9 Days in Cameroon
The River Chari, which runs along the edge of N'Djamena, separates Chad from Cameroon. Cameroon is so close that you can see it from the city and I fly over it during the approach into N'Djamena. It is also where Mercy Ships are docked until May so we felt it would be nice to catch up with friends while they are so close and also take a break from Chad. Northern Cameroon is considered fairly unsafe at the moment and it's a good 28 hour drive to the coast (according to Google Maps) so we opted instead to fly with the regional airline Asky direct to Douala. The start of our trip highlighted many of the quirks of living here starting with the airports insistence that passengers must travel from the terminal to the aircraft by passenger bus:
 |
| Clearly a bus is required to get from the escalator to the aircraft! |
On arriving in Douala and passing through the routine checks we took an airport taxi into town. Despite asking repeatedly to be taken to where the buses depart for Limbe the taxi driver insisted we would be better travelling by shared car as it would be the same price but better. So 20 minutes later we were waiting at a shared car for the remaining places to be filled in the heat (and high humidity). The car seemed nearly full so we were optimistic that we would soon be on our way but little did we realise how many people can fit in a 6 seater! When the 12th passenger squeezed herself in, we set off on our 1.5 hour drive to Limbe via many check points for fees and paperwork checks along the way.
 |
| Every bit of space is used |
We spent 7 days in Limbe, staying in a self catering apartment found on Airbnb. On the day after our arrival we explored the town of Limbe. We visited Down Beach, but having not done our research thoroughly enough we discovered it was high tide and there wasn't a lot of beach, and what there was was also full of litter. Having had quite a lazy start to the day it was getting close to lunch time so we abandoned plans of going to the beach and visited the cafe at the wildlife centre to enjoy fresh mango juice.
 |
| Bethan wore an ironic t-shirt, Down beach certainly wasn't beautiful, it was just a visual reminder of how much plastic we thrown into the oceans every year. |
Our trip to the cafe became rather eventful, while enjoying our juice, watching the gorillas that the cafe overlooks and waiting for our food the waiter ran over and demanded we came inside the kitchen area and hastily locked all the doors and window. Apparently one of the chimpanzees had escaped and was running loose!
 |
| Trapped behind bars in the cafe kitchen |
After a while a call came through to say it was all clear and we could go out and enjoy our food. After lunch we went around the centre where the guide informed us that chimpanzee escapes were fairly common! He showed us the Silverback Gorillas, Drill monkeys, Olive Baboons and many other primates that had been rescued from being illegal pets. Bethan enjoyed throwing leaves in for them to eat and one chimpanzee called Chinoise was so excited by Bethan's gift that she did a dance and threw a rock back for Bethan.
We spent the following days exploring the local beaches, enjoyed playing in the sea and building castles with the black volcanic sand. One of the local beaches had as much litter as Down beach so we built a sand sea turtle to highlight the problem!
 |
| Mile 8 beach |
 |
| Sometimes it all gets too much and you need to sleep right where you are |
 |
| Swimming in Plastic |
In home school Matt and Bethan have been learning about volcanoes so we also took the opportunity to climb along the lava flow from Mount Cameroon's 1999 eruption. Unfortunately the clouds stayed resolutely over Mount Cameroon so we only saw the very base of the mountain, and to Bethan's disappointment it didn't erupt while we were there either!
 |
| Lava Flow |
We were also blessed by the company of a friend from Madagascar who is serving on Africa Mercy and was able to come and spend a couple of days with us in Limbe. Bethan enjoyed jumping in the waves with Rachel and teaching her to play cheat, and we enjoyed catching up on the last 18 months.
On our last day in Limbe we hired a driver to visit the historic site at Bimbia where many Cameroonians were taken aboard ships as slaves. It was a very interesting and poignant visit as our Cameroonian guide explained how the slaves were treated and showed us what the now-ruined buildings were used for and the door of no return. None of the slaves that left Bimbia ever came back to Africa, in fact only 800 of the 2000 aboard each ship even made it to the USA alive.
Our driver then took us to our last destination, the Mission Baptist Guest House in Douala, which was a much more comfortable journey than being squished in the shared car. While in Douala we visited
the maritime museum to learn about shipping in Cameroon and went out for a meal with Rachel. Lastly we had the opportunity to spend a day on the ship, giving Bethan a tour of the hospital and cabins and catching up with our friends from MAF Madagascar who are now serving on board. It was a lovely way to end an enjoyable week.
 |
We were pleasantly surprised by Douala Maritime Museum
Catching up with the van den Bosch Family |
 |
| Bethan and Luke's first trip to Mercy Ships |
