Nigeria, Cameroon
Week 13 - Feb. 3rd - 9th
Day 85 - day in Abuja
Day 86 - day in Abuja
Day 87 - day in Abuja
Day 88 - Abuja to Akwanga to bush-camp
Day 89 - bush-camp to Nigeria/Cameroon border (Ekok)
Day 90 - Ekok to Eyumojock to Mbenyan (day on the infamous logging road!)
Day 91 - Mbenyan to bush-camp
Week 14 - Feb. 10th - 16th
Day 92 - bush-camp to Mamfe to bush-camp
Day 93 - bush-camp to Nguti to bush-camp
Day 94 - bush-camp to Kumba to Limbe
Day 95 - day in Limbe
Day 96 - Mount Cameroon Hike day 1
Day 97 - Mount Cameroon Hike day 2
Day 98 - Mount Cameroon Hike day 3
The Sheraton Hotel, Abuja: Now with even more prostitutes than ever!
Abuja is an...interesting city. It isn't really beautiful in any way, nor is it what you might call exciting or historically interesting or full of culture. It's not really what you would call a nice city even but it is...interesting. First things first, it's scarcely older than I am! Built in the 70s to be the nation's new capital, it has the feel of a city that was designed by cold soulless robots, or by politicians (same thing). Most of the landmark buildings that adorn the area either hotels or office buildings. Two of the most interesting buildings, or to put it another more accurate way: the ONLY two interesting buildings, were the cathedral and the mosque. Since the city is so new they were obviously modern structures and they had clearly both been built with the intention of outdoing each other. The Mosque was the much grander and more dominating structure, towering over the skyline with its gargantuan dome and multiple spires. However the church, although not as large but still grand, had a trump card, a large spire built next to the church itself which was ultimately taller than the highest point on the mosque. During one day in town we managed to climb the spire, something not normally open to the public but open to us because of a small 'donation' to the church. We also managed to talk our way into the inner grounds of the mosque, also not something normally open to Joe public.
The rest of our time around Abuja wasn't so exciting. With the two religious sights thoroughly explored we didn't really have much else to do other than sit around the comfortably air conditioned public rooms of the Sheraton and occasionally venture out to the cinema to watch a movie. At night there was a jazz band playing in one of the bars, though the price of drinks outside happy hour forced us to take it easy on the booze. The bar also offered something that I'd never seen before in a luxury 5 star hotel (or indeed any hotel): more prostitutes that actual patrons. I don't know whether it's just Nigeria that had a relaxed attitude to allowing hookers to hang out at the bar or whether the manager of the Sheraton had a 'special understanding' going on but it was certainly a strange sight.We were stuck in Abuja for about a week, certainly too long most of us agreed but then we had to be there to wait for our visas to be processed, including our Angolan visas which were reputed to be some of the most troublesome to obtain. Eventually we left and high tailed it towards the border where we eventually, and after much bureaucratic time wasting, made it into our next country: Cameroon. Staying one night in the border-town of Ekok we enjoyed the reasonably priced beers that were on sale. One thing we had heard in advance: Cameroonians really love their beer so finding some wouldn't be hard!
The dreaded Cameroon logging road: for military all terrain vehicles only (and us!)
Now that we were all well rested and officially checked into the country of Cameroon we were ready to take on the dreaded and infamous logging road that we had heard so much about. To put things into perspective I should point out that 'infamous' is perhaps overstating things a little, I wouldn't expect anyone to have heard of this road. However we had been anticipating the potential troubles ahead of us long before we had arrived in Cameroon, in other words it was infamous to the African Trails crew and that's infamous enough! We had been told that the logging road would be a shortcut that MIGHT trim several days off our journey. It starts at the border of Cameroon and Nigeria and continues further into Cameroon where after about 70-80 kilometres the road quality improves to the point when you can actually successfully drive a car instead of an army tank across it. The alternative would have been to take a completely different border crossing that would have added many more days as well as taken us through Jos, a place that had recently been plagued by extreme violence with many hundreds of deaths, not such a fun choice I would have agreed. The only problem was that the logging road had potential to actually add several WEEKS to the trip in bad conditions. In heavy rain the road quite literally becomes impassable. And should we have become trapped on the road when the rain started, well lets just say we set off on the journey with enough food to last several weeks just in case!
