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| I decided to leave a teaching job and ,always being a bit of an adventurer at heart, decided to take a break for 3 months. I had been teaching for 15 years so thought I deserved it. Doing some sort of voluntary work appealed, I spent weeks searching on the Internet and fate led me to United Action for Children in Cameroon. Mr. Thomas Orock was the Cameroonian whose concern for children led him to set up this Non Governmental Organisation. We sent many mails to each other and he encouraged me to develop a sexual health education program for teenagers to improve awareness of HIV/ AIDS. |
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As in many African countries HIV is a huge problem and the government is trying to advertise it more but health-care is poor and the anti-retroviral drugs are beyond the pocket of virtually all. Even treatment of the many opportunistic treatable diseases is very expensive. Without the possibility of treatment many are reluctant to get HIV tested and many children are also being born HIV+ without even knowing this. All these factors, many the result of poverty, fuel the frightening pandemic.
I constantly felt the very small contribution I was able to make was quite futile. I gathered many teaching resources and flew out one cold January day.
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I wrote a 7 hour program which I delivered to 3 schools as a pilot. It was a real eye opener to education in a developing country. 80% of the population do go to primary school but the very poor drop out at 11 years old as they cannot afford the school fees. Class sizes are 60 -100 in very bare classrooms, teaching is academic and quite traditional, teachers are not able to give the weaker ones any individual help so standards are quite low compared to the more developed world.
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I found they were really keen to learn about HIV and very frightened and still believed many myths about the disease. The 3 months flew by and I wish I could have done more.
The charity also has a nursery school for the poor and does vocational training for youths who have dropped out of school, and is hoping to start computer training and tailoring using donations form past volunteers.
The UK Organisation "Africatrust Networks" is now helping volunteers to reach UAC -website www.africatrust.org.uk and their e-mail is info@africatrust.gi
The main part of this report is to outline the 3 ecotourism experiences I had in Cameroon. Tourism in Cameroon is not very well developed away from the capital and a small stretch of coastline so it is still unspoilt by package tours and feels like adventure. Travel requires great patience, time and sometimes bravery as you are cramped in the many condemned vehicles. Corruption is rife with police/military trying to extract "Dash "or bribes from as many people as possible. Despite this the people are very interested in travellers and friendly.
Ascent of Mount Cameroon
This is an active volcano, height 4075m, which has erupted fairly regularly but is not very violent with mainly slow moving lava flows. The last one in 2000 destroyed houses and crossed the main road to the seaside resort of Limbe, stopping just before the sea. A group of 3 volunteers set off booking it through the ecotourism office set up by Germans to conserve the mountain. They have employed ex hunters as porters and guides. We hired a guide called Moses to find out about the mountain and 3 porters as there is only water at camp one so you have to take 3 litres of water for each person per day.We booked for 4 days not knowing how long we'd be.
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Day 1 This was a 6 hour day, spending the first 4 in the mountain forest. There were many loud and exotic sounding birds, one of them [some people claim] can tell them the time by it's call. We heard a small troop of monkeys but I only saw a few moving branches. Moses collected a few fruits for us to try, the ones that looked like raspberries were great but a large red one growing near to the ground was very bitter and I spat it out when he was not looking. It was so humid our shirts were soaked and I could wring out the sweat from my hair. |
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We emerged into the savannah to sunshine and a cool breeze. It was yellow dry grass with a few small bushes, the lack of bird sounds was evident immediately. The hunters still burn the grass in many areas to cause green young shoots to grow for the small deer they call antelope. They are fined if caught and we did not see any deer.
The camp was at Manns Spring the last water before the summit, in fact you need to descend 3 quarters of the way down the other side to get to the next water. We used my water filter pump to fill 10 x 1.5litre bottles, we took it in turns as it is a strenuous job. Just after we started cooking a distant rumbling was heard, I stupidly asked if it was the volcano, no it was just a thunderstorm approaching! In 30mins it arrived and it lasted 1 hour.
