Back to school

Cameroon

 

After travelling so much lately I often find myself in the back of the truck on driving days reading a book and listening to my iPod. Upon entering Cameroon however they were both put away for a few days as I enjoyed scenery which is like none I have seen before. Mountains covered in tropical rainforest, intermingled within plantain, banana and pineapple plantations. We have been travelling in rainforest/jungle terrain since Guinea but this has been somehow different, perhaps simply because the roads through the hills bring us above the tree line.

 

Sunset over the Cameroonian countryside

Formic Polytechnic School



 

Back to school

 

We bush camped our way to a town called Buea at the foot of Mt Cameroon, the tallest mountain in West Africa at 4095m. We hit the town and it was buzzing as it was the day of the yearly mountain run between both locals and international competitors and as we drove to the Presbyterian mission through the middle of town we also found ourselves driving headfirst into the runners coming down the mountain. As exhausted as they must have been they still managed a smile and a wave. Cameroon this week was celebrating 50 years of Reunification and Buea was the centrepiece. The President was to be in town in 2 days and the party had already began without him.

 

Teachers v Overlanders

 

Our penalty sailing through to seal the draw

Celebrating in style





 



 

Some of our group climbed Mt Cameroon the following day but I was unable due to medical reasons. I found plenty to do in the old town though and the following day we arranged to visit Formic Polytechnic, a school funded by a local businessman which allowed locals to go to school for free where they might not have gone at all. We had been carrying supplies for them all the way from London from their sister school in the UK. 2 computers, mobile phones for some teachers and 3 bags of books was very well received and in thanks they had organised a day of activities for us. Most of the school was away due to the festivities with the President being in town so not all the students were present but there was enough to show us around. We were shown around the school which seemed fairly well equipped by African standards and then they loaded us into the Principles office and told us we needed to pick 3 people for a debate against students with the topic being “ Who is more caring, a mother or a father.” Slightly caught out we barely had time to get 3 people together before they bundled us all into a classroom face to face with the students with Enrique Iglesias blasting from their sound system. Their MC took over and we listened to 1 student sing, then another student dance then a group of students dance.  The singing was quite traditional and pleasant but the dancing was a whole other story. Apparently the dance was traditional for Cameroon but it was very similar to certain dances I’ve seen in strip bars along King St with girls not wearing much or anything at all. Luckily our 13 year old student kept her clothes on as did the group that came after her but they still left little to the imagination. There even came a point with the group dancing when all the school boys hopped up and grinded against the girls for a while, put some money on their apparel and whispered sweet nothings in their ears. The teachers of the school meanwhile were all filming on their phones and everyone from our group didn't know where to look. Our debate was then completely forgotten as we had a soccer match to play against the teachers so the crowd moved along to the football pitch. It ended up being a draw 1-1 but the penalty we received in the last minute of the game was certainly gifted to us. After running around in tropical conditions we were all a bit sweaty so we headed back to the principles office which in no time turned into a bar as they loaded us with beer and roast chicken. The school tour suddenly got a lot more merry and when the owner of the school arrived and invited us to his house that evening it got even more interesting. We left the school and returned to our truck for a quick shower before we all headed to this strangers house which was a mansion by Cameroonian standards. The beers flowed, the music played and before long we were all dancing in his loungeroom along with about 10 teachers that rocked up. Came midnight our host suddenly decided that he had work the next day and wanted to go to sleep so the music was shut off and we were driven home with some of us continuing the party on the truck which was parked in a Presbyterian mission. Just another day in Africa.

 

River wash which has become the norm

Hitting the equator in Gabon







 

From Buea we stayed at Limbe on the beach for a couple of days, Kribi on the beach for a couple more days before heading to the capital Yaounde for 2 nights. In this time our tour leader Ishi had to fly back to the UK as she had never fully recovered from her bout of Typhoid. Upon fainting in Limbe we took her to a clinic where her medical history over the last couple of months was explained yet the staff there did not think it important enough to do any tests, instead giving her a pain killer injection and sending her on her way. The Oasis Overland office were not happy with this and despite Ishi’s protests she soon found herself on a plane home to get some proper treatment. We all miss you Ishi and cant wait til you fly back in.

 

Tackling some muddy roads





 

We have now just crossed the border into Gabon and will be shooting South quite quickly now. We crossed the equator yesterday and now find ourselves at Lope National Park after being woken at 4am by our first real dumping of tropical rain for the trip which was not nice enough to let up until after we packed up our tents. We are likely to be bush camping until Namibia now and I have no idea if I’m going to be able to get any more posts up for a while as the countries we are about to pass through are not really the most touristy or internet friendly but will no doubt be worth the trouble.

 

 

 

 

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