Mountains and Manure!

Hey everyone,

Sorry it has taken me so long to write again. It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Two Thursdays ago, me and six friends left Yaoundé to go to Buea, in order to climb Mt. Cameroon (or Mt. Fako, as it is locally known). We slept at a hotel that night, and then started our ascent early on Friday morning. Let me tell you, it was an absolutely beautiful experience (and hard as hell!). The mountain, which is actually an active volcano, is about 13,400 feet fall (or about 4,080 meters), and is the largest in Western Africa (though don't worry...it hasn't erupted since 2000). The climb up the Guiness Trail (the shorter of the two; the other takes 3 days and goes around the side of the mountain) is divided into 4 "huts," or wooden structures with no electricity, and raised planks on which hikers place their sleeping bags. There is Hut 1, New Hut, Hut 2, and Hut 3, after which is the summit. We had hired four porters and a guide to carry our gear, and thank God for them, because we didn't realize until we got past Hut 1 just how steep this mountain is! However, once we passed the tree line, the scenery itself made all the hardships worth it. Though I've never been to Scotland or Ireland, I imagine it looks quite similar to what we were confronted with. I tried to upload some photos, but since my connections is so slow, it won't be possible. But be sure to check my facebook in early July!

The trek to Hut 2 took the better part of the afternoon, with the whole group finally reaching the rest station at around 3:30. Once we put our packs down and caught our breath, the view we were greeted with was unbelievable. We were literally in and/or above the clouds, and could see the entire Littoral/Bakassi peninsula region (look it up on a map) of Cameroon. And it was cold! It felt like fall up there, which was quite nice, until night fell, when it felt more like winter without snow! However, we had a great night, sitting around the fire and listening to our guides and porters joke around in Pigeon English while eating rice and meat. We all went to bed, and the next morning at around 7:30, all but one of us departed for the summit (the other was experiencing a bit of vertigo, and judged it wouldn't be smart for her to continue up).

The climb to Hut 3 was perhaps the most difficult that we had experienced yet. The slope was, for most of the time, about 60-70 degrees vertical at least, and the wind got stronger with every step. However, after about 2 1/2 hours, we made it to Hut 3, where we rested briefly. The summit was only 45 minutes away, Paul, our guide, said, but it turned out to be one hell of a 45 minutes!!! The landscape changed drastically the higher we got, as did the air quality and temperature. However, after a lot of singing everything from the Beatles to Sean Paul (which actually helps bring in oxygen, as well as livens your spirits) and talking to ourselves, we made it to the top. Boy was it cold!!! I could literally lean back into the wind and have it support my weight! Unfortunately, there were too many clouds to have any kind of good view, but the feeling of accomplishment was certainly worth the effort. We only spent about 10 minutes up there before we decided to climb down, keeping the meal of rice that awaited us at Hut 2 constantly in mind.

I had forgotten how difficult a decent can be (especially on a half-empty stomach), so by the time we reached Hut 2, my legs were shaking from exhaustion. Luckily, the meal of rice filled me up sufficiently enough to continue our descent, though by the time we reached the bottom, I felt like my legs were about to break off completely. However, we made it, and had a great night out on the town before we came back early the next morning. However, i had trouble walking for nearly the whole next week.

Last weekend, we went to Bamenda, the capital of the North West Province. It was our last trip as a group, but it was a good way to end. Bamenda is surrounded by the grassfields of Cameroon, and is significantly less humid and hot than the rest of the country (a welcome respite for everyone). We were able to visit Sabga, as well as its incredibly self-reightous and egotistical Lamido (a spiritual leader of some sort). Additionally, we got to see Bafut, which is a kingdom north of Bamenda. This was one of the cooler things we did, since they had a museum with artifacts dating back nearly 500 years (very rare in this part of Africa), as well as the oldest structure in all of Central Africa (so they claim). It was a great experience, and we were all happy to be learning things we did not know, as opposed to some of the stops we made in our bus. For example, we were told how, in Cameroon, fences denote the division of two people's properties (no shit Sherlock). Or, even better, that, in Cameroon, manure is used for fertilizer (you don't say!).

Anyways, as usual, I felt that my time in Bamenda was cut way too short, and it is definitely a place that I want to go back to one day. The climate, the people, and the landscape were all very agreeable, and hopefully I'll be able to explore it more one day.

Well, that's about all the exciting things that have happened to me since my last post. I am sure there are other things of interest, but it is just so difficult to put them down into words without significant reflection. That being said, I think that I am going to be heading to my family's village, Dschang, the weekend after next, so I will be sure to give a good account of that.

I hope everyone is well!
Take care,
Andrew