Had a hectic couple of weeks planning my escape so missed out on a few updates, so here’s what I did during my final days in West Africa... Having survived Nigeria and its dubious reputation we decided to visit at least one sight before we left. We drove up to the Afi Mountain Drill Ranch, sister project to the sanctuary we’d visited in Calabar a few days earlier. The Ranch has been set up by an American couple to protect and rehabilitate orphaned Chimpanzees and the extremely endangered Drill monkey, which only lives in a small area on the Nigeria/Cameroon border. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi everyone, Just to let you know I'm jumping ship. Leaving the truck and flying to Joburg on Sunday. All is good and I'm happy, just bored of long driving days and delays and no personal space. Looking forward to doing some independent travelling, seeing South Africa, having a change of scene and the luxuries of a bed, bath and washing machine (thank you Jim and Janine)! Will update you on last few weeks and safe arrival in SA sometime next week when I've recovered from culture shock! Fxx [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi All This will be my blog site while in Africa. The flight over Click on the flight map to see my route to Cameroon The Grant Title: The Documentation and Preservation of Western Beboid Languages of Cameroon (Mundabli, Fang , Koshin, Abar, and Mbu’) This project will document the endangered Western Beboid languages (Bantoid:Benue-Congo:Niger-Congo) spoken Northwest Province of Cameroon. It will result in (i) the creation of primary documentary resources of these languages in the form of aud [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hola espannnnia Lo primero agradeceros vuestros mensajes de apoyo. me encanta leerlos y aunque no pueda contestar a todos me acuerdo de todos y cada uno de vosotros, lo juro! Han sido unos dias moviditos desde que me conecte en lome. muchos km y muchas cosas que contar. Gabriela os podra contar con detalle y mejor verbo algunas de ellas en persona. aqui os resumo alguna: 1.dos burros dos pluto o "lanavarra" -como algunos la conocen- ha pasado unos dias dificiles...una semana antes de la llegada de gabi, en pleno desierto, el brazo basculante partio. No podia mover la moto del [View Full Entry]

---

---

i neglected to write about our pre mountain adventures! we first stopped off in Limbe which is a smallish seaside town where we went to the beach, a monkey sanctury and ollie fell in love with a women selling grilled fish for 60p (i'm not worried... she was fat, old and called Ogzilia!) much to ollies amusement there was a gorilla called Emma at the sanctury. i hope you'll agree that we dont look alike! before we got to cameroon we visited a stilt village called Ganvie which was really unusual. it was created back in the day when there were [View Full Entry]

---

---

A while back we were browsing our cameroon guidebook and thought it could be fun to climb up mt cameroon, the highest peak in west africa at 13,500 ft (4075m)! we weren't sure it would be possible since we planned for a strictly warm weather trip we didnt pack anything more than a fleece each and it gets to 0c on the summit. However, we were assured by the tousism office that it would be ok and we could get another jumper so we opted for the full 3 day, 2 night trip.. guides, porters and all! our first task was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Through the glass ceiling the night sky was reflected in the main pool of the closed public swimming pool facility. It must have been after midnight and I stood at the end of the 50 metres long pool, watching the stars in the dark calm water when I suddenly felt a disturbing presence of something. I felt like I was being watched. To chase my fear away, I gave the room a quick glace, expecting that relieving feeling of being silly, that I always get when I realize that I'm only being paranoid. Instead I froze. At the other end of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Getting to Cameroon by land from Nigeria durng the rainy season has not been easy or smart. It would have been much better to take a boat, but it's an adventure right? More adventure than I can stomach actually. I have never seen a road in all of my life and travels that even comes close to being one third as bad as the road I just travelled. It's absolutely incredible. The worst section is seven miles long and has to be walked, because no four wheel drive vehicle on earth could cross it. At points it looks more like [View Full Entry]

---

---

TOUR TO CAMEROON, AFRICA December 12, 2005 - January 1, 2006 Tour members: Don and Nancy Miller, Joe and Denny Nkemontoh, and their three children, Dan, Ruth and Paul Brief History: The country got its name in 1472 when the Portuguese sailors first began making sustained visits to the coastal region. They sailed into the area of what is now known as the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Cameroes (i.e. river of prawns). From that time on, the country has had a variety of names, depending on its political and linguistic history, namely Cameroon (British), Kamerun (German) and Cameroun [View Full Entry]

---

---

We spent our last few days in Cameroon in Bamenda. I had lived there for one summer way back when. Bamenda was comfortable for us. Hot but not muggy. We stayed at the Baptist guest house. If you're going to B'da and need a place to stay, this is ideal. The rooms vary in size from two beds to seven beds. Very clean. Big windows that let in lots of light. Shared bathrooms with hot water. A great breakfast and very reasonable price. Plus Nkwen is a great location. Easy to get everywhere. We ate at Uncle Sam's the first night. [View Full Entry]

---

---