The journey from Ekok started well enough and we immediately hit the logging road. Conditions for the first few kilometres were good enough, we were thrown violently around the vehicle as the truck lurched around over the horrendously steep bumps and over the large potholes but we still made it some distance without stopping. It wasn't long however before we came across the sections of road that required hard manual labour to allow the truck to pass. From this point on most of us were engaged in work that is normally more suited to convict labour than recreating holidaymakers. Several shovels and a pick-axe were employed in the attempts to create passable terrain on the road and some sections of the trail required hours of work before our truck could lumber awkwardly over them. Even after our exhausting attempts at manual landscaping we still managed to rip off an air canister, destroy one of the turn signals, mangle part of the front bumper, bugger up the back of the truck and god knows what else. One sickening crunch that we heard was never actually explained, though the gouge mark in the centre of the road suggested it was the drive-shaft that collided violently with the terrain below.Despite the hardships I found myself loving the experience. This was the Africa that I had come to expect, it was hard work, sweltering, hot, dusty, humid and I was loving every minute. Most of my fellow travelers were making the best of it also, enjoying the adventure despite the hard work. I was loving every minute of it, after all the website had promised, well warned actually, that we might have to endure back-breaking labour: digging the truck out of the soft sands of the Sahara for example. Since the Sahara desert had provided no such challenge I was grateful for the logging road! Most of the group were involved in some way, led by Driver Gav and 'Mac' who put his Royal Engineer army experience to good use and directing much of the group in our attempts at re-shaping the road. We really were stuck in the middle of nowhere, deep in the rainforest and far from civilisation with only a few tiny villages dotted along the track. Of course you wouldn't notice it was remote for all the traffic that regularly passed us, or in most cases overtook us! Rusty ancient clattering dilapidated automobiles regularly bounced their way past us making it look easy, overloaded to such an absurd degree with goods that they were more than double their original height. This was a normal sight in Africa ofcourse but it was nonetheless entertaining to see these shambling mounds of rust come clanging past us as they creaked and strained over the horrendous terrain at speeds that shouldn't have been physically possible! Several large trucks also made their way past us, a reassuring sight at first since it meant that transit was possible for such vehicles until we realised that these trucks had several more wheels and a much narrower wheelbase which was the main cause of our inability to pass the road withoutsevere modification.
On the first day on the 'great logging road' we covered a ridiculously short distance, probably not more than 25 kilometres, a distance I've easily hiked before, though not in such oppressively hot weather I feel I should add. At one point during one of our landscaping efforts I mentioned that all I would have needed to be in heaven would be a nice cold beer. I almost fell to my knees in thanks to the lord when one of the small villages we came across actually was able to provide this very treat! It wasn't the first pleasant surprise along the way either. We had been warned that food would be scarce if not non-existent along the way but early in the day we came across a small selection of huts with a few inhabitants who were selling pineapples alongside the road. Perhaps it was just the sweltering heat or the fact that we were getting tired but I don't believe I've ever eaten such sublime, delicious and juicy pineapples in my entire life! In the evening we found ourselves in the small village of Mbenyan where the local children were quite fascinated with us. It started with them running alongside the truck as we pulled up yelling 'white! white! white! white! white! white!' with a persistence and repetitiveness that sounded more like bird calls than children. After we settled down and pitched tents we were able to interact with them better. As usual the act of taking photos and them showing them was almost too exciting for them to bear! The trick to getting the perfect photographs was to take a photo with one camera and then snap the other shot when showing them the first. Later on one of the buildings began to blare out some music, allowing me to practice my atrocious dancing skills (or lack thereof) much to the delight of the kids.
The next day we were ready to resume our hard work, some of us jogging alongside the truck with our shovels and other tools, ready to spring into action! We covered even less ground on the second day, probably not more than 7k/5 miles, mainly due to a section of road that required the most effort yet. This time everybody got involved. Whereas before only some of us had taken part in the digging, everyone joined in this time. Several crowbars were brought out and even a hammer and chisel was used! The goal was to widen the road, flatten some of the humps and fill in some of the holes. Even those without tools managed to scrape mud and rocks from elsewhere to throw into the pits that needed filling. After completing this mammoth 'engineering project' we finally forced the truck through (after a few tries where we had to dig some more) and we were on our merry way. We would probably have covered more ground had we not come across a fairly wide river crossed by a large bridge. The prospect of a refreshing dip in the river was too much temptation for some of us and a vote was taken to decide whether to stay the night or carry on. It was around 50/50 but after Driver Gav realised that the river provided a great opportunity for fishing it was pretty much decided! He was the driver and he wanted to stay which was fine by me!
We spent the rest of the day by the riverside, lounging around and cooling off in the water. The fishing team, which consisted of Driver Gav, PS2 Gav, Greg and 'Mac' (Peter MacCallum) who managed to bring in enough for the night's meal: fishcakes. After downing this delicious meal we turned in for the night, accompanied by the sublime surround sound of the jungle. In the morning we continued on our merry way, expecting more hard labour ahead of us. It turned out that we had reached the last of the bad road. Not once did we have to step out of the vehicle and dig our way to safety. It wasn't long before we found ourselves in the small town of Mamfe, a place where we replenished our energy with lunch and, for some of us, some cold beers. Mamfe also turned out to be a place with a quite wonderful money exchange centre. I took in 50 Euros for exchange and wound up with 100 Euros worth of local currency. By the time I realised this I was in the nearby cafe so I returned to the exchange place to correct this rather large mistake. Let nobody say that my conscience doesn't ever hold sway over my decisions in life! Before long we were back on the logging road and after a few more miles we came across a splendid location that just begged us to settle down and set up camp again despite the fact that it was still early on in the day once again. We had come across a small bridge over a river and waterfall that led its way down to a small lake. The scene proved too idyllic to pass and so once again Driver Gav made the decision to stop early in the day.Authentic waterfall washed laundry service!
