Mongo ma Ndemi – “Mountain of Greatness”
Finally, we had made it to that terrible road leading from Nigeria into Cameroon… the road to end all roads, complete with bottomless mud pits, drenching rain and belligerent local tribes… the road we had all been talking about for months in London. Oh how disappointed we were! After a slow but friendly border crossing over the beautiful Cross River we were met by a pristine, dry, dirt road which meandered through the forest as if a grader had just smoothed it over in anticipation of our arrival (in fact, we were in luck – the rainy season was late and only two months earlier a grader had indeed smoothed a new passage through the dense forest).
Later that evening on the 24th of April we arrived in Mamphe where we purchased 3rd party car insurance covering our route all the way to Congo since we were no longer covered by our ECOWAS insurance bought in Senegal. Then we settled down at the restaurant of the Data Club Guest House, where the very friendly staff were accustomed to overlanders camping on their grass. Before long a tremendous thunderstorm lit up the night as we were enjoyed our first Chicken Deja – a delicious meal of fried chicken and plantain with chopped vegetables and a mayonnaise sauce.
The drive to Buea the next day was very scenic and without incident despite the relatively poor state of the roads. On arrival at the Presbyterian Guest House we met up with Charlie who was joining us for the remainder of the trip and the eight of us headed off into town and found a great place for a few beers and tasty Suya (grilled beef/goat brochettes). Later that evening we drove up to the offices of the Mount Cameroon Ecotourism Organisation where plans to climb the mountain began in earnest!
We set off mid-morning of the 26th and, with one porter per person and a guide, it seemed that the hike up West Africa’s highest mountain (4,095 meters) would be the proverbial “walk in the park”. However, from the outset the going was tough as we walked straight up from Buea to Hut 2 where we spent the first night. In a matter of hours we had walked 7 km and climbed to 2,800m. The hike was exquisite as we first climbed through lush forest before popping out well above the clouds into open grassland with rocky volcanic outcrops. As exhausted as we were we found it incredible that our porters had lugged not only our own bedding, food, water and warm clothing but theirs too up the very steep trail, often choosing to carry our packs on their heads rather than on their backs! Needless to say that after a (seemingly) delicious hot meal of Soya mince and smash we clambered into our warm sleeping bags whilst a thunderstorm brewed on the peak above us.
A huge pot of hot porridge, swirled with honey, gave us the sustenance to continue our steep ascent of the mountain the next morning. The landscape became colder and more barren as isolated trees became bushes, bushes became shrubs and then shrubs became dark, crumbling rocks. The weather was ominous with clouds obscuring both the sun above us and the land below us. After four hours of climbing, interspersed with frequent stops to catch our breath, we reached the summit. It was a momentous occasion and although this wasn’t the highest of peaks it had nevertheless been an incredible challenge to climb the mountain in such a short space of time and with no training at all! Now all that lay before us was the decent which in itself would prove to be a challenge. We spent very little time on the summit as the weather turned ugly and very quickly we found ourselves in a cold, gusty storm. Our guide hurriedly ushered us off the top and down a different trail. We descended quickly and thus we were able to enjoy lunch in warm sunlight at 3,000 meters with, bizarrely enough, a thunderstorm brewing below us! We descended through this storm, getting thoroughly soaked on the way, and then past the crater which was produced by the eruption in 2000 (Mount Cameroon is a fairly active volcano with 7 eruptions in the last hundred years). We skirted the crater’s black crumbling edge, peering over into the pit below, with the unfamiliar smell of sulphur filling our nostrils. As darkness encroached we arrived at Mann Springs where we spent our second night. We were absolutely exhausted! We had hiked 20 kilometres including a climb of 1,300 meters and a descent of 1,900 meters.
Before we began our hike back towards Buea on the third day we first joined our porters in a traditional ceremony to initiate one of the porters who was climbing the mountain for the first time. The locals show respect for the god of Mount Cameroon so as to avoid eruptions which signal that the god is angry. The ceremonious dance involved us all standing around a circle of ash, a fern-leaf grasped in each hand, whilst the young porter danced like a chicken-cross-peacock in the middle. At the end of the dance we all jumped up, threw our fern leaves over our backs and erupted into tremendous laughter and applause for the rather embarrassed looking young porter. Then came our turn to placate the god… Fortunately for the rest of us who were too embarrassed to dance, and for the entire town of Buea, Paula had the courage to step into the circle and perform the same dance with so much gusto and enthusiasm that there surely can’t be an eruption from Mount Cameroon for many many decades to come!
Although the final hike of 17km was more undulating than the previous two days it still took its toll on our rather frail bodies. We spent a lot of time walking precariously over the rocky lava flow from the 1999 eruption and then we were back down into the forest for the final stretch. It had been a very challenging three days in which we had hiked 44 kilometres and climbed 3,100 meters. So we retreated back to the Presbyterian Guest House to recuperate before heading to Limbe the next day. That evening we enjoyed another delicious traditional chicken deja and beer at a local restaurant, The Duke and Harvey, in celebration of the fact that we had now completed a significant milestone in our journey towards South Africa.
