My short 2 weeks vacation to Cameroon in West Africa

I spy a jackup rig- a drilling barge and a supply boat !

There be oil in them there parts !

Yup. You are right. This is the oil city in Cameroon. The city is also a beach city where a lot of foreigners that love going to the beach frequent here to spend time on the beach. The beach they go to is about 30 mins from here.

This town is called Limbe.
 
The Videos of me driving on the highway in Cameroon. I put my GoPro on the outside of my windshield. The suction cup is super strong and basically cannot fall off. I did get some pretty good videos. I will share them in this post.

I will try to list the videos here chronologically from the start of the journey to when the black Toyota Avensis my younger brother was driving dies. It was quite a fun trip, though it did not last till the end that we were hoping for.

Video 1: We are slowly leaving town. Too much traffic. At 3:00, I tried to use my wiper blades and it gets caught on my GoPro. So, I called and told my brother we should pull over so I can adjust my GoPro a little higher so the blades will not be caught by it. It started raining very lightly. My brother pulled over at the end of the video and we make the adjustment to my GoPro.

Video 2: My GoPro is adjusted higher away from the wiper blades. We get in the cars, drive a bit and at 9:00 is when the highway really begins and it was full throttle from then on.

Video 3: Fully concentrated on the driving, we keep on full throttle. At 7:30, my brother gets pulled over at a gendarmerie stop for them to check if the vehicle is registered and roadworthy. Just some random checks they do. 7:40, he notices his boss in the green Rav4 too was pulled over. I go ahead and park and wait for him.

Video 4:

Video 5:
 
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lumpskie

Independent Thinker
^It's fun to see what traffic is like in countries like that. It reminds me of Central America a lot. I was also surprised to see a few Toyota 4 Runners in the video. I thought those were mainly sold in the Americas and didn't know that they were out there in Africa as well!

This is a great thread and keep the good stuff coming. If you get a chance, I'd love to see what the backcountry of Camaroon looks like!
 
^It's fun to see what traffic is like in countries like that. It reminds me of Central America a lot. I was also surprised to see a few Toyota 4 Runners in the video. I thought those were mainly sold in the Americas and didn't know that they were out there in Africa as well!

This is a great thread and keep the good stuff coming. If you get a chance, I'd love to see what the backcountry of Camaroon looks like!

Yes, there are a few 4runners there, but there is a new Toyota called Fortunner that looks like the 4Runner replacement in Africa.

I tried to get pics of the back roads, but it was not easy. I did not do a lot of that and it was raining when I got to some spots and could not get my gopro to instal.
 
'ti frère! What memories!

Lived in Douala for two years in the early '70's; in fact, I met my wife there. This thread brings back many memories of Cameroun, "Africa in Miniature."

See: http://www.pbase.com/diplostrat/cameroon

Walka fine, massa.

Wow, you lived in Cameroon just before I was born there. That is amazing. I was born mid 70s. Glad to know you met your wife there. And yes, Cameroon is truly Africa in miniature.

And you know pigin english. Even better.

Thank you. I be waka fine. I don come back. (Thank you. I traveled well. I am back in the US)
 
Sincwe we could notmake the 5 hour journey as a family because of one vehicle that died, I had to do the trip alone. I rented a Toyota Rav4 J. The J stands for built in Japan. It had full time 4wd. Not that I really could tell or noticed it. But here is the car just when I was about to pay and pick it up for my 3 day road trip as I went really far with it.

After 5 hours, the car was already dirty and I had reached my first destination; Bafoussam
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The house of a local grandma who wanted to offer me live chicken and a bunch of plantains from the plantain tree as a gift to take back to the US. I respectfully declined as I was still en route for another 3 hours of journey to get to Bamenda and then to Bali.
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At the end of my trip, I was really exhausted. The next day I took the car to a local place to be washed and cleaned.
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Pleased with the end results, though it got dirty right away as soon as I drove off.
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On my way back, it was more fun that I had hoped for. This Rav4 is manual and a 2.0. It is not fast, but for someone like me who drives fast, I had to push it. I just wish I had a faster car. But i did well with this and it was a lot of fun. I will upload some videos later.

A quick stop in Mbouda for some food stuffs for family. Look at how bad the higway looks like.
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Halfway into the journey, I stopped at Melong for some suya. Who can resist this meat? This was sheep, lol. It was yummy.
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From here on to my final destination is the best stretch of road and one where people go the fastest. So, time to set up my gopro for some fun footage because I planned to push this Rav4 to its limits and it was time to see if i will have competitors on the road.
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Got on the road and was doing my best and this Montero kept on challenging me. The Montero was very loaded and you can see on the roof it had 2 big Sheep tied down (a black and a white sheep tied on the roof rack). They were alive and struggling to stay alive as that car raced down the highway under bad weather of rain and sun at some places. I have him a lot in my video. I passed it like 3 times and he couldn't believe how a small Rav4 would beat him and he would always look for a way to come pass me up again. Well, I let him because he was trying too hard. But I had to leave him behind at some point. Got some footage on my videos that I may post later on.
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Overall, it was a fun and great drive and I must say driving the Rav4 through hills and mountains and constantly shifting gears felt as if I was driving a rally car and I realized just how much I miss owning a manual.
 

DiploStrat

Expedition Leader
Memories

'ti Frere,

Your pictures bring back so many memories. You may enjoy these to see how much and how little has changed.

Bamenda in the morning.
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Bali airstrip, back in the day.
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Main street, Bamenda.
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You went to Bali. This gentleman was the Fon at the time.
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The road to Bafussam was not paved.
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@ DiploStrat

Amazing pictures you have there.

That picture of Bamenda in the morning is way too real and that picture is taken standing from the station hill top. That is true picture that everyone truly sees every morning if you stand up the hill in station. It is really a relaxing image.

That picture of the Bali air strip is epic. I don't think I have ever visited the air strip.

The main street in bamenda is what is now commercial avenue. It is very developed now and super busy with business. It is probably the busiest market place in bamenda now.

Cool to see you have pictures of the former Fon. That is a precious picture to keep.

As for the Bafoussam road, I remember when I could do it in an hour when the road was still great. but now, there is a stretch that is terrible. Ruining people's cars, cutting tires and cutting springs. The journey now is 2 hours 30 mins. A 4x4 can do it faster just because it is higher than cars.

Nice pictures.
 
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And this is the craziest thing I saw on my trip. While driving through some bad roads, I came across these guys. I was amazed and I had to pull over and take pics, lol. The guy sitting at the back told me this is his source of living. He owns pigs and when he is ready to sell them in the market, he kills the ones he wants to sell and transports them to the local market like this where he cuts them up according to how many pounds of meat buyers want to purchase from him.

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