At the very heart of the geographical establishment, London’s Geographical Society (now the Royal Geographical Society) laughed at the thought of snow in Africa. Rebmann’s sighting of the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1849 was considered complete fantasy for the next decade. Bob Geldof ignored the existence of snow in … Continue reading
From my recent blogs you might think a horrible death is part and parcel of exploration. Not so. On occasion serious injury or circumcision will suffice, and sometimes just sometimes, you can get away with falling down an elephant pit containing 12 inch long spikes to be saved only by … Continue reading
The last sighting of 2011’s sun, Campo, Cameroon On January 1st, Campo’s bus station looked decidedly like the location of a good party the morning after, but I was assured transport would materialise, and it does so in the form of a Toyota pickup truck. Bags of yams are surprisingly … Continue reading
One thing I might miss from Yaoundé is its quality beighnet sucre (doughnuts). The taxi to the bus company depot south of Yaoundé’s centre cost as much as the minibus ticket to Kribi. We follow route nationale 3 back down to Edea before turning east. Close to Kribi we almost … Continue reading
Next morning my tight legs just about carry me to a six-place shared taxi to Douala, former capital of British Cameroon until independence and unification with the French-speaking east. Its 24km from the Atlantic, a port on the Wouri River. I sit for a while in the administrative heart of … Continue reading
Perhaps the most important thing I can say about Buea is that its pronounced “Boy-a”. I get a shared taxi from the ferry drop-off point of Limbe to Buea. Within an hour a trip up Mount Cameroon is organised and I’m on my way. The startpoint is 1000m above sea … Continue reading
Tree sales on the street…even in Limbe its Christmas Its an exhaustive and exhausting day of travel to Aba. The minibus gets stuck in a go slow (traffic jam) caused by road improvement works a little before the Niger bridge, though the roads are generally in a useable condition. Its … Continue reading
There were no vehicles heading to Zwedru, the only road to Harper by 8.30 (that’s very late!) so I organise a mototaxi for the journey. I later find out its 200km! Although I slept well, I am grouchy by the time the driver gets his act together and we leave … Continue reading