome men and finally Mount Cameroon, which last erupted in 2000, and the picturesque coastline here in Kribi. All this after only being here less than 3 days. There may be more to come in the following days.

We exited Nigeria on the morning of the 15th with a bit of an arguement between Chris and the sous-Immigration Officer who was put in an awkward position when Chris asked if he wanted money. When he refused in front of the State Security guy then none of the underlings could extract cash from anyone else while we were there!  Cameroon is so much more civilised and far less shouty. Nigerians are a noisy lot. We did meet some very kind helpful people while there, such as the lovely policeman who held my hand and stopped all the traffic on a very busy roundabout in Benin City to lead me over the road back to the Enterprise. I had been to an ATM, again helped by a nice young man. There was no way for Chris to stop in the seething mass of traffic and he had to drive on quite a way, leaving me behind. We saw not one other white face in the whole of our journey through Nigeria.

The first night in Nigeria was spent by the river at the entrance to a quarry and we had a security guard on hand all night. Next day after battling through Benin City we took the road out following our satnavs to Abuja. It was a fairly quiet road with few police stops and it was late in the day before we realised we had taken the wrong road. All turned out for the best and we had an overnight stay in the Oma Oda Guesthouse in Ibillo where the Manageress made us very welcome and we gave tours of the Enterprise to her friends and family throughout the evening.

The first day in Cameroon we drove to Mamfe where we bought a new SIM but as we were in the English speaking part of the country, all phone and internet was switched off because of a nationwide dispute over language. We took the new road to Komba which is brilliant in places where it is finished but a nightmare of dust where construction is still in progress. We drove til 30 minutes after dark because we had read that the previous Oasis Overland truck had camped in a big Chinese quarry beneath the viaduct. We found it, all lit up like a Christmas tree, and parked next to the security hut for the night. Yesterday morning we walked to a nearby waterfall accompanied by Elias, the day guard. We had to go right through the busy working quarry, which had been going all night with diggers and conveyor belts. We would never have found the way without Elias. He took us through the cocoa trees with their big green pods of beans, alongside a river and under a rotten fallen tree to a sandy beach and clear fishing pond into which the waterfall descended from the rocks above. It was good to get some exercise before another day's drive.

The poor souls in the villages alongside the new road building were 'walled' in by helps of earth and stone and have to live with continual dust. Before Komba the road was finished and we made good time to Buea (Boy-ah). Just before we reached the coastal resort of Limbe, our German friends, Werner and Gaby, who we met in Ghana, and who we have kept in touch with, spotted us and we stopped for a chat. They had been staying at the Seme Beach Hotel along the coast from Limbe and we're on their way to Kribi.

We decided to have a night at Seme Beach right under Mount Cameroon. We spent the afternoon cleaning some of the dust from the Enterprise and rearranging the balloon kit in the box. It was very hot and humid so we had a shower at the beach and then a nice meal of Barracuda in pesto sauce with chips! An early night but it was hot: 30C inside. We awoke this morning to thunder and lightning and later a shower of rain. Today has been a relaxed drive to Kribi, a beautiful seaside town with golden sand, unlike the black volcanic beaches of Limbe. Instead of going to find Werner and Gaby at a hotel we came straight to what was shown as an airport on the map, hoping it would be a disused airstrip - and it is, but still in perfect condition.  Unknown to us it is in use by the military who have a camp nearby. Before we found that out, a mechanic fixing a broken car beside the airfield buildings, said his brother-in-law was the airport manager. He phoned him, he came and in turn contacted his Commandant. There followed a long protracted viewing of all our balloon documents, passports and Chris's licence and logbook. Permission for us to fly appears to have been granted, but we are spending the night inside the military camp for our protection, hooked up to their generator for air conditioning tonight, although it is quite a bit cooler here, only 26C during the day. Unfortunately, once they had us 'captured' they demanded a high fee for taxes. The Commandant has now left and a lower fee is on the table for his consideration. Hopefully it will not be raining in the morning and the cost of the flight 'tax' will have been agreed.