The Pictorial Tour

Ahh, so I finally found decent internet, and figured i would take the chance to do a pictorial catchup.

Evan, Brian and a couple folks from the neighborhood in Brian's house Near Bamenda Cameroon on Christmas night, after eating about 6 meals in 5 hours.

Evan and Lisa (another PCV) getting ready to start the third day of 12 hours on those prison-like buses in the background to get to the far south east corner of Cameroon where we saw the jungle, gorillas and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Early January

Myself, Evan and Andy next to a tributary of the Congo River with the DRC behind that. We tried to convince a kid on the other side to take us across in his dugout canoe, but his mother did not let him, bumber.

Andy and Brian hanging out at a wildlife viewing platform that we hiked to in the jungle oh Lobeke NP. Did not see much wildlife aside from a few varieties of monkeys, but did get yelled at by a pack of gorillas on the hike in that we could not see in the dense foliage, but were close enough that we could smell.

On a drive in the park a pack or gorillas crossed the road in front of us, and this big dude tried to stare us down in the car.

On the drive out we came across these guys using what has to be the world's biggest chainsaw. We saw many trucks full of old growth tropical hardwoods up to 8' in diameter, and guess this is what you need to cut it down.

Evan enjoying the lilies that we picked from this lake that we hikes to near Brian's house in the northwest of Cameroon.

The three amigos sporting our Obama shirts (which are everywhere) in front of Brian's house.







The three of us at the top of Mt Cameroon in late Feb, possibly one of the only times i have been in my flease in the tropics and still been cold; i guess that is what 13,000+ feet will do.







The long decent from the top. My legs have never been so soar for so long, 10,000 ft down on steep scree takes it tole.







A group of eleplants that we were chasing through the bush while riding on the top of a minibus. In Waza NP in the far north of Cameroon, early March.







Look, a Toys 'R' Us advert, or maybe just where their mascot has retired.







The valley near Rumsiki in the north of Cameroon. To the left is Nigeria, where we are walking is Cameroon.

Evan and I in the front of a minibus as we nervously crossed the Niger Delta, needless to say it was a rather unsettling place to be. I have never seen so many people with guns. Every 30 min there was a police checkpoint with 10-20 guys with large automatic weapons or shotguns, and the occastional jeep with a machine gun on top. Thankfully they had bigger things to worry about (like bandits, and pirates) to be bothered trying to extort money out of us; they just took the 40 cents of a bribe from the driver and let us roll through.

Evan with our couchsurfing host in Lago, Emmanual, who was a great guide in a crazy city.

Ganvie, a stilt village in southern Benin as seen from our hotel window (also on stilts). This is where we meet up with Hala and Adam in mid April

A village in norther Benin we hiked to with a goup of PCVs from Niger, complete with beautiful baobob trees and mud castle looking houses called Tatas. Late March.

A bunch of cute kids playing with us ontop of the Tata that we rented for the evening. Most were naked, and the majority either were pregnant or just malnurished, i dont know...

We borrowed the kids' slingshots and spent a few hours shooting things from the top of our castle.

Evan and Mary seeing how many kids they should fit in the base of this large Baobob, I think there were a good 15 of them in there.

Myself and Jyoti, a volunteer from Niger, climbing a mango tree. Turns out that mangoes are related to poision ivy, and the sap I got on me gave me a gnarly rash that still has not gone away fully. Damn mangoes.

Despite the rash, the sunset is just somehow more beautiful from the top of a tree.

Our beautiful swimming hole at a waterfall just outside Penjari NP in norther Benin. Note Evan in the bottom right.

Catching up.

So, it has been even longer since an update... I swear i will get better at this.

It is now our second week here in Benin, and we are having a great time, as usual. We finally left Cameroon around the 12th of April with only one week left on out Nigerian visas, which we had gotten when we intended to cross in the north in early March. With only a week to get through Nigeria we crossed from Cameroon near Ikom in the south of Nigeria, and spent Easter in Calibar.

We meet a host from couchsurfing who took us to his house in Aba. To get there we had to cross the Niger Delta area, which is sketchy to say the absolute least. Funny, the state department tells us not to go there... The city of Aba is just up the road from the infamous Port Harcort, and as such had a very rough lawless sort of feeling. Thankfully we had a very trustworthy host who took really good care of us and showed us some quality Nigerian hospitality. We had planned to couchsurf in Lagos as well, but had not been able to get online and get the host's number because ever thing was closed for the Easter week.

