Trip Report: Cameroon
Visited in January 2024
ASKY flight KP35 took me from the Central African Republic to Cameroon, my country no. 164 and my second in Central Africa. Unless you count São Tomé & Príncipe as part of this region. Then it would be the third.
I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this trip to Central Africa. The region is often called one of the worst by experienced travelers. However, unlike Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, which I would visit later on this trip, I had the feeling that Cameroon could be interesting.
When you arrive in Douala from Bangui, you already have the feeling at the airport that you are entering a completely different world. The airport was large and modern by African standards. Going through immigration was also pretty smooth. Cameroon recently introduced an e-visa, which cost around €170 and was approved relatively quickly. The only thing I needed was a letter of invitation. Fortunately, I could get one through a contact in Cameroon.
My contact was a tour guide who, as luck would have it, followed me on Instagram a day or two after I booked my flights to Cameroon. We chatted a bit and after he told me that he owns a tour company in Douala, he eventually made me an offer to be my guide in Cameroon, I accepted. Even though he looked (and was) very young and had no references to speak of.
What I liked about him was his very transparent pricing. He told me exactly what I was going to pay for what. His wage was the equivalent of about forty euros a day. He also told me how much it would cost to hire a car and driver, what the entrance fees for the activities would be and what other expenses I would have to expect. I really appreciated that.
Besides, I thought maybe he could make a name for himself with my help. After all, guides I hired often get in touch with me and say that they have received more guests because of this blog. Especially in countries like Cameroon, where you will not find as many tour agencies as, say, in Thailand, good references among travelers are an important promotional tool for guides.
My guide and a friend of his picked me up at the airport and drove me to my hotel, the Geneva Hotel, about twenty minutes from the airport. The hotel was value for money. I paid about €60 per night, but it was spotlessly clean and comfortable. The only downside: there were hardly any restaurants in the area, so I had to take a cab (via the Yango app) each evening and drive about twenty minutes. If I were to go to Douala again, I would probably stay in one of the districts west of the airport (somewhere in the proximity of Maison H).
The boys and I spent the afternoon sightseeing in Douala, Cameroon’s biggest city and economic capital. Both boys were born in the new millennium, so strictly speaking I could have been their father. But they both made a friendly impression and were keen to show me around their home country. Moreover, they both come from the English-speaking part of the country. Cameroon is a bilingual country, but the majority, including in Douala, speak French.
There have been major tensions, or – as my guide called it – a crisis, between the two language regions for some time. As a late consequence of the colonial era – both England and France colonized Cameroon – a separatist movement emerged in the Anglophone part. Travelers are therefore advised not to visit the border area between Nigeria and Cameroon.
My guide asked me if we needed a driver for the day in Douala, which I declined. So we took regular taxis or yango to get around. Douala is one of the largest cities in Central Africa, but fortunately it doesn’t take long to get from one place to the next outside of rush hour. The only thing that was a pity is that the city is not really walkable, as the distances are too big for that.
To be honest, Douala is not a very popular city among travelers. Apart from the lack of attractions, Douala is said to be dangerous and anything but beautiful. Most people use the city mainly for a visa run, as visas for other Central African countries can be obtained here in a short time. I was expecting a second Lagos, but it wasn’t that bad. After Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, which seemed more like a big village, Douala is definitely more urban and also more developed.
The boys showed me the few sights that Douala has to offer. These were the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the Palais des rois Bell including Doual’art and the Marche des Fleurs, among others. Funnily enough, it was only because of my request that we went to the coolest sight in the city, at least for me. It’s an estimated ten-metre-high metal statue at Rond-Point Deido. I know, tastes are different, but I liked it.
My guide also suggested going to the Douala Maritime Museum. The museum is probably the main attraction in Douala, but I wasn’t interested at all in the topic, so I said I would like to skip it.
What else is to say about Douala? The city is hectic, there’s no question about that. The traffic is immense and the city is overpopulated with its 5.5 million inhabitants. No matter what time of day I was out and about in Douala, the streets seemed like a nest of ants with so many people, motorcycles and cars.
The guys also told me that Douala was dangerous, especially at night. They advised me not to walk around in the evening, but well, after 42 countries in Africa I would call that common sense. However, I didn’t have a single problem during my stay. Even though I wouldn’t describe Douala as an amazing city, it was still nice to be back in a “real” city after two days in Bangui.
