Buea and Mt. Cameroon

In March we traveled to Buea for the wedding of a friend/colleague's daughter. Despite it being just a couple of hours from Douala, cooler due to its elevation, and it possessing a number of historical buildings and sites, we had not yet made it to Cameroon's former capital (under the Germans). So we went for the wedding then I took a couple of days off work to climb Mt. Cameroon, west-central Africa's highest peak.

50th Anniversary Monument, Buea.

The principal site of interest is a monument at the top of town commemorating the 50^th anniversary of Cameroon's independence and reunification. We were sure that the former colonial governor's residence, built in the style of a German castle and described in our three guidebooks as the Von Puttkamer castle/schloss, would be the key landmark. Yet Buea residents were mystified by references to Von Puttkamer, the schloss, and the old/German governor's residence. We eventually found it, and learned that it's not called “the prime minister's residence.”

The Prime Minister's residence, Buea.

Admission to the independence/reunification monument was quite reasonable – 200 CFA for entry, 500 CFA to take photos (although many Cameroonians present took more photos and selfies with our infant son than of the lesser landmarks). We wandered around the small park and took photos of the buildings bookending the monument – the schloss on one side, and Cameroon's first post office and a fountain commemorating Otto Von Bismarck on the other.

One of apparently many monuments created around the world shortly after
Bismarck died,  the Bismarck Fountain was built in 1899.

One puzzling note about the post office is that while it was founded by the Germans but was “taken over by the British in 1956”...? (Cameroon was split between the French and British after World War I.)

Old post office equipment.

The day after the wedding, I met up with my guide and porter to begin climbing Mt. Cameroon. Incidentally, the trailhead and Mt. Cameroon National Park's office are next door to the post office.

  

Thompson, of Ecotour Mt. Cameroon, told me quite a lot about the plant life as we passed through the farming zone and the buffer zone before reaching the boundary of the national park. As a sideline, Thompson also runs an organization, Global Hand Cameroon aimed at promoting conservation on the part of people in the Mt. Cameroon region.

Buffer zone forest between Upper Farms
area and Mt. Cameroon National Park.

Thompson noted that some trees are overused for firewood, when they could regrow if people only took branches. He said that Bakwerians (the Bakweri people are the original residents of Buea and the Mt. Cameroon area) are better at conserving natural resources as they know the plants, while newer arrivals (drawn to the region by its fertile land) may not understand as well.

Another plant he pointed out was Fako grass, which I remembered from a staff meeting when a colleague and Buea native jokingly suggested we use it to save money on medical supplies (it can be used as a coagulant). Fako is the local name for Mt. Cameroon.

Mist/clouds making their way up Mt. Cameroon.

Cocoyams are the main crop around Mt. Cameroon, and people come from far afield to buy yams (including from Gabon and Nigeria). Thompson worked as a porter starting in 2007 and has been a guide since 2011.

View of Buea from Hut 2.

Thompson also has started dabbling in beekeeping, and our porter asked him all about it and it was interesting to listen along to the conversation, with my limited understanding of pidgin English aided by some (basic) background knowledge on bees.

Bar/restaurant; bathing spot (Hut 2, Mt. Cameroon).

Our porter recently graduated from a high school in Buea, and has remained in town doing odd jobs. He's from Bangem (on the Southwest side of Mt. Manengouba). Bangem's a smaller town and there've been clashes with gendarmes (over the “anglophone crisis”) so he's based in Buea despite not having any family there. He asked me if there was any “benefit” to going up to the summit to Mt. Cameroon, i.e. What is the point? He had previously earned money carrying construction sand up to Hut 2, the base camp where hikers can spend the night, at a rate of 10,000 CFA (approximately U.S.$20) for two bags totaling 17 kgs (40 lbs.). He had joined a few other hikes, but hadn't gone to the summit (supplies are left at Hut 2). All told, it took us about 6 hours to get from the trailhead (at 1,100 metres) to Hut 2 (at 2,800 metres).

Map showing our path from Buea to the summit.
Hut 2 is also known as Fako Mountain Lodge.

There are several people working at Hut 2. They stay up there for shifts of 2-3 weeks before going back down to Buea for leave. There are several new cabins for tourists and guides, as well as a few camping platforms for tents. I'm glad I didn't elect to take a tent up as it was very cold and even the cabins were chilly at night. There is now a graded access road to Hut 2, so food, drink and building materials are no longer brought up by hand.

Hut 2. Limbe is obscured by the clouds to the left.

From Hut 2 we had some nice views down to Limbe and Buea, and at night you could see the lights in Douala. Thompson explained that September is one of the most popular times of year to climb Mt. Cameroon – even though it is deep in the rainy season, you can see quite far when the rains clear (e.g. to Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea).

An active volcano (its last eruption was in 2000), Mt. Cameroon is part of a (mostly extinct) volcanic mountain range encompassing Sao Tome & Principe, Bioko Island, Mt. Manengouba, and Mt. Oku, among other peaks.

Volcanic sand on the path up to the summit.

The next day we continued up to the summit (at 4,095 m). This was a decidedly less talkative trip, probably on account of my fatigue and consequent slow pace. Conditions were cold and windy throughout, with a bit of drizzle being blown about. As the summit was quite exposed (everyone's hands were freezing) yet had no visibility, we began our descent after a few photos.

The summit of Mt. Cameroon!

Thompson explained that business has declined a lot since the start of the anglophone crisis nearly two years ago. (In short: many teachers and lawyers in the anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions went on strike protesting marginalization by the central government, leading to a prolonged stalemate and some clashes between civilians and the police and army.) While Buea and Mt. Cameroon are perfectly safe, blanket warnings from western governments against travelling to Northwest and Southwest Cameroon meant that I encountered six other tourists (two individuals, one group) during my three days and two nights in Mt. Cameroon National Park.

Descending from Hut 2 to Buea.

After a second night in Hut 2, we went back down to Buea. This may have been the most difficult part of the trip, as the largely direct route up and especially down Mt. Cameroon was quite hard on the knees. A few slips notwithstanding, the descent was uneventful. From the trailhead I caught a taxi back down the hill and then found a quick clando (private car working as a taxi) to Douala.

Tasty berries in Upper Farm.

View of Mt. Cameroon from our apartment in Douala.