The following day we got up bright and early to catch the first bus to Lagos, so that we could get into a hotel before it got dark. After a long bus ride on the nicest roads we have yet encountered in Africa, we arrived in the center of Lagos at our hotel with the help of a local who was on our bus. The place, called 'Ritz Hotel', was the cheapest place in the book. So cheep in fact that we could have stayed there by the hour... The dirty worn out feeling of the hotel did not get in the way of us strolling around the city, which had a surprisingly safe feel, and getting our visas for Benin. On the second day in Lagos we get in contact with our host there, and spent the remaining day and a half with him.

Cameroon part 1

Our time here in Cameroon has been excellent thus far. We have been to every province, and meet a ton of great folks. We have enjoyed it so much that we our going to extend our visas a bit and stay until the first week of April (we are now illegally legal residents). Some of the highlights have been:

Seeing Brian for Christmas – obviously, as it was one of the reasons for coming.

Meeting a ton of great folks through Brian – cause they are super cool.

Seeing gorillas in the jungle of the south east – took 4 days on really bad buses but was totally worth it.

Climbing Mt Cameroon – Then watching folks run up it in back in 4.5 hours, a 26 mile run climbing and descending 10,000ft.

Seeing wildlife in the north – Saw elephants, giraffes, antelope and tons of birds.

So we arrived in Douala on the 23rd of December, just in time to make it up to Brian’s village of Bambui for Christmas. Our first impressions of Douala were that it was a hot, humid, busy commercial town, and we were eager to leave for the beach. After grabbing money from the bank, we had a wonderful half hour argument with the taxi driver over price, which quickly turned into a argument with him and 10 of his friends over about 1 us dollar (it was the principal of the thing). Essentially he had changed the price, and we the rich whites should just pay the extra. While I think they were impressed with our arguing stamina, they didn’t let up, and we eventually paid the extra but al least got to show them that not all whites are pushovers... Once that argument was over we flagged down a car that was headed to Limbe, the beach town we were going to stay in. Problem was that this guy was not a taxi driver, and just wanted some gas money, which pissed off the taxi drivers to no end cause he picked us up just outside the taxi stand. So after being drug out of the car, he paid the angry taxi driver a bit of cash, and were on our way out of Douala, finally. After about and hour in traffic jam and another hour actually moving we got burgers and checked into our tent on the black sand beach and had a swim.

Once out of the large francophone cities we really started to enjoy Cameroon quite a bit. Both the food and the people were a welcome change from Mauritania and Senegal. The food in Cameroon is really flavorful, and quite spicy, as opposed to the steamed veggies and bland rice we had become used to. Not only was it really good, but it is everywhere. Every bar has a few folks selling food outside, whether it is delicious grilled beef, fish or pork, or endless other side dishes. Even when the bar is closed these ladies serve lunch on the patio, and have as many as 10 types of food in pots for our choosing, rivaling any Vegas buffet. Best part is we leave stuffed to the brim for less than a buck. One of the best breakfast choices is to go down to an omelets shack (which are everywhere, and are really just shacks) and get a spaghetti omelets. These delicious morsels are just what they sound like, a wad of spaghetti with a couple eggs thrown in to a pan with too much oil, and they come out like a delicious egg pancake from heaven, with tea for less than a buck.

So after relaxing at the beach for a night we took a bus to Brian’s post on Christmas eve. The entire day of Christmas was spent making and eating food. Essentially everyone has an open house where everyone else comes by to have some food and chat. So we made some Indian food and had a few guests over, and then made the rounds of all the people brain knows. When it was all over we had about 6 or 7 meals and a bad case of food coma.

The following day we began to make our way down to another beach town called Kribi for new years. For 3 days we hung out at the beach with a group of really cool PCVs and ate a ton of fresh grilled fish. The fish was so fresh that we would watch people dragging in nets on the beach, and bring the catch up to the grill in buckets.

After we got our fill of fish and beached, we started to head toward the eastern province. The route took us back through Yaounde, and then took another 3 days on buses. The route down there is so bad that one of the pot holes (more like a crater) that we got stuck in almost tipped over the bus. I was sitting in the front with the driver, and felt us almost tip, and saw the horrified look in the drivers face, and we all gently evacuated the bus to let him try to get out without worry of tipping with all the passengers. So after 3 days of being bounced around and chocked nearly to death by dust we made it to the post of Brian’s friends, Matt and Sara, who work for the WWF running Lobekie National Park.

While down there we took a couple hikes with our pigmy (the PC term is Bakah) guide little Jon. One of the hikes was an overnighter to a wildlife viewing platform. On the ride to the start of the hike we had to stop to let a family of gorillas cross the road, and for one to try to stare down our truck down. After a while into the hike we heard a group of gorillas yelling at us that we were getting too close. They were close enough that we could smell their musk, but could not see them because of the dense vegetation. All that any of us could do was to try not to wet ourselves, and stare at little Jon to tell us what to do. After we heard them crash off through the woods we collected ourselves and continued to the platform. The platform was rather uneventful, but nice to hang out in silence and watch monkeys and antelope in the forest clearing. On the way out the next morning we ran into the same group of gorillas, and this time were not only close enough to smell them, but saw where they had breakfast.

