Visit to Mangroves and Ebikoro

Leaving Youpwe behind.

Fishermen off Youpwe.

As part of advance scouting for a school field trip, we got together a group of friends to visit the mangroves south of Douala off Youpwe. While we've checked out the Youpwe fish market, watched ship-breaking, and seen the (fish and lumber) catches coming in, this was our first boating excursion to learn about the mangroves and fishing villages.

Mangroves creeping down to take root.

The trip was organized through Doual'Art, an organization based in the Bonanjo neighbourhood which hosts art exhibitions. We were ably guided by Caroline, our pilot Oscar, Yves (who works for Doual'Art), and a first mate whose duties included bailing water out of the pirogue periodically.

More mangroves!

Caroline informed us that there were in fact several villages on islands in the mangroves, generally populated by non-Cameroonians – principally Nigerians and Ghanaians. While habitat destruction wasa problem, with people cutting down portions of the mangroves for firewood, there are also initiatives aimed at replanting mangroves – and some experts on this may be joining Blair's 3^rd grade class for their field trip!

After a few minutes we were far removed from the hustle and bustle of Douala, and even spotted a few monkeys (including Putty-Nosed Mangabeys) and saw a snake swimming through the water.

Approaching Ebikoro village.

Since mangroves provide sanctuary to fish, as well as protect the shoreline from erosion, there was certainly a lot of fishing happening. We visited the village of Ebikoro, another area where Nigerians have put down roots (see Batete in Equatorial Guinea). Ebikoro is solely populated by Nigerians. We had an audience with the chief, Mr. Frank, who came to Cameroon as a child in 1957.

Church and blackboard in Ebikoro.

The chief's pirogue.

Despite their long-standing residency, the villagers exist in a kind of purgatory – subject to Cameroonian law and the whims of officials, but without the right to appeal for services from the state. Children born in Cameroon are not considered citizens of the country if their parents are born outside Cameroon, and many villagers pay for renewals of residence permits in perpetuity. The chief explained that Cameroonian bureaucrats frequently come to Ebikoro to solicit fees.

Mangrove reflections!

Meanwhile the village provides all its infrastructure. This includes wooden walkways along the main path of the village (to account for high tide) and an electric generator. All food and drink, including water, is brought by motorized pirogues from Youpwe. While there seemed to be a nursery school in the church, older students travel to Douala for school, and many of the older ones board with friends or family. Given their uncertain status, many “return” to Nigeria for schooling. Indeed many members of Mr. Frank's family are based in Nigeria. Ebikoro is fully specialized – they sell fresh and smoked fish in exchange for all their material needs.

Meeting with Mr. Frank (right). The pirogue pilot Oscar is seated to his right.

Local ordinances of Ebikoro.

On our way away from the village, we stopped so the first mate could buy some fish (sole and bar) from a fisherwoman and her daughter. According to Caroline and Oscar, the women of Ebikoro do the vast majority of the fishing, while their (generally polygamous) husbands take 10% of the proceeds. This represented a novel approach to me because, while it is often women who do the bulk of the work, paid work or jobs with cash crops generally are men's remit (thanks to colonial attitudes that made men the interlocutors with Europeans interested in paying, trading or otherwise filching goods and services).

Fisherwoman bargaining over some of her catch as we departed Ebikoro.

The excursion was thoroughly enjoyable and eye-opening. It was interesting to learn about how the people in Ebikoro lived in a somewhat isolated area with no government services. It was thought-provoking in that the mangroves sustain and support a few different villages, not to mention fisherman from Douala proper, but the environment is under strain. If the Cameroonian government had a more enlightened relationship with these (somewhat) far-flung people, perhaps they could create a more sustainable living arrangement for them and their environment.

We passed sections of the port as we made our way back to Youpwe.

As we reached the dock in Youpwe, we encountered a large pirogue/pinasse headed for a more substantial village in the mangroves, in what's called Douala's 6ieme arrondisement. The boat was filled up with rice, drinks, families, electronics, and sundry other merchandise for supporting a community off the shore of Douala.

Hopefully there will be a follow-up post with more information on the mangroves, as the field trip should also feature a university researcher who works on mangrove preservation in Cameroon!

Douala sights

When my family came to Cameroon in March, we made an enjoyable visit to the (link may begin playing French narration) Musee Maritime / Maritime Museum in Douala. The cost was very low, guides spoke English as well as French, and there was an interactive amusement ride to boot.

Musee Maritime in Bonanjo, Douala.

Although photos weren't permitted indoors, we got to see pictures of Cameroon's history with water (including artifacts belonging to the Sawa people who live on the coast) as well as naval artifacts, a replica of a ship's bridge, information on Cameroon's ports (including the new one in Kribi), and a couple of guys hanging out watching a Premier League match. While Peter (“Office Head – Guidage” his business card proclaims) was not in the Navy nor did he work in shipping, he was an amiable fellow and was able to explain much of what we saw.

A view of the port from the Musee Maritime, with timber ready to be shipped overseas.

The Musee Maritime suffered fire damage a year or so ago, and was recently reopened with some new features, including a large theatre which is available for rent and may be superior to the Institut Francais's cinema/performance hall. (My favorite feature of the latter is the large speakers that are suspended from the ceiling by chains wrapped around metal bars.)

The Douala port through the porthole.

The piece de resistance of this visit, however, was the Case des Tempetes. This features a 3D short film about a man who became an outcast who was sold into slavery. Unfortunately, the video does not dwell on any historical details of the slave trade and its effects, and instead the mechanical pirogues we were in began moving up and down to simulate the sea near Bimbia, and a hose occasionally sprayed water at us.

