cameroon

Cameroon

Tuesday 22nd January:

Over the bridge and we were now in Cameroon. We were waved in and met by the Customs man who took his time in stamping our Carnet. His name meant 'electric fish' in the local language so we managed to do some joking around this which made everyone laugh. We were offered a 'welcome drink' which luckily never arrived as this probably would've been very potent. They didn't seem to mind when Ross said he didn't want to drink and drive, clearly not an offense here.After a very long time we were then directed to the Immigration Officer, who told us there was a problem as we had old stamps on our visas. Each year they change the stamp and with us applying on the 21st Jan, we should have had the new 2008 stamp. We paid N270 for an old stamp! While we were having our immigration paperwork done, the Customs Officer came over to ask us if we could come and try to help them set up their satelite dish to be able to watch the football tonight, Cameroon vs Egypt. We went back and tried to set things up, but there seemed to be a power problem, as well as the fact that half the cables were missing or dodgy. With still no sign of Raphael, and it now getting late (2.30pm), with the prospect of more terrible Cameroon roads ahead, we sadly left, hoping Raphael would be okay. Hopefully we'll meet up with him again in a few days. He knew the route we planned to follow.

Ross's off-road driving skills were tested and he handled like a pro. The holes in the main road were huge, Duzi2 dissappearing completely into them, but emerging unscathed again to face the next challenge. We managed to drive on a lot of the little "detour" tracks constructed around particularly bad sections of road by some locals, as a means of gaining extra cash from vehicles during the rainy season. These were marginally better but by no means good. At least we were able to make use of these without paying. We crossed over more pretty rickety looking African 'log and plank' bridges and eventually arrived at Mumfe in the late afternoon after a long days drive. We drove around looking for a quiet place to sleep as this little town seemed very busy. After trying all the various main routes through the town, we drove out northwards and found the Data Hotel, which was quiet and overlooked the big Bidi (?) River, we think. We enquired about camping, which we could do for CFA3000 with no loo or shower, or CFA5000 for a room, which we could use or camp and just use the ablutions. We decided to go for the room option as it was cool, and had a fan. We went over to have a drink at the adjoining bar aross the road and watched the Cameroon vs Egypt match in the Africa Cup of Nations competition. It was so weird watching with the locals and listening to all the comments being shouted out in English by everyone around us. A bit like watching rugby with Heidi's uncles. Sadly Cameroon lost the match 2-4 to Egypt. We went back to our room and cooked up a quick tinned Tesco beef stew and couscous for dinner, before having a cold shower and flopping into bed.

Today's drive was very beautiful, but hard work to concentrate for such a long drive. The roads were quite something, when you consider that they are the main roads according to our map. Driving them now, in the dry season is bad enough. In the wet they must be something totally different, very scarey and impossible for non 4x4 vehicles. Cameroonians drive very fast and have fully laden vehicles, with goods and people.The roads are narrow and single tracked so thank goodness we didn't meet a huge logging truck on our trip. The jungle and rivers are incredibly beautiful and something we're so glad we're seeing. We passed many locals in the jungle, who all carry pangas / machettes, even the children, but are very friendly and we never felt threatened. We were both hoping to bush camp in the jungle tonight, but couldn't find anywhere to pull off the road into the thick bush on each side. Passing through the villages we've got used to hearing shouts of 'white man' by all the children and even some adults. We both can't believe we're actually in Cameroon.

Wednesday 23rd January: Data Hotel, Mumfe, Cameroon

GPS Info: N05° 45' 06.5" E09° 19' 15.5"

Miles Today: 165 Total Miles: 11 789

We both slept so well and weren't bugged by mosquitoes at all, although we did have a coil burning as there were no mozzi nets, but this is a change for us. What we've found is that we sleep mozzi free in the tent, but have been bugged every other place we've stayed out of the tent, even if there are mozzi nets. We truly do have such comfy luxury in our tent. It is the most comfy way to do overlanding. We mixed our new breakfast cereal this morning of Muesli and ProNutro, thanks to Shoprite Accra. Yummy and very filling.

Today was Heidi's turn to tackle Cameroon roads and test her off-road driving skills learnt on the Landrover Experience Driving course, which we both did at Eastnor in November 2006. The badly potholed tar started from Mumfe and progressed into huge camel humps, with more precarious looking bridges and narrow jungle tracks. Again a day we know we could do if it was muddy, but are VERY relieved it's dry. It was another day of incredibly dramatic dense jungle scenery and exquisite rivers. The river water is mostly a dark brown colour, but there are also crystal clear rivers too. There were hundreds of different butterflies that flew around in front of the car, we only wish they'd carry on when you get out to be able to see their colours more. We drove on a very impressive, long bridge on one stretch of road, right over the trees and some farm land below. Heidi looked just like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, driving along through the day taking everything the Cameroonian jungle could throw at her.