The drive back to Yaounde was made much easier thanks to getting a ride with them most of the way in the WWF truck. The well oiled WWF operation was a great relief from the regular African way, with everything either broken or about to. The drive took 2 days instead of 3, and at the one night at the WWF compound saw us in a comfortable accommodation and the truck with new front and rear suspension by the morning. Usually that would have delayed us the majority of a day.

More to come with pictures soon. Just wanted to get started catching yall up.

Senegal

Ahh, so it has been a while since I have had a chance to update the blog. Now I am going to try to fill in some of the gaps. Here are a few photos from the couple of weeks that we spent in Senegal.

We crossed into Senegal with a group of volunteers who were on their 'Christmas booze run' from the alcohol free Mauritania. After a couple days enjoying the nice french colonial town of Saint Louis with this lively bunch of folks, we made our way to Dakar to get our visas for Cameroon. In Dakar we couchsurfed with a Gambian journalist, Sheriff, his friend Laye, and Layes family (picture below).

The bulk of our week and a half in Dakar was spent going to and from the Cameroonian embassy to try and get our visas. This required a whole bunch of paperwork (some that we had to create) and a whole lot of waiting, coming back and waiting. What was supposed to be a simple 24 hour process took 4 days of going to the embassy at noon, then being told to come back at 2, then to come back at 4, then 6, then the next day at noon. During this time in purgatory in downtown Dakar we managed to so some productive things. Aside from getting well acquainted with the area's kebab shops, we found out that my flight reservation got canceled. It turns out that the American based travel website through whom we bout our tickets did not like me. Sometime after they sent my confirmation and took my $600, they decided to cancel the ticket without informing me. After being told this by the folks at the Virgin Nigeria office, I was put on a waiting list, and was eventually able to buy the ticket in cash (turned out to be 20 buck cheaper than online) less than a week before we left. Essentially the whole week in Dakar was us getting more and more worried that I would not be on that flight (the last one to get us to Cameroon before Christmas (main point of the trip)) or that we would not get our visas in time, and thus be sent back to Dakar. Anyway, needless to say it all worked out. I got my ticket on Wednesday, and we got our visas on Thursday, and we left on Sunday at midnight.

So for the weekend after our ordeal in Dakar we decided to visit a friend of mine, Natalie, from school who is now in the Peace Corps in Senegal. We had her cell number, but because her village of Bane is so remote (no power) we were unable to get ahold of her while in Dakar. So, with the village name and the knowledge that there was a regional house in Kaolack, a couple hours from her village, we left on Friday the 19th for a quick adventure to try to her. So, we took a 4 hour bus to Kaolack, where we did not know anyone, but we were told by Peace Corps Volunteers in Mauritania that there was a regional house where someone could hopefully point us in the correct direction. So when we arrived we wento the center of town and asked around if anyone knew of the Peace Corps house. To our surprise in a decent sized town of at least 60000 people, the first moto driver we asked knew where it was, and dropped us off at the door, a brilliant stroke of luck. At the house we were greeted by a couple volunteers, who offered to let us spend the night and help us contact Natalie. While watching old westerns (damn they are long) they called a volunteer near to her village, who then called a person in Natalie's village to tell her to call the regional house. So, with the wonders of technology and a few helpful folks Natalie called back in about 10 minutes, and gave us direction to her place.

The journey to her village of Bane involved an hour bus ride, and another hour and a half on a donkey cart. So by Saturday afternoon we made it to her village, and her 15 X 15 foot grass roofed hut. This village was little more than 4-5 family compounds, for a grand total of about 50 people. We were able to spend only about 20 hours with her in village, as our flight left late on Sunday night/ Monday morning, and the visas took alot longer than they should have. In that time we got to have a decent look at the village and surrounding area.

Us with folks in Bane

Natalie with the local chillins

The Family we stayed with in Dakar (awesome folks), Sheriff back row one from the left, and Laye front right

Trying to be as cool as the guard in front of the president's palace.

Happy holidays from Cameroon

It has been some time since I posted. Not for lack of interesting things to say, but rather a lack of decent Internet connections, and time to upload photos and such.

Evan and I had a great time traveling in Mauritania and Senegal, doing anything from a 6 day camel trek to visiting another college friend at her Peace Corps village in Senegal. After some time in Dakar getting our visas we flew to Douala and meet Bragg, spent the night on a black sand beach, and have now moved into his house in a village about 10km outside Bamenda. As soon as I find the time, I will post much more about our travels up to now, but for now am going to enjoy the Christmas and New years festivities here in the village, and with other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's).

