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Published: March 20th 2007
Road near Douala seaport
Notice the containers on the right loaded on railroad tracks awaiting transportation away to other sites. Today, parents are going to Douala to purchase some items. I am going with them. The distance from Bafoussam to Douala is exactly 243 kms, It however takes more time get to Douala than to go to Yaounde (287 kms away) because the road to Douala is poorly maintained and requires drivers to move slowly. It takes usually at least 4 hours and a half to cover the 243 kms, sometimes even 5 hours! Notice that this is also due to the many boroughs encountered along and the resulting humps on the road near agglomerations.
Douala is in the littoral province of cameroon. It borders the sea and is the economic capital of the country were most companies are headquartered. These days, many streets in the city are undergoing reconstruction. It generates a lot of traffic jams around. We went straight to Akwa after arrival. While they shopped, I could personnally detour in the place, mooching about any interesting site. In akwa you can find some majors companies offices and a handful of consulates.
In the evening we booked at "Hotel des palmiers" at "rue des palmiers" somewhere near Bonapriso. Around 7pm we went out on foot to
Akwa neighborhood
The whole of Akwa is being refurbished, which clogs the traffic since most of the major avenues are blocked undergoing repair. look for a place to eat. Crossing the large roundabout we progressed towards the direction of "New Bell". Here the sidewalks are filled with people and we walk on each other's toes. it is very crowded. We eventually stopped at this small restaurant where they served me some unpalatable rice with tomato sauce (they call it "roti"). It was very humid. So I went to buy some local doughnuts (our local "beignets") at a nearby stand to eat with the chicken inside the sauce. A soft drink came to supplement the frugal diner that quietened (not killed) my hunger. That's it for today. We are heading back to the hotel. A power cut occured again! No problemo, the evening traders along the sidewalk lit their kerosine lamps as naturally as if they had been expecting it to happen. Everybody down here is used to the "delestage" and the liveliness of the place seems not to be disrupted in the least. Fortunately we had a torch to light our way. At the hotel they had placed candles along the corridors and their offered us some to place inside the room. No power generating set in this hotel 😞 . Tomorrow is
Orange Building Akwa.
In Cameroon now, there are two majors mobile phone operators : Orange and MTN. This is where Orange is headquartered in Douala. another day.
Early Morning 21st march
Personnally I did not appreciate that hotel. there were so many mosquitoes in the room that in the middle of the night, I went to sleep in the car. Today We are going back to Bafoussam. We drove through "Deido Roundabout" and later on to Bonaberi to exit the city.
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