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Let me tell you about travel in Cameroon... absolute insanity! My trip to the Far North was beautiful and interesting at best; hot, smelly, and shitty (literally) at worst. My destination was Maroua, in the extreme north of Cameroon... I’m talk’n the other end of the country, bordering Chad, Nigeria, and the Sahara Desert. So, the journey there, not so bad... bumpy, hot bus rides, with only one pee break in eight hours... to be expected... a very tiring train ride for twelve hours overnight, where it’s impossible to sleep, but at least I had my baguette and the excitement of a foreign land to keep me company. Funny... my colleagues described the train ride like a gentle rocking of a cradle, where one can easily fall asleep soundly. I didn’t see it that way, more like an erratic roller coaster ride, where I was hanging on all night, sleeplessly, so not to bang my head and fall off my bunk as the train chugged along!!
Let me tell you about the return trip first... cause well... that was the most shitty. We left Maroua at 5AM... okay, let me correct that, we left my hotel at 5AM... waited at the bus station until the bus felt like leaving at 7AM. It was a hot and rather uncomfortable bus ride seeing as I had started to feel pretty queezy after eating all that strange northern food all week. But, we arrived in Ngaoundere at 3:30PM I think. Had to wait around in heat and long line-ups to get our already reserved tickets (don’t ask me why we reserve train tickets, seeing as it appears to be more inconvenient, involving more paperwork and long line-ups, but at least you can get one of those beds to pretend to sleep on). The train was delayed (of course), so we didn’t leave Ngaoundere until about 8PM. My colleague and I were quite pleased we were finally moving, but quite dismayed that we had to share our room with two mothers and their two crying children all night... and they didn’t want the window open too much, cause air would be too cold (please keep in mind, it’s 30degrees outside)... it was just a silly thing to want to breath... oh, and the light had to remain on, as they’re afraid of the dark and would prefer to see the cockroaches crawling on them! So, anyway... this makes for an incredibly long journey... and they forgot to bring OUR dinner!!!... and on top of that, I now... literally, have the shits on the train... and have to use an awful toilet on a moving, bumpy train, every half-hour or so... bet you didn’t want to know that? So, this painful, sleepless train ride continues until 5AM, when we reach the train station Nanga Eboko... and the train stops... for a very long time. This is because, as is common (apparently) on the railroad in Cameroon... there was a derailment. So, the train could not go anywhere... and we lie in waiting, in hunger, and heat, and shits... for seven hours, when we decide... this train ain’t leav’n today, lets see if VSO can help us poor soles... please!!! So, we call VSO... and thankfully, after a little debate and a search for buses to Yaounde (that did not exist)... VSO says they will come pick us up. Whew... so we wait outside the train for another five and a half hours. At hour eleven, 4PM... the railway people actually started handing out water, bread, and sardines... and I hear comments like: “What is this, Darfur?”. Yikes! People are dehydrated, exhausted, and getting rather irritated by this point... and I really have no idea if and when that train ever moved again. Hundreds of people were just stuck there, in the middle of nowhere... and oh my, feeling pretty bad... finally out of nowhere... the VSO vehicle... barely recognizable under its coat of mud from bumper to roof... emerges to our rescue. YEAH! We then drive to Yaounde... on the muddiest, twistiest, bumpy road I’ve ever seen (or vomited on) (which also happens to be Cameroon’s N1 Major highway!!!)... for three and a half hours! And, you may think the journey is now over... after 40-some hours of travel and no sleep, we’re finally there... in the capital city of Yaounde... problem is... mix-up... the hotel is full and the second hotel is full... but finally, we find one... that even has food... so finally, I can use a real toilet, take a hot shower, and eat a decent meal... and sleep in a quiet, air-conditioned room... heavenly!!! ...until the next day, when I board the bus to Bamenda for another hot and bumpy journey of eight hours! You can’t imagine how nice it was to get home:)
Let me tell you about the return trip first... cause well... that was the most shitty. We left Maroua at 5AM... okay, let me correct that, we left my hotel at 5AM... waited at the bus station until the bus felt like leaving at 7AM. It was a hot and rather uncomfortable bus ride seeing as I had started to feel pretty queezy after eating all that strange northern food all week. But, we arrived in Ngaoundere at 3:30PM I think. Had to wait around in heat and long line-ups to get our already reserved tickets (don’t ask me why we reserve train tickets, seeing as it appears to be more inconvenient, involving more paperwork and long line-ups, but at least you can get one of those beds to pretend to sleep on). The train was delayed (of course), so we didn’t leave Ngaoundere until about 8PM. My colleague and I were quite pleased we were finally moving, but quite dismayed that we had to share our room with two mothers and their two crying children all night... and they didn’t want the window open too much, cause air would be too cold (please keep in