FADAM!

While in Buea for a wedding and climbing Mt. Cameroon, we saw a billboard advertising FADAM – Festival Africain des Arts Martiaux – with Jackie Chan depicted and listed as being in attendance, as well as Dominique Saatenang (“The African Bruce Lee”). It sounded like the event would be held in Limbe, so we decided to try to find out more.

I spent some time trying to track down confirmation that Jackie Chan was coming to Cameroon, stumbling upon blog posts parsing these claims/rumours. Further rooting around suggested that in addition to Jackie Chan, Gerard Depardieu would be coming to the African Festival of Martial Arts.

“Invités” means both guests and invitees, which is a little confusing.

Happily, it turned out FADAM was also coming to Douala so we went to check it out with a couple of friends. It was presented on an outdoor stage of the new Canal Olympia Bessengue cinema, right next to the train station.

Dominique Saatenang welcoming FADAM participants.

Overall, we really enjoyed the event. There were of course some quintessentially Central/West African event characteristics. These included the starting time (delayed by only an hour or so due to setup and then waiting for the arrival of the governor of Littoral Region), the audio equipment exposed to the coming storm, and a vociferous audience members yelling “Kill him!” in French during the martial arts demonstrations. And of course Jackie Chan joined us via video greeting, which was first played without images. No sign of Depardieu!

Jackie Chan sends his regrets.

The martial artists were great. They were from all over the world (besides the Shaolin monks, the Croatians were a big winner with their slow-motion demonstration that morphed into real time), but the highlight was the Cameroonian contingent.

While they probably weren't as experienced as the visitors from abroad, it was great to see them given a platform in their own country, and there was a wide range of ages, as well as many young girls taking part.

Dominique Saatenang was very encouraging (he provided the commentary throughout) and the audience was generally respectful (although disappointed by the lack of evident violence in the Tai Chi presentation). He did a great job supporting these small, independent martial arts schools.

Getting some shelter once the rain started.

At the end of the night all of the performers assembled to take a bow, Saatenang began singing in Chinese with a Cameroonian woman (she sang in French). A Cameroonian friend of ours who worked in China for several years was able to help us translate. According to her summary, Saatenang sang that he was a Bamileké from Cameroon and he loves living in China, where he became a Shaolin monk. (It should be noted that the Shaolin monks left the stage promptly once the music started.)

Dominique Saatenang, crooner.

Dschang and Foumban

Over the long Easter weekend, we made a return visit to Dschang and Foumban, reasoning that Foumban's attractions would remain open given that its residents are majority Muslim.

Along the way we stopped at Chutes d'Ekom Nkam, which we previously saw towards the end of the rainy season two years ago. While the waterfall wasn't as impressive (the rains are just beginning), it did mean that we could get a lot closer than last time.

October 2015.

March 2018.

In Dschang, we stayed at the Keleng Sous-Chefferie - a sub-chieftancy of Foto. Our host was the head of Keleng ("Je suis le chefferie," he said when we were calling to find their location). He then took us to Foto (the main chefferie in Dschang) where coincidentally there were a cultural festival and vendors/businesses fair.

Main entrance to Foto chefferie's palace, Dschang.

Entrance to new museum at Foto chefferie. The panther/leopard
represents power to many West Region communities.

The Petite Futé's description of Keleng was certainly accurate, as the chef happily welcomed us into the family compound, although as our friend noted this included "aggressive West African hospitality" and the occasional yelling at the women of the household. That said, he settled down after squiring us around Foto, and we had a nice evening eating and chatting with his family. The accommodation was quite comfortable (especially with the cool weather), and I'd highly recommend a visit.

"The chefferie: serving the development of the village.

Fire and ice (and palm wine)?

Dschang is reputedly the coldest town in Cameroon, so the French built a "centre climatique" to holiday at during World War II. We stopped by the centre for lunch after visiting the Musée des Civilisations again - an excellent compendium of information on the culture, history, and artifacts of four main Cameroonian settings: the forest, the coast, the savanna, and the mountains. It is also a great reference point for visiting the chieftancies that make up the "Route des Chefferies," including Bamendjinda, Bandjoun, and others.

Passing the chefferie of Bansoa on the road to Foumban: "Together we are stronger."

In Foumban we got to see the impressive progress being made on the new museum, which should be opening shortly. In the meantime, we were still able to visit the palace and see some of the remaining artifacts (some are already in the new museum).

March 2016.

March 2018.

The museum incorporates the main symbols of Foumban's Sultanate:
the two-headed snake ("Double power!") and the spider (wisdom).

After visiting the palace, we proceeded to check out the old war drum of the Bamoun people, kept in a special building next to the market. (The caretaker of the keys is a lady selling bras in the market.) Ali, who also showed us around during our last visit, explained that the drum was used to summon the ruler's warriors to battle.

Old rifles outside the Sultan's palace.

The war drum.

Afterwards we went up the minaret of Foumban's grand mosque. We had some nice views of the market below, although it was a little quiet on account of it being a Sunday.

Sultan Ibrahim Njoya, who shifted between Christianity and Islam as alliances dictated.
The Bamoun people are now mostly Muslim as he eventually settled on Islam.

Foumban market.

Foumban market with drum house.