Blogs from Cameroon, Africa

Returning from a business meeting and with a couple hours to spend before the windy road back to the Yaoundé airport we were looking for a unapologetically quick act of tourism. We had been holed-up in the Hilton Hotel and needed something a short distance away. Fortunately, the musee de blackitude is tucked away on a side road only five minutes walk from the hotel. This museum is the kind of thing that makes travelling in Africa such a joy. It is an unexpected gem housed in a rather rudimentary setting. The museum comprises an eclectic collection of costumes, musical instruments, masks, furniture, sculptures, utensils. A reconstruction of a village kitchen and a royal chamber. It is a result of personal passions and is testament to one persons desire to preserve a heritage. This private collection ... read more

Monday July 2 I sat up front with Denise for the drive to the capital, Yaounde. Still being obsessed with 'The Meat Man', we found a good one for lunch, huddling close to try and stay out of the rain. It seemed to stop and Denise and I went looking for a bathroom when it began to pour. Within seconds we were soaked through, needing a change of clothes. It was an easy drive along good roads and we were on the outskirts of Yaounde when a tyre burst. Pulling over, I jumped out to help Suse reverse a short distance to a petrol station where we could turn in and change it off the road. The directions into town weren't overly helpful as there seemed to be several new roads to choose from. Taking a ... read more

In February 2012, my services were enlisted to attend to an electrical matter on a ship in Douala. The flight, via Libreville, Gabon, was quite tiring, and it was relief to get my sore butt off the plane. After a long wait for the baggage to reach the carousel, we were whisked into town by the agent, who had our passports. More on that later. It transpired that I would lodge at the Hotel Prince de Galles , in Akwa, downtown Douala. The ride into town was daunting, to say the least. Some vehicles drive without their lights at night. The roads are in poor condition, but the show goes on. After checking in, I dropped my bags in my room and headed off to the pub downstairs. The only local brews were Castel, and the ... read more

We’ve more or less finished our actual fieldwork. In Ma’an area, we managed to make quite some interviews, so in the end the number reached around 30. This made us really happy! We hired a car and a driver for this last area. Our driver “Papa” looked like some kids in Finland, driving his Toyota Corolla, with a cap always on, a towel around his neck, and Wunderbaums hanging from the front mirror. The car was a 4WD though, and he was very good on the red, muddy, slippery roads. It was like driving on ice sometimes. A car made our travel much easier. Still we decided to stay a lot in villages due to distances and condition of the roads, and this offered us some nice experiences and talks with people again. Most of the ... read more

Finally we’re actually doing something, it feels great! We spent four days in Mbiogo village, close to Campo, doing interviews. It was a new experience to us, so much to learn and absorb in everyday situations. Mine and Linda’s thesis topics go a lot together. I concentrate on the characteristics and levels of hunting and its commercialization around the national park, and the effects it could have on wildlife densities. Linda compares two methods, transect line counts which are normally used for estimating mammal densities in rainforests, and PLEO method (pooled local expert opinion), which means estimating densities based on opinions of experienced hunters. We work together with Cyril, a Cameroonian student, whose thesis is also about hunting. The data we collect is first and foremost for our theses, but WWF might also use some of ... read more