We stopped in Kumba in the afternoon to try and change our few left over Nigerian Niara into Central African CFA. A very kind friend of one of the bank managers we spoke to, offered to drive us to somewhere to change money with someone reputable instead of just on the black market. We couldn't change our West African CFA's, but were told to try in Douala at the EcoBank as they have branches in both regions. We'll do this when we get there.

The section of road from Kumba was shocking with short stretches of tar, followed by huge holes and long stretches of disintegrated tarred potholes. This was where we met many trucks which made the very dusty Cameroon roads really difficult as our visibility diminished dramatically. We also drove over about 20km of road works where there is a brand new, lovely road being built. This will make this long slow stretch much quicker and smoother in the future and without the dust. Lucky for those coming after us, they'll have a brilliant road in a few months. Everything in the car is covered with dust!

Eventually after a long, full day's driving and a few friendly police chats, rather than checks or stops, we arrived in Limbe. We drove into the Botanical Gardens and negotiated a more reasonable camping rate for us (from CFA 5000 each with no loo or shower, to CFA 5000 together including a room with a loo and shower) to spend the night overlooking the sea. The hotel has two swimming pools, which we were hoping to use, but they were putting chlorine in as we arrived, so were closed until tomorrow. Limbe has a beautiful coastline similar to how we imagine Hawaai or Tahiti to be with lots of small islands dotted not too far off it's coastline. The shore is made up of black volcanic rock and the area is still volcanically active. Unfortunately the impressive Mount Cameroon, 4095m coming straight out of the sea, was invisible due to the Harmattan from the Sahara. The tide was in and we saw waves crashing onto the steep sides of the shore and sweeping back out to sea, to meet the next incoming waves in little peaks of water, something we haven't seen before.

We showered, had a quick tuna pasta dinner and went to watch the Bafana Bafana (SA) vs Angola football match on the hotel telly. Heid's was exhausted so last only a few minutes before heading off to the tent, while Ross watched to the end. The match finished in a 1-1 draw. We met a fellow camper, Frank, a German, doing a 2 month wildlife internship in Cameroon and travelling around too. He was explaining the difficulties they're having with trying to protect the few mountain gorrilla's left, as the Cameroonians eat anything and everything and the government is so corrupt too. He told us about a volcano on an island visible from here when it's clear, but we might not get to see it due to the Harmattan haze.

There were big crabs with huge pincers rustling through the leaves scavenging for snacks in the dark. We walked to the sea edge to see the volcanic rocks exposed as the it was low tide, and the water was quite far out.Thankfully it cooled down so we were able to have a comfortable nights sleep.

Thursday 24th January: Park Hotel Mirimare, Limbe, Cameroon

GPS Info: N04° 00' 43.0" E09° 12' 00.2"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 11 789

Woke to the sound of the waves breaking and the rustling of the lizards in the leaves nearby. The tide was going out and we could see the volcanic rocks that make up Limbe's coastline. Where we are isn't swimming friendly, but we hope to look for the black sandy beaches we've read about. We had breakfast over looking the sea and watched kites and crows fighting over big crabs they'd caught climbing around on the rocks. We've decided to spend time around Limbe, Buea and Kribi, as we need to apply for our next three visas in Yaounde, and they will probably take four days if not more! We will head over to Yaounde on Sunday rather than spend the weekend there and most of next week. We can't wait until time will be our own, and we don't have to wait for a visa or to try and plan our visa applications around weekdays.

We've both been bugged in the morning by tiny little black insects which we have named "vampire flies" because they bite you and fly away leaving a little speck of blood.

Ross looked at various parts of Duzi2 and found that the 'new bushes' Ian, at Pitstop in Accra, had put on the anti-roll bar were in fact not bushes at all, but were made from bits of tyre! What a dodgy man and place that is!!! We definitely wouldn't recommend using him. And he charged us for these 'new parts'!!!

Our plan for the next few days is to go to the internet cafe nearby today. Then we'll head to nearby Buea and Mount Cameroon, which we're really hoping to see. After this tomorrow we'll make our way down to Kribi, famous for it's white sandy beaches and fresh seafood, until Sunday, when we'll head into Yaounde to apply for our DRC and Congo visas. We need to find out if we need to apply for our Gabon visa (which we've been told we don't need on SA passports) and try for our Angolan visa, if they have an embassy. Hopefully we won't have to wait for so many days for these, before we can head out to Gabon. We have also considered climbing Mount Cameroon, but it's very expensive and we don't really have all the equipment with us. We also don't think there's much to see if it's covered by the harmattan, as it's not visible at all from its base, rather disappointing really.

