Getting TO/AROUND: Take a shared taxi from Bamenda to some of the villages in the highlands. Taxis leave from Nkwan park and you may have to change at mile 4 depending on other passengers destinations. Costs: Bamenda - Belo = 900cfa (45 minutes) Bamenda -…Read More

Getting TO/AROUND: Take a shared taxi from Bamenda to some of the villages in the highlands.

Taxis leave from Nkwan park and you may have to change at mile 4 depending on other passengers destinations.

Costs:

Bamenda - Belo = 900cfa (45 minutes)

Bamenda - Njinikom = 1200cfa (1 hour)

Bamenda - Fundong = 1500cfa (80 minutes)

Taxis run every 5 or 10 minutes and leave as soon as they are full. A taxi is considered full when it has 4 passengers in the back and 3/4 in the front however the journey is quite smooth as the road is newly tarmacked all the way to Fundong.

Trek up into the mountains around Fundong and meet a family from the Fulani tribe. Walk through the village and meet the friends and relatives (there are many!!) Walk for water with the children. Stop at the local market and buy some fresh fruit. Walk…Read More

Trek up into the mountains around Fundong and meet a family from the Fulani tribe. Walk through the village and meet the friends and relatives (there are many!!) Walk for water with the children. Stop at the local market and buy some fresh fruit. Walk to the waterfalls and caves. Ride horses and milk cows. Pound fufu-corn for dinner. Talk and roast corn round a fire pit. Share dinner with the family and listen to stories from long ago. Sleep in the traditional mud brick house with a real Fulani family...The simple life is an experience few of us know but for me turned out to be the best.

To do this you need to get in touch with BERUDEP either in Belo, Njinicom or Fundong (there are different home-stays with different tribes) or you can checkout their website www.berudep.org.

I lived with two families during our time in Cameroon. Both families made our family feel most welcome and took special care of our children. Each day a member of the family would carefully comb out my younger daughter's long hair and plait it very…Read More

I lived with two families during our time in Cameroon. Both families made our family feel most welcome and took special care of our children. Each day a member of the family would carefully comb out my younger daughter's long hair and plait it very tightly local style.

House styles vary in Cameroon. The first family we lived with had a large breezeblock house. The second family lived in a mud house.

If you like adventure then try hiring a four wheel drive car in Cameroon! After driving in the rainy season you'll feel up to entering any cross-country competition and you'll probably do really well. There are tarred roads in Yaounde and between large towns but…Read More

If you like adventure then try hiring a four wheel drive car in Cameroon! After driving in the rainy season you'll feel up to entering any cross-country competition and you'll probably do really well. There are tarred roads in Yaounde and between large towns but these are often in poor condition. Street lighting is poor and non-existent outside of main areas. Pedestrians and stray animals are major hazards in town, and many vehicles are poorly lit and badly driven. Out of town expect dirt roads apart from the main road.

Don't drive at night out of towns, particularly on the Yaoundé-Douala trunk road, where accidents are common. Always lock the car doors when driving.

British driving licenses and International Driving Permits may be used on first arrival, but you should obtain a Cameroonian license as soon as possible after arrival. Holders of a British driving license can do this by filling in a form at the Delegation of Transport.

Cameroon has been called 'Africa in miniature'. It has great cultural, ethnic and geographic diversity. If you want wild animals, sunny beaches, mountains, extraordinary landscapes, forest walks, welcoming people, you'll find it all in Cameroon! Cameroon is on the west coast of Africa and has a…Read More

Cameroon has been called 'Africa in miniature'. It has great cultural, ethnic and geographic diversity. If you want wild animals, sunny beaches, mountains, extraordinary landscapes, forest walks, welcoming people, you'll find it all in Cameroon!

Cameroon is on the west coast of Africa and has a population of over 14 million.. More than 240 languages are spoken there. It is one of the wealthiest African countries. It has oil resources and favourable agricultural conditions. But, like other less developed countries it faces serious problems. Over 80% of the population work on the land and the country produces many agricultural products for export. The principal commercial crops are cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton and bananas. There is a large aluminum refinery which produces 16% of all the aluminum in Africa. This refinery consumes 70% of all the electricity produced in the country!

Cameroon has had a checkered colonial history. In 1884 the area around Douala was a German protectorate. After World War 1 the country was divided between Britain and France. The French part received self-government in 1958. British Southern Cameroon became part of the Republic of Cameroon in 1961, whilst British Northern Cameroon joined Nigeria.