But all in all, my time in Douala wasn’t bad. I had a good afternoon with the boys, which gave me a good impression of the city. I also got a bit of a feel for the two boys. Apparently I was their first international tourist, which I had almost guessed before the trip. I took this as an opportunity to give them tips on how to become good tour guides and hoped that they could benefit from it in the future.
Unfortunately, the next day was a complete disaster…
The plan was to go on a trip to the Douala Eden Reserve, where we wanted to visit the Songo-Pongo Chimpanzee Island. After Rwanda and Uganda, it would have been the third time for me to encounter chimpanzees in their natural habitat. I also have to say that it was my last day in Cameroon as ASKY screwed up with the flights and cut my stay to two days, which is why I only had time for one day-trip from Douala.
The day started with the boys arriving 45 minutes late. Apparently because the traffic in the city was bad. Ten to fifteen minutes late wouldn’t have been a problem for me. Maybe I’m too Swiss, but 45 minutes is a big no-no, especially on a day when you have to drive 7-8 hours. This was just the beginning of a series of things that went wrong throughout the day…
When I met the boys in the morning, I knew something was wrong. Neither of them said a word and the atmosphere was somehow strange. After about an hour in the car, I knew why. My Guide told me that we were not going to the Douala-Eden Reserve. He had called there a few hours ago to tell them we were coming. Unfortunately, they answered that he should have called the day before and it was too late now to organize someone to show us around. When he told me this, I had the feeling that he was about to cry. He was probably already aware that he had messed up big time.
Imagine you’re on a tour and hear after an hour that your program is changing and you’re not going to the place you actually planned to visit. An absolute novelty for me after 164 countries. Why didn’t he tell me this before we left? Probably because he was afraid that I would cancel the tour and he wouldn’t earn anything. Instead, he told me that we were going to Kribi, a coastal town about 3h30 south of Douala. Kribi would actually have been on my itinerary, but then had to be cut short due to the canceled flight.
The reason why I wasn’t completely freaked out at this point was that it didn’t really matter to me whether I saw the chimpanzees or the beach in Kribi and the pygmy tribe that lives there. Like I said, I have seen chimpanzees before and the last time was just four months ago. Kribi and the pygmy tribe was fine too. Nevertheless, this unprofessionalism amazed me.
An hour later, the next unfortunate situation happened. Our car stopped in the middle of nowhere because we had run out of fuel. My contact explained to me that he had asked the driver to buy fuel, which he didn’t. That was the moment when my mood slowly started to change, because a poor trip was now turning into a terrible one. As I had paid the equivalent of €180 for the day, I became frustrated.
The solution to this problem was that a passing motorbike driver took our driver and my guide to the next village and bought gas there. Half an hour went by, during which I waited with one of the boys either in the sweltering heat of the car or under the brutal heat of the sun. Cameroon has a short dry season, and like in Central African Republic, dry season mean the hottest temperatures.
The boys came back after half an hour, which surprised me to be honest. In Africa, situations like this can sometimes last two to three hours.
We reached Kribi sometime after noon and drove to the Ilomba Hotel for lunch. This is the best hotel in southern Cameroon and the beach section of the hotel is really superb. I had actually planned to stay in this hotel, but as we had removed Kribi from the program, the Ilomba Hotel was removed from the itinerary as well. The food there was disappointing by the way, but the hotel looked pretty cool.
We also saw other beaches in Kribi, all of which were quite beautiful. In this respect, I really liked the south of Cameroon.
But we didn’t have much time for the beach anyway, because after spending half a day in the car, I wanted to do something. The two places I was supposed to visit that day were the pygmies and Lobé Falls. I could actually have skipped the waterfall. It didn’t look that spectacular in the pictures and I have a waterfall overdose anyway after seeing huge waterfalls in Angola, Guyana and the Central African Republic in the last few months. That was also the reason why I didn’t want to go to the Ekom-Nkam Waterfalls north of Douala.
Lobé Falls is one of the three waterfalls in Africa that flows directly into the ocean (the other two are in South Africa) and you can take a boat from the beach to the bottom of the waterfall. My contact had quoted me XAF 5,000 (€7.60) for the boat trip. When we arrived at the beach where the boats start, this price suddenly changed. Not because of my guide, but because of the boat drivers. When they saw “le blanc”, i.e. me, they suddenly wanted XAF 15,000 (€23.0) for the trip.