Clintie, we send early birthday wishes for the 28'th. We are not sure what our internet access will be like over the next few days so we would rather wish you earlier. We'll be thinking of you wherever we are on the day, and hope you won't be too jet lagged from your long flight back from Antarctica. Hope Nats treats you to a big chocolate birthday cake.

Update updated...

We did another rearrange of the stuff in the car, now having all of our medical supplies easily accessible so Heidz isn't reliant on Ross to pull out the back boxes. These have now become a real mission to get out as the top wooden board has dipped a bit. We didn't allow for so much movement when we built our packing system. It was so hot today and we both got more colour from being outside all day.Ross did a thorough inspection of Duzi2 and re-oiled the neccessaries.

Frank, our German camping neighbour, came back from work and walked with us to the nearby internet cafe. On our way there, we saw a fellow overland Range Rover parked outside the Botanic Gardens with a route exactly like ours, displayed on its back window. We waited until it's owners, Chris and Jackie (www.scratchingthesurface.co.uk), appeared, hoping they were going the same way as us, but alas not. They have been on the road for 10months starting in South Africa and are "close to home" as they both said. Home being London, UK. We had a quick chat before going our separate ways. We got to the satellite internet and managed to post our updates and catch up on emails. There seem to be issues with our flat and it's new tenants which we hope to sort out very soon, before we head off further into Central Africa.

On the way back from the internet, we stopped off at Victoria's Bakery, the "Pride of Limbe". Wow, such fresh yummy stuff and they're open 24hrs. They were buzzing with people. We also met a lovely girl, Gladys, who worked in the supermarket nearby, which sold real Cameroon ice-cream! We had a supper of fresh baguette and two tubs of ice-cream. Obviously we both felt completely ice-creamed out afterwards, even though Heidz never thought this would be possible. Before going to bed, we arranged to have breakfast from the bakery with Frank tomorrow morning before he heads off to work. He is such a great guy and we have had many laughs with him.

Friday 25th January: Park Mirimare, Limbe, Cameroon

GPS Info: N04° 00' 43.0" E09° 12' 00.2"

Miles Today: 58 Total Miles: 11 847

Up and off to the nearby boulangerie for a fresh pan-aux-chocolat, etc. What a treat. We ate breakfast overlooking the sea with black kites fighting off crows as they both hunted for big crabs. There were also 2 kingfishers taking turns to dip into the pool and rest on the outside pool shower post. Saying good-byes and having packed up our tents, Frank went off to work and we went in search of the lava flow from the 2000 eruption of Mount Cameroon, and the black volcanic beaches Limbe is supposed to have.

We found the lava flow which is very long, but it stopped short of reaching the sea leaving enough room for the roads department to be able to make a diversion around it. The drive was beautiful as the visibility was good, seeing as it was still early. The 'tail of the mountain', a sharp peak, was visible and there were dense trees, both natural and farmed. Next we took a small track, passed all the hotels, leading down to the sea. We got down to the beautiful long, wide blacky browny beach. The sand looked like it had copper glitter sprinkled in it. It was firm to walk on and very difficult to kick up sand. We saw some fishermen very hard at work pulling in their fishing nets. They signalled for us to come over and help them pull. It was like tug-of-war, with the sea resisting and holding onto the net and it's contents while we were pulling in using the waves as they pushed the net further towards the shore. The fishermen were worried about Duzi2's safety being left alone further along the beach and not visible to us, so told us to bring her/him down on to the beach. Ross thought it might be helpful to connect the fish-net rope to Duzi2 and tow it in, but the fishermen wouldn't have any of that. Eventually after lots of sweat and blisters developing, we saw the fruits of their labour. The net was full of fish, mostly big ones - baracuda, angel fish, many trumpet looking fish, mackerel, etc. It was sad to see the fish flopping around on the sand, but good these fishermen had caught. They told us sometimes their nets are empty when they pull them in. A woman from their village came down, loaded up the fish and walked off. We weren't going to buy any as Ross doesn't eat fish if he can help it, and Heidz wasn't keen to gut it or eat the whole big thing!