mind, it’s 30degrees outside)... it was just a silly thing to want to breath... oh, and the light had to remain on, as they’re afraid of the dark and would prefer to see the cockroaches crawling on them! So, anyway... this makes for an incredibly long journey... and they forgot to bring OUR dinner!!!... and on top of that, I now... literally, have the shits on the train... and have to use an awful toilet on a moving, bumpy train, every half-hour or so... bet you didn’t want to know that? So, this painful, sleepless train ride continues until 5AM, when we reach the train station Nanga Eboko... and the train stops... for a very long time. This is because, as is common (apparently) on the railroad in Cameroon... there was a derailment. So, the train could not go anywhere... and we lie in waiting, in hunger, and heat, and shits... for seven hours, when we decide... this train ain’t leav’n today, lets see if VSO can help us poor soles... please!!! So, we call VSO... and thankfully, after a little debate and a search for buses to Yaounde (that did not exist)... VSO says they will come pick us up. Whew... so we wait outside the train for another five and a half hours. At hour eleven, 4PM... the railway people actually started handing out water, bread, and sardines... and I hear comments like: “What is this, Darfur?”. Yikes! People are dehydrated, exhausted, and getting rather irritated by this point... and I really have no idea if and when that train ever moved again. Hundreds of people were just stuck there, in the middle of nowhere... and oh my, feeling pretty bad... finally out of nowhere... the VSO vehicle... barely recognizable under its coat of mud from bumper to roof... emerges to our rescue. YEAH! We then drive to Yaounde... on the muddiest, twistiest, bumpy road I’ve ever seen (or vomited on) (which also happens to be Cameroon’s N1 Major highway!!!)... for three and a half hours! And, you may think the journey is now over... after 40-some hours of travel and no sleep, we’re finally there... in the capital city of Yaounde... problem is... mix-up... the hotel is full and the second hotel is full... but finally, we find one... that even has food... so finally, I can use a real toilet, take a hot shower, and eat a decent meal... and sleep in a quiet, air-conditioned room... heavenly!!! ...until the next day, when I board the bus to Bamenda for another hot and bumpy journey of eight hours! You can’t imagine how nice it was to get home:)
Okay, so enough about the travel... actually being in the Far North (travel aside) was a very interesting and enlightening experience. From Ngaoundere to Maroua... we drove for miles upon miles, on an actual paved, flat road I might add... and all I could see were small, round homes, built of mud and straw roofs. We drove over bridges and rivers, but saw not a drop of water the entire time... there was nothing but sand. The people must walk for miles to get water from the deep wells... but what will they do if they ever dry up? It is so hot and so dry... there is very little to eat... I felt like the people were just surviving. An incredible place. 
It is mostly Muslim in the Far North, creating a calm and pleasant atmosphere. People travel by bicycles, lounge under Neem trees that line the main streets to stay out of the intense heat (apparently it can get as high as 45degrees!), and they even sleep outside to be cooler at night. You can hear the call to Mosque, and see the men praying just about anywhere throughout the day. After our VSO Forum, my colleague and I decided to visit the towns of Mokolo and Rhumsiki, which is right in the Mandara Mountains, on the border with Nigeria. After the bus to Mokolo (for only an hour thank goodness), we road motorcycles all the way to Rhumsiki... up and down the winding dirt road... admiring the dry, hilly landscape, surprisingly green with large rock formations just jutting out of the mountains, and cattle herders and farmers tending their fields with the assistance of donkeys. Very interesting and peaceful on the motorbikes!In Rhumsiki we took a tour of the valley and hiked all the way to Nigeria and back, meeting interesting villagers and children on the way, admiring the landscape, the ancient houses... even had a look at some of the local art work. We stayed at the ‘Campement de Rhumsiki’ and had our meals on the balcony overlook
ing the empty swimming pool and the whole valley... sunset n’ all... very nice. We tried to go to a few different restaurants, but always ended up back at the campement for spaghetti or fish because, seems no other restaurants had any actual food to cook... really... no food available! Plenty of juicy mangos though... it was prime mango season! On our motorbike ride back to Maroua... we kept being met by groups of teenage boys holding rather large sticks and covered in oil, blocking the roads. Why, you might ask? They were preparing for their initiation into ‘manhood’. They were asking for $$$ to support them in the celebrations that would take place in their honour in a few days. There was probably about fifty boys (about to become men) that stopped us on the way back... all getting ready for the Village Chief to celebrate and initiate them. {Just so it's clear, this means they were all going to be circumcised (by the Chief) during the event!} So, all in all... an interesting place, completely different lifestyle... it was hard to believe we were still in Cameroon. I’m happy to be back in the North-West though... it is now home... rainy season, cold showers, mud, and all!
