Libreville (named after Freetown Sierra Leone) was set up as a home for freed slaves, and terrible art. I walk along Libreville’s coastline as I had done in 2009. The road seems neater and cleaner, the benches painted a lively blue when before they were plain concrete. Sunday is the… 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
My only troubles that night were a lack of small change and no cocktail stick to eat my fresh pineapple with. Its not far to Krake, the border. On the Nigerian side the bribe requests start early. As its my first time in Nigeria I have to pay something I’m… Continue reading
I had hoped being chased down the road by a batik wielding merchantwoman would call an end to Porto Novo, but sadly not… Next morning a haze covers Porto Novo and stretches to Cotonou and the Nigerian embassy, lowering the temperature to a pleasant level, but it has burnt off… Continue reading
Visa extended I grab my bag and jump in a six-place shared taxi; handbrake position again; heading in the wrong direction to see some of the country I missed. Ouidah’s museum of history in the old Portuguese fort of John the Baptist is a disappointment, but is the start of… Continue reading
If it’s a new week it must be time for another country. Benin, country number 12, has just over twice the coastline of Togo. Aneho’s Quartier Jericho must only be a couple of kilometres from the border at Hilakondji. I walk across the frontier, and have onward transport to Cotonou… Continue reading