Along the beach came Chris and Jackie. They were camping at a hotel a little way down the beach. We stood chatting getting valuable info from them, about where to go and what to look out for, as well as finding out about other vehicles just ahead of us. The Angolan visas seem to be a real problem to get if you're heading north to south, and Cabinda seems to be rejecting Angolan multiple entry visas heading south to north. We'll have to see what happens in the attempts we make, but hopefully we'll meet others too. The visa problem may cause a bottle neck ahead of us, so maybe we'll catch up.

We drove on to Buea, but again couldn't see Mount Cameroon. The Harmattan creates a thick haze, blocking visibility completely. We drove to the Baptist Mission, but there wasn't camping accomodation there, so headed up the hill to the Presbyterian Mission located on the lower slopes of the mountain. The mission is simple but great, with clean loos and showers and outdoor washing lines. As we arrived we recognised the blue Range Rover already parked there, Chris and Jackie. We joined them for something to drink before we did our laundry washing, while they set off to organise a guide, etc. to climb the mountain.

There is a boarding school just below the mission with hundreds of boys milling around, washing, etc. on the side of the building close to the mission. There was so much noise coming from the school, we didn't think we'd get any sleep. The temperature was cool, but there were still mozzies around. We had omlettes for dinner and were later joined by Chris and Jackie for lots of laughs about the people and incidents we've both encountered during our time in Africa. They were busy repacking and sorting, for their three day trek up Mount Cameroon, finding all the bits and pieces buried deep in their car, obviously not used very often like ours. We are both a bit sad we can't climb it, but can't afford to delay as it would mean staying more than a week in Yauonde for our 3 visas, and Chris and Jackie told us the rains have already started in Gabon...This is not good news and all the more reason to try and head on south as soon as we can.

Saturday 26th January: Presbyterian Mission, Buea, Cameroon

GPS Info: N04° 09' 41.7" E09° 13' 58.5"

Miles Today: 172 Total Miles: 12 019

Up to an early start to see Mount Cameroon. It's high, long and flat from where we were, a bit like looking on to the berg from Royal Natal. The air was clear and as the sun rose, the colours and various parts of the mountain became more visible. A section of a previous black lava flow was easy to see against the reddish colour of the slopes. Mount Cameroon has many different ecological zones - forest, savanna and cold rocky alpine regions so the trek to its summit 4 095metres must be quite something. Chris and Jackie were gathering their last bits together before heading to the market, to stock up with fresh veg and fruit to cook on the trek. It didn't take long for the mountain to cloud over and disappear. We were glad we had camped here as we had perfect views straight from our tent.

After breakfast we packed up and drove on to Kribi, and it's white sandy beaches. The roads were all very good tar and it was fairly cool, a pleasant change. We were stopped by two police checks, but have got the knack of completely dominating the conversation and distracted them by raving about their beautiful mountain, which they call Mount Fako. After all this distracting talk, they completely forget why they have stopped us and wave us on wishing us a safe trip.

We passed three tolls, CFA500 each, which all mount up, but at least the roads are good so it makes driving easy. We arrived at Kribi in the early afternoon. It was very hot and humid. We decided to drive to see the Lobe Chutes. These are waterfalls that flow straight in to the sea. We parked and were immediately surrounded by 'guides' offering to take us on pirogues up the river to see more of the chutes / waterfalls, a Pigmy village and further around the corner to see the big chute. We had a quick look at the chutes from the beach which looked like the waterfalls below Albert Falls Dam. We headed a few minutes back along the road to Auberge Tara Plage, where we planned to camp for the night and hoped to enjoy a quiet afternoon's nap. We drove in to be met by blaring music, a big luxury bus and lots of people. So much for our quiet afternoon nap! We arranged our camping and then drove back into Kribi to find some fresh bread from a recommended boulangerie, and to taste some fresh seafood.

We eventually found the market next to the marina, where you buy your seafood and it gets cooked for you on bbq grids. There were loads of umbrellas to sit under, which was how we found it after lots of lost driving and enquiring. It is a fresh fish market where the fishing boats offload their catch and had lots of different types of fish. Some huge ones and some we recognised - baracuda, sole, etc. Ross agreed to sample some fresh fish. We ordered a sole and bought half a kilo of prawns to share. We watched our chef prepare our food and within a few minutes had a beautifully prepared meal served to us. Luckily the ugly prawns we'd bought earlier had lost all their long horrible pincer legs and were the normal red colour we know when they're cooked. We had some fried plantain chips, a first for us even though we've passed them on the side of the road for many months. The sole was delicious, Ross had a tiny morsel of his first ever sole. The prawns were yummy too, even if they were a bit hot due to a red sauce they were served with, but nowhere near as good as you do them Paps! The plantain chips tasted like sweet potato crossed with a slight hint of banana. They were good, but something we wouldn't rush to have again. After we had finished our meal, we watched the fishermen cleaning and repairing their nets in preparation for their catch tonight. We chuckled at the use of an old sewing machine, which was being used as an anchor for one of the fishing boats. The tide came in fairly quickly.