If anyone would like to call, we do have a cell phone that can accept international calls, but making international calls here is prohibitively expensive (upwards of $3 per min). So if anyone gets a hold of an international calling card and would like to contact Evan or I, our number is 011 237 7655 7905. We are about 8 hours ahead of the west coast, just FYI.

Have a great holiday season, I miss you all.

Camel Trekking and Mauritania

Now that I have some time here in Cameroon, I will catch y'all up with what we did on the way down here, pardon the flashback in time.


Ahh, camel treks, so beautiful yet so painful. The highlight of out time in Mauritania was hands down the 6 day camel trek that we did over the dunes of the Sahara. To get to the village where we got on the camels was a journey by itself. From the mountain in southern Morocco we took a 4 hour bush taxi to a town where we caught a 17 hour bus through Western Sahara (essentially Morocco) to Dakhla. We we stayed 2 nights there to try to exchange our money into Mauritanian ouguiya as there are only 2 ATMs in Mauritania, and we were not going to get to them until after the camel trek, after about 2 weeks. Since both the Moroccan and Mauritanian currencies are not allowed outside their borders we got a little taste of the black market (on thanksgiving no less). This involved asking around in the market to find a guy who took us to his tailor shop where each of the 4 of us exchanged $300 worth. So while huddled at a counter in the market we counted out about $1200 of Moroccan, and then $1200 of Mauritanian. Needless to say it felt a bit sketchy to have over $2400 of currency on a table where the local folks are lucky if they make $10 in a day.

After getting our money sorted out we hitched a ride in the back of a truck, and then in a bush taxi to the border. At the Moroccan side of the border while waiting to hitch a ride across the no-mans-land we saw a truck smuggling cigarettes get riped apart by the border patrol and the driver get arrested. The 2km or so between the borders consisted of an unmaintained dirt road through a mine field, with plenty of reminders of land mines can do to a car if it strayed too far from the road. Once across the border we spent the night in Nouadhibou.

The following day we caught the night train towards the Adrar region where we rode the camels. This was no ordinary train. It was a 2.3km long coal train with 3 decrepit passenger cars at the back (though most folks ride in the coal cars). The passenger car did not have cushions on the seats, and the windows did not fully close, leaving us cold and covered with dust. We hoped off the train in Choum just before dawn and got a 4 hour truck ride to Atar, where we ate and took another 2 hours to Chinguetti. This small Oasis town at the end of the road is where we organized and started our camel trek towards the town of Ouadane.


Each day of journey was roughly the same, lots of beautiful desert broken up with breaks for tea and food (the tea is brewed for a half hour on the fire making it black as coffee, and then is sugared to excess and served in a pair of shot glasses). The day would start by waking up with the sun and staying under the 2 blankets until convinced to brave the cold by the tea the guides prepared. After a quick breakfast of bread that was made under the fire the night prior we helped pack the camels and set off. For the first half of the day we walked alongside the camels as it was still cool, and we didn't want to tire the camels too much. Lunch would be the same pasta with sardines that we would have for dinner, followed by a 2-3 hour nap/ reading session through the hottest part of the day. Once it strayed to cool a bit we would load the camels with us on top, and continue moving for the remainder of the day. When we found a good camping site we would set up our bed which consisted of a large woven mat and 2 blankets. After a dinner of fishy pasta we would have 3 rounds of tea, and watch them cook the morning's bread in the earth under the coals of the fire. And now for the pictorial tour:

The typical view from atop the camal, note Adam's guitar and the large rolled mat.

Evan and I rockin our desert head gear.

Walking like an Egyptian with a sore butt.

(Dont let the blanket fool you its actually quite painful after a while)

Me and my camel, Gurggles McGee... he made awesome noises when i got on, maybe I'm fat.

My defence from the killer sun and dust stroms.

Going to Cameroon

So, its official, we have our tickets to fly from Dakar to Douala on the 22nd of December after of 4 days of fighting with online travel agencies, who for some reason did not want to take our money, go figure. Big relief on our part, as we were looking at missing the holidays with him, arriving in January. Now everything is on track and we will be to Braggs place in Cameroon by the holidays. We will most likely be there for at least 2 months, traveling in Cameroon and becoming involved with some of the projects that he and other Peace Corps folks are working on.
Some have asked for a mailing address while I am in Cameroon. I have Braggs address below. Keep in mind that you need to have his name on it, and that it can take upwards of a month for letters and packages to make it there from the states.

Rev Brian Bragg
c/o Peace Corps
PO Box 215
Yaounde Cameroon