Day 2
Had dried biscuits for breakfast with jam and Milo,a malty chocolate drink. We set off uphill through the savannah. Lena had to turn back with one of the porters as she still felt ill leaving just Willem and myself. We passed many old lava flows and a couple of craters with steam still coming out of them, they smelt of sulphur and some of the rocks were tinged yellow. There were vast areas of black sand/ash with many colourful flowers growing.
The last 2 hours was over a very old flow which was very rough and uneven to walk on so you had to concentrate to avoid a twisted ankle. This part was quite flat so nice to end the day on a easy stretch. The campsite was an area of black sand sheltered by many bushes with a spectacular view over a big area of savannah. The walking took 5 hours and the guide was impressed with our speed. We were sleeping at 3200m so I had many vivid dreams all about home ( I am just beginning to dream about Cameroon now after a month).
Day 3
All up hill for 2 hours sometimes on lose volcanic ash which made you go backwards a little every time you went upwards. It was a small summit with many other small peaks around, sunny and had a pretty good view of some surrounding peaks. Quite breezy so we stayed long enough to share out the celebratory chocolate and take some snaps of ourselves and the Guinness advertising board. First part of the decent to hut 3 was easy nice loose ash.
We were going down the Guinness trail that the runners run up and down in four and a half hours. We came across many runners training for the race, it is a very tough event and totally beyond me. Had a quick rest and a few biscuits. Then a steepish descent, then they kept talking about the very steep part so I was getting quite nervous.
It must be much easier going up than going down but we took our time and concentrated. The only problem was the descent was so continuous without any breaks that my legs began to shake. I then started to loose control of my legs they could barely hold my body weight. Willem was also feeling the same by now, we were stumbling the porters lent us their big sticks, this did help.
We had discussed camping at hut 2 or 1 when we planned the trip but we pressed on. By hut 1 I was shattered but I did not wish to spend another night just 2 hours from the end. We were walking so slow and like drunks, I suppose walking poles may have saved our legs, and perhaps our muscles ran out of food store due to the African diet. We passed a place where a runner fell down into a small ravine and died. We took eight and a half hours to descend from 4000m to 1000m. We got a taxi back to the Mountain office and my legs were recovering a bit.
I have lost one big toe nail completely due to the descending bashing my toes, and our legs were very stiff for 4 days.I felt a great sense of achievement, it was my first time on an active volcano.
Rainforest adventure
Three of us decided to embark on a long journey to the deepest tropical rainforest in the SE province. It is part of the Congo Basin and the second largest rainforest in the world. It is Lobeke forest and we knew there were WWF research camps that can organise guides and transport. After a 5-hour trip to Yaounde the capital we called into the smart WWF office to ask a few questions. I was relieved that during the journey the nausea I felt from the amoebic dysentery I had suffered all week stopped as soon as I ceased taking the medication.
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We discovered that a vehicle would leave that evening to Bertoua. This was a 9-hour trip of which a third was on tarred road and the rest on dusty dirt road. They were selling industrial facemasks at the bus station, which was a warning to us. Every time a truck rushes by the bus fills with red dust and your eyes, noses and lungs. The road was rock hard and was like travelling at speed over corrugated iron. I was now beginning to worry about an old disc injury in my back and prayed it would withstand these days of battering. After arriving at Bertuoa at 3am the place was still buzzing. |
We had a snack and waited until the 6am bus left for Yakadouma. The road got rougher and we had to get out at one bridge, as it risked collapsing with a fully laden bus. It was heartbreaking to see so many fully laden trucks huge hardwood timber; we passed at least 40 a day leaving the forest. I was told all the wood is exported to Europe and Japan. Knowing the corruption and great desire for money we felt there will not be much forest left in 15/20 years.
We continued wearily to Yakadouma, which is described as a booming frontier town due to the logging industry and gold prospecting. It was like the American Wild West with many immigrants from all over West Africa hoping to make their fortune from shops, hotels and restaurants, cashing in on the passing trade. As we approached Yakadouma we were stopped by the police 4 times within 3km and all of the passengers were asked to show identity cards or passports. I think they were quite suspicious of us as not many tourists travel this far as it is a testing journey. We found a great hotel and showered our dusty smelly bodies, washed some clothes and had a slap up meal.