We had just been talking about who would come to Kribi or Cameroon for their holidays and wondering about what kind of business would warrant foreigners, when three smiley white faces (Banks, Jo and Peter), walked passed asking if we were the owners of the Landy parked with the South African flag. They and their Ivory Coast colleague, Camara, joined us for a drink and a long chat. They were all out on business, working for Eriksson. Banks had done a trip down east Africa a few years before, so was bursting with info and recommendations of where we should go when we get there. Peter was intrigued by Duzi2, and asked Ross all sorts of questions about the various bits and pieces we have. Wow. What a small world to bump into three South Africans in a remote place like Kribi in southern Cameroon.

We waved good-bye and hoped the loud party at Tara Plage would be over. We arrived back to a beautifully tranquil spot. We set up the tent and promptly met a lovely American family from Ohio. Jamie has been working for the Peace Corps in northern Cameroon since 2006 and her parents, Dave and Cindy, were out on holiday to see where she lived, and experience a bit of her life in Cameroon. They were such a sweet family and were staying in the chalet next door to our tent.

Ross munched on the two fresh baguettes we'd bought at the boulangerie for dinner. He didn't really eat much lunch, while Heidz was still satisfied with her yummy fresh seafood lunch. It had cooled down nicely so we should sleep well.

Sunday 27th January: Auberge Tara Plage, Kribi, Cameroon

GPS Info: N02° 54' 20.7" E09° 54' 06.6"

Miles Today: 183 Total Miles: 12 202

We went for a morning walk along the beach. The sand is the same colour as Durban's sand, but had evidence of black volcanic veins in it. The shore was quite rocky and there were trees bearing new strange fruits, we hadn't seen yet. Around the corner from Tara Plage we saw a whole village pulling in their fishing nets bursting with fish. Some nets had some fairly big baracuda, but mostly they were full of little fish. One of the men told us that since the oil rigs and big oil tankers had arrived offshore, the noise of the throbbing engines and machinery had driven the big fish away. The fishermen are so strong and repeatedly pirogued out to drop their nets, which are then pulled in by the fishermen on the shore. This is exhausting and the temperatures are hot and very humid.

We along the beach to the chutes again and passed by a restaurant positioned on the rocks overlooking the crashing waves below. The tables were beautifully set with Hibiscus flowers. We were repeatedly offered to have fresh fish bbq'd for us, but declined as we'd done this yesterday. Ross shouldn't need to have to endure that again. After a lovely walk we had breakfast and packed up to drive to Yaounde and get our visas for the countries to the south of us.

Passing through two more CFA500 tolls, but still having good tar roads we arrived in Yaounde in the late afternoon. We arrived to a major jam up as a truck had broken down in the middle of the road. The roads have no markings or lines and therefore have about four lanes in each direction, but only space for two. There are also yellow taxis ducking and diving in every direction including screeching to a halt in the middle of nowhere. Getting past this chaos, we drove straight down a main road through the centre of town, only to be whistled at and stopped by a policeman telling us that the straight lane is for government ministers' use only. He took Heidi's driver's licence and ordered us to go to the police station to retrieve it. He was a horrible man and pretty determined to fine us. We pleaded and apologised, even though there is no indication of this part of the road being restricted. The road marking, traffic lights and openness would make it perfectly obvious this should be usable. Escaping with no fine, and Heidz now MAD, we used the GPS to find the Presbyterian Mission located near the big water towers on the hill. This is a very popular place for overlanders and is the only place to camp in Yaounde. We were really hoping to meet another overlanding vehicle here, but there were none. We were met by the wonderfully friendly Susanne (Sister Susanne). We had the whole grassy camping area to choose from. It's so nice to have a grass lawn rather than sand, to camp on. There is also a sweet dog called Max.

We ambled down the road in search of the well known boulangerie, which sells everything you could imagine. The cakes in the boulangerie looked like pictures in magazines. Unbelievable that this is here in Yaounde. We bought some fresh brown bread, something we haven't seen since we've been travelling. We also treated ourselves to a huge pan-au-choc, doughnut, without any jam, and a chocolate pastry. We stopped off at the internet cafe along the road from the mission and read that our new tenants have been rather aggressive in their approach to a condensation problem in our London flat, threatening legal action if problems aren't resolved in 5 days. Amazingly enough, they have been living in the flat for over a month, during peak winter, complaining that the flat is cold, but haven't even switched the heaters on!!! Also the dehumidifier, which is meant to be running 24/7, and is one of the clauses in our lease agreement, hasn't been switched on at all yet! This makes them in breach of contract. Makes you wonder why it's cold and there's condensation... Luckily we seem to have an agent who has been great at dealing with their tone. We were both really angry at what has happened with our flat, which was left in immaculate condition, and have decided a few calls need to be made tomorrow and many questions need to be answered! Not what we wish to concern ourseves with during our dream trip through Africa.