I left you in the middle seat, about to land in Douala. Now, Douala is not the most picturesque airport. I would show you, but taking pictures in and around the airport isn't advised. I deplaned and went to show my visa…Read More

I left you in the middle seat, about to land in Douala. Now, Douala is not the most picturesque airport. I would show you, but taking pictures in and around the airport isn't advised.

I deplaned and went to show my visa and my passport. As I stepped off the plane, the stifling heat, combined with the extremely high humidity, made me pause. Were people actually able to breathe, walk, and talk at the same time?

I walked down the hallway leading to customs and baggage claim. The walls were cement, and the windows, well, they weren't really windows. They were huge window-shaped holes with no glass and no screen.

This travel journal is a journal looking to the past. But the best place to start the recounting of this jouney is in the beginning. It began in December of 2003. I applied to be a part of the first all-youth gateway team to Cameroon…Read More

This travel journal is a journal looking to the past. But the best place to start the recounting of this jouney is in the beginning. It began in December of 2003. I applied to be a part of the first all-youth gateway team to Cameroon from the North American Baptist convention. After a rigourous interview, I was accepted, along with 17 others.

It was a ragtag team of all different backgrounds, assembled to be in a worship band and to do construction. Some were excited to be heading on this monumental adventure; others, however, were not as intrigued by the opportunity. I fell in the middle.

I was excited to travel once more. I had spent the previous summer traveling the Spainish countryside for two weeks with my classmates, but this was different. No matter how nervous I became, nothing could quell my excitement about this adventure.

We trained for 5 months, learning about the culture, talking about culture shock, going over saftey issues, and practicing as a band. Then the day came to leave. And that is where the adventure really begins.

We decided to fly out of Winnipeg, Canada, because airfare was cheaper. As we assembled and prepared to leave, we noticed that some of our baggage was mislabeled. Instead of Douala, the luggage was being sent to Duluth, Minnesota. We spent 20 minutes trying to figure out if our luggage would safely arrive on the other side of the world. We left and waited for the plane, thoughts of no luggage in a foreign country still lingering in our minds. There was nothing we could do but worry and pray.

We boarded the plane and within no time landed at the Toronto Airport. As we deboarded, we realized that we were running late. We grabbed our carry-ons and jumped the first bus to the international terminal. Once again, we boarded the plane, and we were up for a flight across the ocean into Amsterdam.

Now, flying has always been one of my favorite hobbies. Though an overseas flight is extremely expensive, because of my wonderful travel agent, I got a great flight for as cheap a price as I could.

If you want to splurge on something when traveling, I recommend it be either your flight or your living conditions, because I personally hate being stuck in the middle seat of a 12-hour flight with the large sweaty man on one side who takes up your armrest and steals your pillow and the old man or woman asleep by the aisle so you can't get up and use the restroom the entire flight.

Anyway, back to the story. We arrive after a long flight, a little worn out, a little (okay, really) crabby, and hungry. Amsterdam airport is a wonderful airport filled with anything you want, as long as you don't mind waiting in line or spending twice as much for a hamburger then normal.

I, being one of the only experienced travelers on this team, took this opportunity to walk around, stretch my legs and enjoy the airport. Why is this important? Because I know that this is not my final destination and in a few hours I will once again be back on a plane in the middle seat beside the sweaty man and the old guy. The hours of my layover quickly ticked by, and I changed into my wrap skirt, also known as a sarong, and hopped in the boarding line.

Once again, I found I was nestled in the middle seat; this time, however, I was led in by two team members. One of them was the leader of our team who just happened to have a portable DVD player. A luxury, yes, but I am very grateful for the many movies I played from Amsterdam to our first stop in Malabo.

Now our landing in Malabo was less than perfect. Of course, we landed without crashing, but the bumpy landing left more than a few passengers worried about take-off.

While waiting for the passengers to board from Malabo, I talked to a man headed to Douala. He told me to be careful and not to draw attention to myself. All I could do was laugh. How was a 5'5" white, 18-year-old female in a bright orange team T-shirt not supposed to draw attention?

The pilot directed us to sit down and buckle up. I crossed my fingers, prayed to God, and went into the crash-landing position as we prepared to take off. Surprisingly, the take-off was much better than the landing, with only a few bumps and a strange grinding noise.

Only one hour to go before we landed in Douala and the start of a strange and amazing adventure.