So, we just had the next situation in which things did not go according to the plan. I did not want to pay more than 7 euros for a 20-minute boat trip to waterfalls four meters high or so. Therefore, I told my guide that it was okay. We could just walk along the beach to the falls and then take a few photos from a little closer. This is what we did, although the boat drivers were now willing to drive us for less. But we left it at that. I didn’t want to give these people any money. Especially not for this waterfall.
You think that all the mishaps were over now? Think again! It wasn’t long before the next incident followed. To visit the pygmies, you also have to travel about twenty minutes in a canoe. But when the canoe drivers noticed “le blanc”, they suddenly wanted XAF 30,000 (€46) instead of XAF 17,000 (€26).
In principle, I would not have been willing to pay the exorbitant price here either. However, I thought that if we didn’t do this boat trip and visit the pygmy tribe, then I would have spent 7-8 hours in the car that day for nothing. Or just to see a few beaches in Kribi. I also realized how uncomfortable this situation was for my guide. Everything, but really everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The tour was an absolute disaster. I even felt pity for him.
“25 ou rien!” I intervened. So XAF 25,000 as the only and final offer. I had held back until now, but it seemed hopeless. The boat drivers showed my guide zero concession. But when I intervened, things started to move. One of the boat drivers accepted and said it was a “bonne année” gift for me.
In hindsight, I could have skipped this tour too. Because the visit to the pygmies was nothing short of ridiculous. I had already heard from various people that the pygmies were a bunch of alcoholics and that it’s not worth going there. So, my expectations were already very low…
First we canoed down the river for about half an hour. The trip was actually quite nice and the landscapes we saw were beautiful. The boatmen wanted us to pay XAF 1,000 for life jackets before the trip. I said that I didn’t need one. But the boys couldn’t swim, so they took one, but refused to pay for it.
What we saw in the jungle after a five-minute hike was an absolute joke. In fact, there were about 15 bored villagers sitting under the trees. One of them, a 30 to 35-year-old, was sitting on a throne and was introduced to us as the chief. My guide said that this was not the chief and that they had simply put someone else on the throne so that they could show us a chief.
My guide then gave the fake chief 5,000 XAF from me. They expect you to pay them something. The question is: for what? Don’t worry, I didn’t expect these pygmies to ride through the jungle juggling on a unicycle. But they could have told me something about their lives. I spent maybe 10 to 15 minutes there before we went back to the boat.
So this pygmy village was a complete flop. I later discovered on Tripadvisor that this place has a rating of 2.5/5, which is still generous. But if you want to have exciting experiences with tribes, it’s better to go to South Sudan. I also told my guide that he should not bring international guests to this place, as most will not like it.
After that, we drove the three and a half hours back to Douala, where I flew on the next day. I was actually glad that the day was over. The first day in Douala was alright with the boys, unfortunately the day-trip was a nightmare.
I gave the boys some honest feedback and told them that I found the tour very poor. I mean… it really was. Not as bad as my tour in Haiti, but still one of the worst trips I ever did. Moreover, I highly recommended my guide to get rid of his incompetent driver, as this guy will hurt his business. At the same time, I felt and still feel sorry for the boys, especially since they were nice guys and will most likely read this trip report. I’m sure they would have hoped for a bigger success from that day. They will probably learn from this day and do better at some point.
One of the two guys asked me on the way how I would rank Cameroon compared to other African countries. My answer was that I couldn’t after two days. After these two days, I don’t have the feeling that I have “seen Cameroon”. After all, I spent one day in a city with almost no attractions. And in the end, I didn’t see that much on the second day either.
For now, the negatives outweigh the positives. However, I shouldn’t complain. I was aware that I was taking a risk and it wasn’t the end of the world that it turned out the way it did. Ultimately, I still see Cameroon as a country that has a lot to offer travelers and I think I should go back someday to get a good and real taste of it. It’s just that these first two days didn’t really make me want more.
After four days, this trip to Central Africa was still not what I had hoped for. Both the Central African Republic and Cameroon failed to deliver. But now I left this region for the time being and flew to West Africa. It was time for my country no. 165: Benin.
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