Monday 28th January: Foyer International de l'Eglise Presbyterienne, (Presby Mission) Yaounde, Cameroon

GPS Info: N03° 52' 47.6" E11° 31' 21.1"

Miles Today: 14 Total Miles: 12 216

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT!!! We hope you have a really special day and are spoilt rotten by Monkey. We will be thinkning of you all day and hope you aren't too affected by the long flight back to Sydney. May you have a wonderful day and be blessed out of your socks in the year ahead!

Today is the day to start the visa process. We enjoyed our pan-au-chocs and doughnuts from last night for breakfast, and then got into our smart Embassy clothes and drove to the Gabon Embassy first, but were told it would take until Wednesday to process our visas as the Consul is away. We took the forms and will rather come back on Wednesday for this. Next we drove to the Congo Embassy and enquired about this visa. CFA 70 000 each, 2 photos and after much pleading they agreed to let us collect them at 3pm today. They normally make you collect at midday the next day. We drove to the DRC Embassy next. The receptionist willingly gave us the application forms, telling us we need CFA 45 000 each, 2 photos and a copy of our passport. She said we could drop our passports off this afternoon and collect our visas at midday on Wednesday. After gentle persuasion, we were able to arrange a 10am collection on Wednesday.

We saw the South African flag flying from the DRC embassy so headed towards it. It was the official residence and we were directed around the corner to the High Commission. There were people waiting around outside and the building looked very tightly secured with CCTV, barbed wired walls etc. Eventually after a friendly lady phoned someone inside, we met Simon, a consul, who told us to come back later this afternoon when things were a bit quieter. We drove back to the mission and relaxed for a while enjoying brown bread sandwiches for lunch. All the little children from the school next to the mission were walking home after the end of their school day, around 1pm. We had watched a whole lot of them walking to school early this morning all dressed in their normal clothes with orange cotton apron / pinnies on. Heidz thought this was such a clever idea as a uniform as their clothes get protected by the apron / pinny and they can still wear their normal clothes. They all looked so cute and were very independent walking down the road on their own.

At 3pm we went back to the Congolese Embassy and were given our passports with a 21day visa in. We dashed across to the DRC to hand in our relevant paperwork and then went back to the SA High Commission. Wow! Amazing to have 2 visas being processed on one day. At the SA High Commission, we were met by Kobus, the Second Secretary: Political, who was keen to get our details and very pleased we'd come to introduce ourselves. He's from Cape Town and has been in Cameroon for 6 months. Previous to being posted here, he was in Libreville, Gabon. He didn't think we needed a Gabon visa and offered to enquire with the Gabonese embassy on our behalf tomorrow. We will phone him tomorrow afternoon to find out and will meet him again on Wednesday morning after we've dropped our passports off at the Gabonese Embassy, if we need to.

We stopped off at the only call box we've seen and phoned Julia, our flat's management agent. After 3 phonecards and lots of questions being asked and answered, we now have peace of mind that things will be sorted out and our tenants will be managed correctly.

We came back to the mission to find we were still the only car. We had a tomato, tinned sausage and rice dinner and enjoyed the cooler temperature. Heidz crashed while Ross stayed up enjoying more NAO Odeon movies, something good to help escape the problems of real life.

Tuesday 29th January: Foyer International de l'Eglise Presbyterienne, (Presby Mission) Yaounde, Cameroon

GPS Info: N03° 52' 47.6" E11° 31' 21.1"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 12 216

Today was a strange day for us as we had nothing to do and nowhere to go. We enjoyed a lie in, in the coolness of the morning. We watched the little school children playing so beautifully on the simple and sparse school equipment. Two swings and one football for the whole school of about 45 children. The children never once fought over the swing or whose turn it was and were pushing each other. The teachers looked on from the shaded verandahs as the children played, almost unsupervised. The school grounds run straight onto the road without any fence to stop the children running on to the road, in front of a car to fetch a ball etc. These children seem so much more independent and capable to fend for themselves, unlike the over protective, pin cushioned society we're used to. Tomorrow Heidz really wants to go into the classrooms to see how they're run and what the children do. Some of the children are so little. We also want to go through our 'give away box' and see what we can give to this school, so the children can have a few more toys to play with.

