A different way of life: Besali, Cameroon

A simple, peaceful life in Besali

Besali is one of the outlying communities around the Cameroon rainforest and was our final stop before the expedition began. We stayed with our tracker/guide Solomon, his two wives and their children.

Having lived in London before starting my trip, I've been used to having all mod cons. Besali soon showed me a completely different way of life, living without running water or electricity and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Though I'm not sure I could do it on a permanent basis, I enjoyed the simplicity of it all and how trusting people are. You can leave your things anywhere and they would be safe, people say good morning to you on the street and everyone knows everyone, it's like a bygone era blessed with eternal sunshine.

Anna carrying provisions to base camp

Solomon's wives Anna and Constance looked after us really well and I got to try a host of new foods, which were delicious. Before heading into the forest we met with the chief of Besali who follows the towns traditional ways, part of which is the belief that the people's ancestors live in the forest. The chief was very welcoming and performed a ritual to let the ancestors know that we were coming, what we planned to do and asked for them to look after us while we were in the forest. 

With the ritual complete we then gathered our belongings. Solomon's wives, Joy, his eldest daughter and a local man took our tents and provisions up to the camp. I rather naïvely said I could take my own things, but Bedwin our biologist said it was best if they did it. After trekking two hours to base camp on tough terrain I was glad I wasn't carrying my things as I would have certainly injured myself. I am in complete awe of how Joy, Anna and Constance took all our stuff up in baskets which were strapped to their foreheads and rested on their backs.

I'll tell you all about life in the rainforest in another post as there's a lot to tell. However when we got back Bedwin and I did a tour of six local schools where I taught the children (often 100 at a time) about conservation. It was challenging for the most part as the kids didn't get my accent, but with some help from the teachers and Bedwin we got through. I also invented a game which was a variation on musical chairs in which the desks were rainforest and the children were gorillas. If we put books on the desks they became farms and the children could no longer sit at them. The game worked really well and the children got to see the effect of farming on the gorillas, however it did occur to me on day two that I was an ostensibly white man telling a bunch of black kids that they were gorillas... So that happened. Anyway the main thing is that it worked I suppose.

And on that note, I'll leave you with a video of my adventures

Cameroon... Wow

With Kelly, one of my new friends

Wow, I can't believe two weeks are over. I have done so much and learned even more in just a fortnight and now it's over and I get to tell you all about it.

I'm not going to lie, there were some challenges (the transport), but also some apparent difficulties that turned out to be huge bonuses (living without running water or electricity). Then there were the brilliant and rewarding bits (the conservation, the learning, the food and culture as so on). For taking such good care of me on this trip, I want to say a huge thank you to Bedwin, the biologist on the trip and Solomon, our local forest guide.

I had an amazing time and feel good that I took the opportunity to give back during my world trip. This expedition has definitely given me a taste of Cameroon life and makes me even more sure that I want to do more volunteering as I travel. It also reinforced in my mind, the need for people to take conservation seriously and help organizations like ERuDeF, which I worked with, to do the invaluable work they do.

I also met some great people, who I hope will be reading this. You know who you are and there will be a quiz (joke!).

There is so much to tell you that I am going to break it down into a few videos which I will post over the next couple of weeks.