Cameroon to CAR
I decided to go back and re-read what I wrote about my last visit to Central African Republic’s (CAR) Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. Unfortunately, all I found is tales about the trip from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (ROC) into Northern ROC. Then I remembered my five day trip out of this area and back to Vermont and how burned out I was by all of it. I could not find the time or energy to go back to ROC and CAR and so the tales about rivers, river people, forests and forest people were never told. I still remember that trip well and although the travel was very difficult, the experience was top-notch. In particular, the forest people, Ba’Aka, were the highlight. That was because all I could see when we first met them was a pathetic lot of malnourished, out-of-place people, but when we entered the forest with them a remarkable transformation occurred and they became in my mind the most amazing people I have seen. The Ba’Aka have essentially lost their home, the Congo forests, and these nomadic, hunters and gatherers have been forced into a sedentary life in Bantu river people villages. This transformation was so magical and such a slap-in-the-face for my pre-judgement (in reality, they really are pathetic out of the forest), I decided this year to make another difficult trip to see these amazing people in a much more in-depth manner.
I met friend Rod of Silver Safaris at the Nairobi airport for our flight from Nairobi to Yaounde, Cameroon. Rod was with his daughter, Tali, and a friend of their family, Katharina, all from South Africa. I was shocked to meet Katharina because I had assumed it would be the same Katrina from Germany via France that visited CAR and ROC with us in 2006. I disliked Katharina from the last trip so much that I actually thought of not doing this trip, but decided that I could put up with her for a couple of weeks. So, the trip started off great especially trading in the worst human I have met on my long trip for a truly wonderful and charming person. The only problem I had was staying awake which was impossible and I slept in the concourse area before boarding and basically for the whole flight of 4.5 hours.
Jean Pierre met us in Yaounde. He is the local operator out of Douala that got us into ROC and CAR last time and it was good to have him working his magic for us again. Let’s just say that things work very strangely in these countries as far as travel goes and JP understands all the hurdles and negotiates them well. (By the way: This trip in Cameroon has been a mini-disaster although we are enjoying. We went to the coast – Limbe – for three days expecting to come back to Douala and start a trip arranged by JP yesterday to the western highlands followed by the far north ending on the coast again at Kribi. After all the struggles to get Pamela out of Kenya and into Cameroon earlier in the week, things really fell apart on Friday when I learned the quoted price for the trip was per person and I thought it was total. I canceled the trip knowing I had really screwed up JP, but he is one fine person and he showed up to pick us up yesterday and wants to work with me to put together a new plan. In the meantime, we are once again stuck in Douala and it is not a great place for tourists… uggh! Cameroon is an EXTREMELY expensive country especially based on what you get for your money.)
We glided through Yaounde airport, but things did not go as well for Heath and Torben coming from UK via Air France. I made a claim in October that I wanted to fly Air France someday betting they had great food and service. That was Madagascar and I soon learned what a messed up airline Air Chance is because of their strikes and how they handle customers. Air Chance lost Heath’s bag, but they did say it would be in the following night. Actually, I have to thank Air Chance for this loss because it meant that we would stay another day in Yaounde and make the trip across country in two days rather than three. The day in Yaounde was spent at Mfou primate sanctuary where we were treated to some great viewing of lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and numerous monkey species most or all of which ended up at the sanctuary as orphans caused by the bushmeat industry. This type of facility cannot replace seeing these animals in the wild and it is unfortunate that such a facility has to exist, but it is a good place for the animals that are victims of a human-caused ecological disaster. It certainly got us excited to see the animals in their protected habitat. Other than the reason for the sanctuary’s existence the saddest part of the day was seeing the facility’s first gorilla baby is very ill. I am not sure that this gorilla will grow up.
We walked around Yaounde as a group. Actually, I went one way first to go to an ATM for money and then I tried to find the group in a market area. I was looking at the market stalls as I was looking up and down streets for my mzungu friends. Soon, I had locals recognizing that I was part of the group of foreigners that had recently passed and they were pointing the way without being asked. It was funny… white boy looks like he is trying to find his flock… show him the way. At least a dozen friendly people got me to the right place on my walk and we were altogether again. Yaounde is mainly government buildings in the area that we stayed and the only thing really interesting was the friendly Cameroonians. I was ready to move on by the next day when we were up at 3:30 AM.