We spent the day catching up on diary updates, reading up about Gabon, Congo, DRC and Angola and paging through magazines. Ross went to a nearby gas shop to see if they could refill our CampingGaz bottles as one is empty and the other doesn't have too much left either. We didn't fill these in the UK before we left, and it seems to be a real problem to fill CampingGaz, as its foreign. We've been told its easier in Francophile countries, so we'll keep trying. He needed to catch a taxi to the one shop in town, "ETS Faula" in Avenue Kennedy, who swopped our bottle for a new one, for CFA3500. They don't refill, but rather exchange empty bottles for their full ones which are in really good condition. Yay, now we have so much gas!

It has been good for us to have a forced rest day and we hope to hear good news from Kobus later, about the visa situation for South Africans in Gabon. No Gabon visa, will be a big saving, as they are CFA 35 000 each, and every little bit helps. We also hoped to update the website at the internet cafe but it was s o s l o w we would've gone mad. We enjoyed having free time, something we haven't had much of up until now.

Ross managed to phone Kobus and he said as SA's we should get 30 day entry stamps for free at the border, but we hope to get this in writing from someone in the Gabonese embassy tomorrow, we can only hope. This means that we have all the visas we need from Yaounde, and could potentially leave tomorrow afternoon. We think that we may rather try to update the website as far as possible and leave early on Thursday morning to get as far as we can into Gabon on Thursday, crossing at Bitam, and heading towards Libreville.

We stopped at the Mahima supermarket to get more cereal, sugar and cheese before coming back to have a pesto pasta dinner. Heidz spoke to Susanne about visiting the school for a short time tomorrow morning before we go to the DRC embassy to collect our visas and she said it should be fine. So tomorrow between 9 and 9.30am Heidz will visit and learn from the little school next door.

There has been a water cut in the area today, so we decided to hopefully wait for a proper shower tomorrow morning. We spent the evening resizing and chosing photos to hopefully upload.

Tomorrow should be a busy day with an early school visit for Heidz, collecting our DRC visas at 10am, visiting the SA High Commission again and hopefully getting written confirmation from the Gabonese about the visa. Kobus again said he'd love to meet us for a drink or a meal tomorrow, so we'll see.

Wednesday 30th January: Foyer International de l'Eglise Presbyterienne, (Presby Mission) Yaounde, Cameroon

GPS Info: N03° 52' 47.6" E11° 31' 21.1"

Miles Today: 5 Total Miles: 12 221

Up to a busy day. We had a shower this morning due to there being a water cut yesterday, so we were both clean and fresh to face the embassies. Heidz went with Susanne for a very quick visit of the nursery school next to the mission. It has 42 children and three classes. A class for 3yr olds, 4yr olds and 5 yr olds. There was nothing in the classrooms, but bare walls, a few tables and chairs, but each class did have a big blackboard. The teachers all used different coloured chalk and had beautifully neat writing. Heidz saw some books in the 5yr old class. The children were all at break playing in the field, so will go back tomorrow to see them busy in their classrooms. We gave them some balls and other soft toys for the children to play with. As we left for the embassies, we saw all the children running after the football we had given them.

Four familiar American backpackers arrived at the mission this morning. Bonny, Tim, Mari and Jake who we'd met at Green Turtle in Ghana. They are finishing off their trip of West Africa in Cameroon, before flying across to Ethiopia to explore the East of Africa.

Both smartly dressed we went to the DRC embassy to collect our passports stamped with 30day visas. We went to the SA High Commission next to try and meet Kobus to confirm in writing that we didn't need a visa for Gabon on SA passports. Unfortunately he was busy in a meeting so we decided to go to the Gabonese Embassy directly. We asked, but no one seemed to be able to give us an answer and told us to 'just wait' for the 1st Secretary of Consular Affairs. We waited and waited and waited...ALL DAY from 10.45am until 7.45pm!!! She never arrived. We were the only people in the embassy in the dark with a handful of security outside watching the Cameroon football match on telly. We even got the laptop and hard drive out to start watching the movie 'Flushed Away', but were getting munched by mozzies so decided to give that up.

