Cameroon: interesting facts and tips

Putting my feet up on Ethiopian Airlines

While putting my feet up on my flight out of Cameroon, I took some inspiration from an Ethiopian Airlines destination guide video and have changed the format of my own tips videos. I hope you like the new format.

Facts about Cameroon:

Population: 22.25m (2013)
Languages: French and English (though a lot of people speak pidgin English)
Currency: Central African Franc. £1 GBP = 825.59 Francs
Cost of a 1.5l bottle of water is 400 Francs (under 50p GBP)
Capital city: Yaounde
Largest city: Douala

Some of the children of Cameroon

The name Cameroon comes from the Portuguese Rio dos  camarões which means river of prawns
Cameroon became independent of France and England in 1960
The colours of the Cameroon represent vegetation (green), independence (red) and sunshine (yellow)

Tips for traveling in Cameroon

1) you only pay airport tax (10,000 francs) on the way out of the country. Don't be fooled by anyone in the airport on your way in claiming to be a security guard
2) don't exchange money with the touts at the airport, do it before hand
3) this isn't a luxury holiday so be prepared to rough it. On my trip I had limited access to running water and electricity (though this wasn't necessarily a bad thing)
4) if carrying your passport in your luggage , make sure that once your bag is unlocked it's easy to get to. I had to leave my passport in my bag when my bike broke down as the whole backpack was strapped to the bike meaning I couldn't access it
5) keep your passport on you when traveling as there are a lot of roadside police checks
6) in the rainforest always have water purification tablets and a timer (smart phone) on you, refilling mid hike is a life saver

One taxi I took had 10 people in (7 adults & 3 babies)

7) try public transport a couple of times, but make sure you know the details of a private driver - your hotel should be able to help
8) insect repellant is a must for the rainforest
9) if you have tattoos cover them up, people will stare - I was also told that it was against the word of God
10) Church is very... let's say, old school (you're all sinners unless you stay in the church, God caused 40 days and nights of floods to kill sinners like homosexuals). Only go if you're completely ready for this

Well that's it. Hope you liked it and please do watch the vid, subscribe, like, comment, etc : )

Peace out,

Ni

Life in the Cameroon rainforest - Gorillas and Chimpanzee conservation

My shower for the trip

Life in the rainforest is exhausting in the best possible way. You trek for hours under the shade of the trees recording the signs of animal movement, feeding, etc and the effect of the human population, in challenging terrain - sometimes I thought the forest was actively trying to trip me up. However you know that you are helping an endangered species and feel like you've achieved something, that you've pushed yourself further than expected each day.

Every morning I would get up, have coffee and cornflakes (in the same cup. That's a thing here), trek for hours and come back to the camp exhausted and head to the stream for a wash in the cool, but not cold, crystal clear water. You feel that you are really challenging yourself and getting the best out of your abilities.

Capturing data about the animals was fascinating as I learned, amongst other things, how to identify a Gorilla nest, which is large, well constructed and no higher up than 15m, from a chimpanzee nest. I also learned how

Gorilla nest about 10 meters above ground on one side

to judge the age of signs through looking at any broken vegetation, degradation of footsteps, etc. I could also identify primary forest and the type of plant growth from secondary forest. I got really good at it an by the end was able to do it without help. 

The data collection showed just how varied the wildlife is. Alongside the Gorilla and Chimpanzee signs, we see tiger feeding signs, a bush baby, a Bannermans Koraco (an endangered bird), a tree snake a huge millipede and a praying mantis, not to mention countless types of beautiful butterflies and dragonflies of every colour under the sun. The only thing that creeped me out were the ants, a few were fine, but when you see thousands of huge ants in one massive weaving line, it makes the skin crawl. I was glad I had my trousers tucked into my socks, though some even got through that! 

Sadly hunting is still rife

We also sadly saw signs of human activity, this included cocoa, plantain, banana and other farms that were dotted here and there cutting up the rainforest into tiny uninhabitable sections. There were also a lot of fun shells. While poaching Gorillas and Chimpanzees is illegal, hunters will come to the rainforest for other animals including porcupine, blue da at (a type of bird) and bush babies. The hunting activity obvious scares the Gorillas and Chimpanzees, with recent data showing that the loans Gorillas have been forced to leave their homes and venture further up into the rainforest.

I don't mind that I didn't see any Gorillas or Chimpanzees, as I knew it was unlikely, what with all the farms and hunting, plus I know that the data I collected will be used for ongoing work in protecting these amazing animals. I did however go to Limbe wildlife park which rescues Gorillas from the pet and bush meat trades, both of which are illegal. There I also saw chimpanzees, drills and other primates.

Being in the rainforest was everything I had hoped for and more. Completely cut off from technology, amongst the wild life, cooking on a fire, etc. It was an amazing and humbling experience. It has also reinforced my belief that we should do all we can to save the rainforest as well as its inhabitants and work with the local community to give them alternatives to farming and hunting in the rainforest. It's an important issue, with less than 300 Nigerian Cameroon Cross River Gorillas left in the wild, the species is classified as being critically endangered and could become extinct in the next five to ten years!

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.