We boarded a very boxy small bus for the long trip. I did not like getting on the road before sunrise (dangerous drives in Kenya and Ethiopia came to mind), but the road out of Yaounde is paved and it was surprisingly empty of traffic and people. Sleep was intermittent until sunrise when looking at Cameroon pass by was more interesting. We drove until almost sunset that day to Yokadouma to make up the lost day and this was not a good time, but better than the many kilometers traveled in countries like Ethiopia. The worst part of the trip was red. Red dirt, that is. The paved road ended and we encountered a road of red dirt which was often dry and dusty especially in the areas that it is being improved. Our bus was mainly sealed up, but the dust still made it in and covered EVERYTHING. I didn’t dare pull out my camera fearing that it would get all messed up. We saw a number of vehicles with no windows and many of the people wore surgical masks to protect their lungs from the dust. All of us had red hair, skin and clothes by time we reached the elephant hotel in Yokadouma. This is the Faulty Towers of Cameroon where nothing seemed to work, but I didn’t care too much because I was very tired.
The next day we were close to CAR, but had to drive a long distance south before crossing the boarder which is the Sangha River. More so than the previous day, we were stopped at police roadblocks. Cameroonian police used to be known for shaking down travelers, but we only found very friendly and cheerful officers who checked our passports. They never required us to get out of the bus and did not search our luggage. We passed through a few towns although this eastern part of the country is mainly just forest. We also passed through a couple of logging company towns that are pretty pathetic places although the sober residents were friendly enough. One crossroad town had a store selling ammunition and the owner showed Katharina bullets used to hunt gorillas. Bushmeat hunting and trade is quite active in this area especially since the logging roads provide good access into the forest and it is being stripped of its wildlife so that Cameroonians and other Africans can eat the much sought after meats of the jungle including duiker, porcupine, monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas. After visiting the primate sanctuary, seeing bushmeat for sale on the side of the road and learning which type of bullet to use when hunting gorillas, it was obvious we were going to get a good learning experience about the poaching industry.
Finally, we made it to the logging town on the Sangha where we could get stamped out of Cameroon and catch a boat ride across the river to CAR and an immigration checkpoint. I don’t think my butt has ever been so sore yet we still had more uncomfortable travel ahead. JP handled all of the procedural issues with the Cameroon officials that from the sounds of it mainly means filling out a lot of paperwork and paying fees while we sat at a restaurant out of view. We had given JP our passports and he would keep them through the rest of the trip as was done last time we entered CAR. I think it was a couple of hours before we were finally able to continue down to the river to meet our very spacious pirogue. January is dry season in this part of the Congo Basin and we soon discovered that the river is about two meters lower than when we visit in August/September. The motorized pirogue had to carefully wind around the numerous islands making sure it did not hit a sandbar. Considering the Sangha is just a tributary to a tributary of the Congo River, its size is quite impressive even during the dry season.
We were greeted warmly on the CAR side and after another hour or so of procedures with the police in Lidjombo, all taken care of by JP, we proceeded by vehicles along one of CAR’s major “highways” to Bayanga. While this is a major road in this world, it would be considered a four-wheel-drive track in the wealthy world. It was as bad of a road as I remembered although much drier this time around due to the lack of rain. I’m not sure how few kilometers are covered, but it is very few considering it is a two-hour drive. It was fun to see the Ba’Aka as we passed their villages knowing these people would soon be guiding us through their lives in the forest. I really knew why I was here after many days of hard travel from California to London to Nairobi to Yaounde to Yokadouma to Bayanga when we saw a silverback gorilla sitting in the road up ahead. Unfortunately, the vehicle behind ours could not see it and it fled soon after we stopped, but it was still a great greeting by one of the local residents that makes this area so special.
We passed the Ba’Aka village where Louis Sarno lives with the group of Ba’Aka that would take us into the forest and Bantu village of Bayanga before finally arriving at the Ndoli Lodge, our homebase, on the Sangha River and located just outside of Reserve Speciale de Foret Dense de Dzanga-Sangha and the Parc National de Dzanga-Ndoki contained within. The national park is part of a tri-national park system shared with Cameroon (Lobeke NP) and ROC (Nouabale NP where I visited as part of the last trip). So, the last time, I did not take this story any further, but this time I promise to write another entry soon to explain why this small area on this large planet is so amazing and so worthy of such long and tiring travel.
Tags: Africa, cameroon, central african republic, Travel
vagabondrick
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