The next day was a rest day. On Monday we paid our park fees this took the usual 2 hours and many duplicate forms needed filling in. We met 6 from the Checz republic who were travelling to the same camp, they were birdwatchers. We departed on a minibus we hired for the 9 of us so we were not squashed in like sardines as is usual in Cameroon (a seat for 3 has to fit 4 people so they can make more money). It took 6 hours to reach the WWF base camp. This was luxurious the permanent tents had beds in them; there was a kitchen area and a sitting area with comfy chairs, and a nice stream to bathe in. We were told very little on arrival and the assistant manager left us and said we would plan our trip tomorrow.
The next morning the WWF workers arrived slowly and we were itching to get going. We requested a briefing on the various camps and options open to us. We would be driven into the forest and walk 2 hours to the first camp all 9 of us which worried us as we thought too many people would disturb the animals. We hired a guide and porter. They wanted to see the food we had brought to check we had enough, then they gave us a long shopping list for the guide and porter, 6kgs of rice, 3kg beans, 2 soaps, 1 litre of oil and the list went on, there was enough to keep us going for a week not just 4 days. We were told that the WWF truck had to go to Yaounde for a meeting so we had to hire another one. The local man wanted a huge amount of money for the trip in and out of the forest. As this extra cost was a surprise to us and much more than the average Cameroonian earns in 1 month, we argued strongly. We did get it down a little, it seemed unfair we were paying the guide and porter so little for 4 days in comparison.
| We were hoping to go straight onto camp 2 to leave the Checzs behind but we had to wait as usual for the wheel of Cameroonian organisations to turn slowly. The 4-wheel drive journey was exciting and we eventually set off on our trek. The guide set a cracking pace and we were soon drenched in sweat as it was pretty humid. Camp 1 has a Mirador which is a small hut built 11m in the air to observe the animals in the clearing. We walked the 1km to the campfire and cooked our meal. Everyone had made so much noise unpacking at the Mirador to sleep there that no animals emerged that evening or the next morning. We walked for 2 hours to camp 2 this seemed a long and weary walk. We saw a few monkeys in the trees, Columbus ones who are so heavy they seem to destroy the canopy as they thrash about. We walked to the clearing and the guide shot up this tree, and we had to follow, as there was no construction to observe the animals. I managed it just with a quick push from below there were no foot holds and we clung to vines to haul ourselves up, now I know why Tarzan was so muscular. Not being disappointed we saw buffalo, warthogs, antelope and many birds. We returned to the tree the next morning at 6am this time I failed in my first attempt up the tree so embarrassingly had to be hauled up by 2 others. The clearing was covered by mist and soon revealed a lone elephant on the edge of the bush. Then we heard more and saw 3 on the other side. They are smaller than the Indian and African savannah elephants and brown in colour. We also saw an eagle, 2 sorts of deer/antelope and many wading birds. We sat for 4 hours scanning the marshland, the animals come here for the salty mud. We returned to the campsite for a big bowl of porridge feeling satisfied that we had seen forest elephant. |
  
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That afternoon we returned to the Mirador, we sat up for hours in the dark hoping to see more elephants, we heard them but when the moon came up they disappeared.
On our walk back to the pick up point we were treated again. The guide was always very good at hearing the animals there was a huge amount of rustling and 2 chimpanzees were visible. One very large one was climbing down the tree on hearing us. He fell from halfway and a load crash was heard. We froze, as we did not know whether he or she would charge us, luckily it ran away as the other smaller one swung away in the trees. Only a gorilla would top off the experience. A loud deep call was heard, Gorilla whispered the guide, we looked nervously but only heard it running away, but at least we were close to one.
We all felt privileged to see such a range of rare animals and pray that others will many years to come. It was good that the organisation is not big and commercialised; only 130 people have been in the last 3 years.