As we were leaving rather fed up and both feeling headachy, from not eating all day, and thirsty, one of the men eventually understood why we were waiting. He phoned the 1st Secretary who confirmed we didn't need a visa. She was going to arrive after the football match, apparently. She goes to college in the day and works at the embassy in the evening. As we were getting into Duzi2 to drive back to the mission, the Gabonese Ambassador arrived. He confirmed we didn't need a visa as SA and Gabon have a reciprocity agreement where each country's citizens can visit for 30days free entry, respectively. This was great for us to hear, but we were worried the frontier/border officials would be as confused as the embassy workers were, so wanted this in writing. The Ambassador agreed to help us if we returned tomorrow morning.

We stopped off at the bakery for some fresh brown rolls for dinner and drove back to an overjoyed Susanne. Cameroon had won their match and she was dancing around with a picture of her and one of their players.

Thursday 31st January: Foyer International de l'Eglise Presbyterienne, (Presby Mission) Yaounde, Cameroon

GPS Info: N03° 52' 47.6" E11° 31' 21.1"

Miles Today: Total Miles:

Heidz went off to visit the school while the children were busy in their classrooms. The headmistress called it 'an inspection' and introduced Heidz to each teacher and class. The three year olds were eating their own snack around their tables, but had been busy doing tricky handwiting patterns in books using pencils. This is difficult as the pencils were thin and hard, so the children had to press hard to make marks, let alone trace over all sorts of squiggly lines. Next we went to the 5yr olds who were doing a lesson on animal matching around a phonic sound. They went back to their tables and chairs from the board, and did some copying of handwriting words, which were very small, into their own lined books. Lastly, we went to the 4yr olds. They had a rather strict teacher and were doing a lesson involving matching and handwriting. They had to match different sized animals using straight and diagonal lines. They were really struggling with this and some were really struggling just to make marks let alone draw diagonal lines. It was very interesting and made Heidz so aware of how spoilt she's been in London. The head has done a huge amount of work to get the classrooms as spacious as they are and arrange exercise and preprinted work books for each child, with the hugely limited resources she has. No Speedy or Slow were anywhere near this little school Sandra and Linda and there were no paints to clean either!

While Heidz was visiting, Ross was working hard repacking and filtering water so we have loads for our next Central African stretch.

We got the Gabonese Ambassador's business card with a writtten explanation of our visa situation on the back of it. Yay, hopefully it's all sorted out. SA's can visit Gabon with NO visa, so we've saved CFA70 000, CFA35 000 each.

Next we filled up with fuel, made a quick phone call and updated our website. We hope to cross into Gabon this afternoon through Eboro and Bitam, heading towards Libreville to tackle our Angolan visa issues.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for the 2nd Paps, in case we can't get hold of you on your special day. We hope you have a really happy day full of lots of delicious coffee, cake, biscotti and special treats. We will be thinking of you and will have a special toast to you. Not long til we see you in Namibia. xxx

Update updated...

Next we filled up with fuel, made a quick phone call and updated our website at another incredibly slow internet cafe, that kept on bombing out while uploading our photos!

We eventually left Yaounde disappointed at not being able to get our photos up to date as we had spent hours last night getting them ready, but knew we had to leave to make it into Gabon before nightfall. We were expecting bad roads, but they were perfectly tarred, but did have four CFA500 tolls along the way. We passed a few pygmies on the road, they are so short. We have also noticed that the people are carrying their firewood and plantains etc in big baskets which they carry on their backs rather than on their heads as in the north of Africa. Some of them have a strap which they use across their foreheads to spread the weight of their basket. We arrived at the town of Eboro and had our carnet stamped without any problems. From the Immigration office we walked over to two very cheerful policemen who had just arrived back to their office. They stamped our passports and wished us on our way, neither of them taking down any of our passport details as they usually do when you leave a country.

We drove on to the border only to be met by two rather gruff men and a row of planks with nails in them. One in particular, not even in uniform, clearly didn't like us or the colour of our skin at all and we knew we were in for a tough crossing. These two corrupt border officials were determined the border was closed at 18.30pm, and it was now 18.20pm. They took our passports and wrote down all our particulars, as they do when you exit any country. While doing this, they were telling us we'd have to sleep on this side of the border, give them whisky???, etc. If we would've had to have sleep on this side of the border, we both would rather have driven back into the last village than stay here with the low lifes hanging around that dodgy joint. Interestingly enough, they let two other cars through going in both directions, and the people in them came out of the office laughing at Ross. Heidz had been waiting in the car, but went in to find out what the problem was as we were not being allowed through and they were, and they both crossed way after 6.30pm. With both of us annoyed and not giving into their intimidation tactics and not giving them a bribe, they eventually, very reluctantly, let us through to Gabon. This was a really horrible way to leave Cameroon, because we had both loved it and the people had been amazingly friendly and lovely, except for this last rude twirp.