My Cameroon Experience

Hi everyone, It has been some time between posts.

I am in the process of uploading some pics but it takes time.



Anyway I have traveled much of northwestern and south western Cameroon and have seen much in terms of beautiful scenery, amazing culture, and met wonderful people.

I traveled Cameroon's Northwestern region which is arguably the richest cultural area in all of Africa in terms of its buildings, chiefdoms and the way its traditions coexist with the modern world. Just the northwestern province has 109 chiefs alone and it is wise to task their permission before climbing a random hill or pitching a tent.

As I have mentioned Cameroon is technically bilingual but that is far from the reality. The northwest and southwest are English speakinig areas that were once independent and were actually a separate multi-party independent state called Southern Cameroons, I bet you didn't know that! Because I know I didn't and I studied Africa in depth in school.

While in Bamenda, an English speaking city and opposition center to the President, I was having some beers with some locals when they invited me to a local and highly secretive as well as highly illegal political meeting. The risk of beating, raping of women and even death is so great that these meetings are held far away from the police and military who even in the English province are all Francophones.

The meeting was held in the dark and the group is trying to re-establish the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons. They are a very peaceful group and I was reluctant to tell them that Obama or the US or anyone in west probably won't even be aware of their cause unless lots of people start dying and there are people to document it. The whole meeting and the secretive nature in which it was held as well as the unimaginable consequences for attending such a meeting were I have to say extremely exciting.

Anyway the landscape in the Northwest consists of beautiful and endless rolling mountains filled with parrots, waterfalls and some cool weather. The people in this province were by far the friendliest I have met in my time in Africa.

I have yet to see wildlife though I head to Gabon tomorrow and then to Congo and I am determined to view Gorillas in their natural habitat. I did go to a rehabilitation center for primates which oddly enough was founded and funded by the Israeli government which I got to see gorillas very up close although behind a fence.


Here is a list of interesting daily aspects of life in Cameroon and Africa that I should mention

1. My morning coffee is purchased from the "Nescafeman" which is a young kid who pushes a big cart around the street with the Nescafe logo and he makes you coffee on the spot for about .20 cents

2. A sign of affection and friendship between men is to hold hands in the street (yes it sounds weird). It takes some time getting used to but if a man starts to hold your hand as you cross the street it is a geniunely very affectionate act.

3. Even in non-Muslim areas eat with your right hand and never ever wave hi or shake hands with your left as that is traditionally used to wipe one's ass.

4. Cameroon has a lot of Albinos, the Albino gene is very common apparently in Cameroon and Albinos stick out like a sore thumb in Africa.

5. You don't get someone's attention by yelling "Excuse me" or "Pardon" or even whisteling or snapping your fingers, you do it by hissing, this all over Africa and it really takes time to get used to it. Even in a restaraunt you get the attention of the waitress by loudly making a HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS sound similar to a snake sound.

6. Many Africans can't count, especially in Ghana, and you are often shortchanged as well as freauently you will recieve extra change. Mathematics can be foreign to many Africans and they sometimes even have a calculator trying to prove a price to you but they don't know how to add or subtract. You can't really argue when you are trying to show that this plus this equals this when the person insists that the multiplication symbol is used for addition!!

7. I found a Kabbalah center in Cameroon!

8. Cameroonians consume more alcohol and eat more then any other Sub-Saharan African nation.

9. Cameroon has by far the worst roads I have ever seen if you can even call them roads.

"Mini-Africa" Cameroon

Hello everybody and sorry for the time between posts. The internet cafes are around me plenty but the speed is insanely slow and I have so much to say it can be mind boggling.

Well I last wrote in from Togo, which contrary to State Department warnings was a wonderful place with wonderful people.

In order to obtain a visa for Cameroon I opted to skip the long trek to South Eastern Nigeria and instead opted to go to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. Malabo is the capital of Equatorial Guinea although it is on a small island called Bioko while the mainland borders Cameroon, Gabon, and Congo (the good gone). Americans don't require visas for Eq. Guinea so I figured I'll head there to obtain my Cameroonian visa.

Equatorial Guinea is the only place in Africa where Spanish is the official language which was nice to hear although the nation is very much a police state. It is a nation covered in oil and you have a massive community of Chinese, Americans, and Arab oil workers as well as the refineries that light up the night to prove it. Unfortunately it is very expensive and there are no ATMs so I was in and out.

I arrived in Cameroon on the 21st of last month and I instantly recognized it as my favorite country so far. Known as Mini Africa, Cameroon has everything to offer that one would associate with Africa. From Savannah elephants and even lions in the far north to pristine and almost untouched rainforest in the Southeast Congo Basin that has large Gorilla and Chimp populations and the northwest Bakassi peninsula (just re-acquired from Nigeria) is one of only two places where one can find a drill which is a fancy and very colorful looking monkey similar to a baboon.

Cameroon is officially a bilingual country though here in the economic capital of Douala you will be hardpressed to hear a word of it though if you drive 35 miles west you won't hear a word of French. 2 of the nation's 10 provinces are Anglophone and they comprise roughly 35-40% of the population and each English speaking Cameroonian makes it a point to let you know how badly mistreated the Anglophones are.

I went for a few days and climbed West and Central Africa's highest mountain, Mount Cameroon, it stands at about 12,000 feet and the summit was near freezing as it rained just when I got to the top and for about an hour I was sure I was going to lose a few toes to the cold. The climb left me very sore and blistered. The hike up the mountain was beautiful as it starts at rainforest and turns to Savannah and then very rocky at the top.




I did not see much in the way of wildlife though I didn't expect to see much there anyway. I do plan to go to the Southeast a rough place and not for the faint hearted though my mission has become a sighting of gorillas or at least chimps and sanctuaries don't count in my book.

Northwest of here is the "Ring Road" which is a 367 kilometer circle of towns at around 5,000 feet that is rich in tribal culture and grassy scenery. I plan to make it there as well.


This is the first country where fish in the national diet and it is cheap and fresh and available everywhere and tastes excelllent.

Here is a picture of me at 4 in the morning right before the final climb

I will send out updates as I load up some pictures, it can take hours.