There are few things in life more satisfying than waking up in the morning and taking a refreshing shower under a waterfall deep in the Cameroonian rainforest. I had already used the aforementioned waterfall to do my dirty laundry in, which after several days of hard labour on the logging road I can assure you needed a serious clean! Not everybody had been having such an idyllic time however. 'Spots' had been woken up in the middle of the night after dreaming that he had hundreds of small creatures were crawling all over him. After waking up he realised that hundreds of ants were in fact crawling over him after somehow making it into his tent. All I can say is that we were all impressed that he had taken it like a man, nobody else was woken up by any screaming or yelling or even loud swearing, he had taken it all quietly and in his stride. Most of us agreed that we probably wouldn't have taken such an occurrence so quietly and with such dignity! After setting off we continued along roads that frankly weren't much better in quality than the logging road. We were still deep in the jungle and surrounded by thick rainforest, dotted occasionally with the small villages that seemed to be so ubiquitous in the area. The 'bird calls' of the children seemed to be evolving gradually. First we had started with 'White white white white white white!', followed shortly by 'White white, give me present!' and finally to the most common expression 'white maaaaaaaaan! White maaaaaaaaan!'. A little incessant perhaps but still delivered with enthusiasm and smiles, just imagine the glares of contempt a group of black men would receive when driving around a white neighbourhood just a few decades ago.When it was time to set up camp we once again found a spot next to a waterfall, though this one was some distance away from the camp unlike the last night. A few of us set out on a trek through the jungle to find the waterfall which we had spotted from a distance. After some wading through shallow waters and pushing through vegetation we found the place, yet another idyllic little slice of heaven where we swam and showered under the refreshing and cool water. After returning the next morning (day 94) for yet another waterfall shower we resumed our journey and eventually found ourselves in the coastal town of Limbe, pleased to see the ocean once again. We were also reunited with the Oasis crew once again who had been there for quite some time.
Ouch! My legs!
Limbe was our first opportunity to explore a decent sized Cameroonian town and all the luxuries that come with it, Internet places, good food shopping and many other things. It was also a good base of operations to start a climb of Mount Cameroon, a mountain of rather significant height (4100 m/13,450 ft) and steepness. The Oasis crew had already climbed it, some in 3 days, others in the extraordinarily short time of 1 day. Most of us opted for the 3 day version for the simple reason that we would actually have time to see the mountain whilst climbing it. 'Mac' and Matt (an Australian biker whom we had met several times along the road) attempted the 1 day summit assault, setting off around 5 in the morning and returning hours after dark, about 10pm, causing some concern for their guide! Matt had just made it although 'Mac' fell short of the summit by a few hundred metres. Of course we wouldn't find this out until we returned since by that time we were already descending from the peak on the 2nd day of the hike.It did concern me somewhat that this 3 day hike exhausted me so much. I've climbed higher, farther and with a heavier load but this climb really did tire me out more than I expected. Of course that's the problem with keeping fit, it takes a long time to gain fitness and very little to lose it! I'd been hiking for months during most of 2009 but three months of sitting around on a big truck all day easily negated all the hard work I'd put in before. Nevertheless I was pleased with myself for being the only person in the 11 person group who didn't use a porter to carry their own equipment, lugging my 20 kilo/44 pound backpack around on my own back. The first day of the hike was ridiculously intense considering it was only the first day. It involved the steepest walking and the highest altitude gain of the three days. We spent the night at one of the mountain huts. One of the nicest features of being at that particular altitude was that it was no longer quite so unbearably hot and not so ridiculously humid, it was almost worth the climb for this alone, though the views obviously provided some satisfaction, as did Driver Gav's cooking which some people complained was too spicy! I can't imagine what the others were complaining about!
The next day was the summit push which fortunately wasn't quite as steep as the day before. We reached the top in the late morning and spent some time on the peak exchanging high fives and taking pictures. Despite the almost permanent low cloud that is almost always present in this kind of humid climate, the views were still spectacular. Although we weren't able to spot the ocean or any of the coast we could still see much of the lower subsidiary peaks nearby as well as much of the higher areas of the surrounding terrain. Later that day we found ourselves clambering over some stunning volcanic scenery, including the crater that violently erupted in 1999, sending a huge river of molten lava down the side of the volcano. Sadly no such eruption occurred while we were on the peak, it would have livened things up quite a bit I can tell you! The next day we finished with a jungle walk down to meet our vehicles that took us back to Limbe where we were able to get some well earned rest. And gloat at the members of the group who didn't join us on the mountain of course!
hiking up mount cameroon...
...was really... 
...very... 
...beautiful
No comments:
Post a Comment