It was an incongruously entertaining ride, and the museum staff refused our offer to return the 3D glasses – the only other 3D theatre I know of in Cameroon is one in Ebolowa, capital of South Region, whose opening I read about in a Google News Alert.

Brochure for the Case des Tempetes video/ride.

Of course no visit to Douala, be you a PCV posted elsewhere in Cameroon or a family member, is complete without a visit to Marina 2000, the bar/restaurant/amusement park on the riverbank in Youpwe!

The salvaging of parts of the Arctic Voyager, moored in Youpwe, proceeds apace.

My dad and aunt also made a trip to the train station to purchase tickets for their trip to Yaounde. The Douala airport was closed for three weeks in March for repairs, which meant all outbound flights left Yaounde instead. 

The exterior of Gare Bessengue, and its clock tower.

As I've mentioned, Douala's train station is quite attractive although I didn't take any pictures. But my aunt asked around and heard no objections to photographing the station's exterior and interior so here are a couple of shots of the very pleasant Gare Bessengue (named after the neighbourhood where it's located).

The roof inside the Douala train station.

Train to Yaounde for Afrobasket Women's final!

Gare Bessengue, Douala. The nicest lawn in the city!

After hearing about the train as an option for travel to Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, Blair and I dropped by the quite beautiful train station. (As sensitive sites cannot be photographed the station images are from an online search.) In early October we elected to buy the “1^st Class Plus” tickets as it was only 9,000 CFA (about $16) for the 4 hour trip, and competitive with the posher bus companies (more on that later).

Douala's Gare Bessengue interior.

It was an overcast morning when we set off (around a half-hour late at 6:30AM), but the rain cleared up later on. We had a few stops to make way for other trains, but we generally move along rather steadily. The train was rather bumpy so my initial thought of writing letters had to be dropped.

Luckily we had onboard entertainment. This began with a cooking show where our chef fried and then pounded almonds. This eventually was turned into a paste which was smeared on people's arms to treat wounds.

Preparing almond lotion.

Next came Cami, (national rail company) Camrail's mascot, to tell us how to purchase tickets and other important tips. Most importantly, Cami proclaimed “Non, non, non! C'est dangereux!” - don't use the toilet when stopped in a station. More on this travel rule later.

"Non, non, non! C'est dangereux!"

Among other programming features were a promotional documentary on the train company's maintenance techniques, regional music videos and Cameroonian stand-up comics, and an informational interview on prostate cancer.

The surrounding countryside provided additional diversions, as we got enjoy the undulating hills as we went (Douala is very flat). We also enjoyed the perks of “1^st Class Plus,” which included complimentary drinks and pain au chocolat.

Hills!

Once we arrived in Yaounde we headed for the Palais du Sport to purchase tickets for the women's Afrobasket 2015 tournament – Cameroon had made the final and was playing Senegal that evening. Again we plumped for more expensive seats (or rather the right to push aside people in the closer sections in a bid to improve one's seats and view of the action), going with the 5,000 CFA ($9) option.

Yaounde's central mosque.

We then booked into a rather humble hotel and proceeded to explore this hilly city. We began with a walk around Bastos (a northern neighbourhood with a rather cheap hotel for us), where we dropped by the WWF office to get their phone number to inquire about possible trips to Cameroon's national parks in the East Region, before heading back to town to grab some food and check out some of the local architecture. A lot of the ministries and other government buildings are quite nice looking, but of course photos are interdit.

Play and win American citizenship!

Next we headed up to Mont Febe to visit a monastery with a collection of Cameroonian art. The art was quite good, but especially impressive was the guide- cum coffee-table book explaining the origins of all the various pieces. Afterwards we enjoyed nice views of the city below.

View of Yaounde from the Benedictine monastery. You can see hints of the German heritage below.

We were able to chase down a taxi outside Hotel Mont Febe and headed to the Palais du Sport. Angola (winners of the last two women's Afrobasket tournaments and longtime continental heavyweights on the men's side) was in the midst of a collapse against Nigeria. The departure of the disappointed Angolan fans and their brass band left a vacuum that we and others rushed to fill, and we were able to upgrade our seats for the final. It was Cameroon's first ever appearance in the gold medal game; the previous best results were a couple of bronze medals in the mid-80s. Senegal, by contrast, has only missed out on a medal in the biennial tournament twice since it began in the 1960s.

Senegalese fans, with talking drums, cheering on their team.

Given this pedigree, the Senegalese fans (there are large contingents of Senegalese, and thus good Yassa poulet, in both Douala and Yaounde) were confident, singing and drumming away with djembes, talking drums and empty water bottles. The Cameroonians were equally boisterous, and the Indomitable Lionesses were able to keep the game close in the first quarter.

Indomitable Lionesses' supporters, and one of several brass bands in attendance.

By the end of the first half, though, the Lionesses of Teranga were ahead by 9. After some legends of Afrobasket were feted at halftime Cameroon's ladies rallied in the third quarter but Senegal pulled away at the end and then rolled away with the game in the fourth quarter. It made for a relatively subdued end of the game, with the notable exception of the Senegalese partisans.

Afrobasket's MC/Ring Announcer.

The Senegalese team was much better (and significantly taller across the roster), but hopefully the Cameroonians will address their game plan before the Olympic qualifying playoff. They frequently had two ladies trying to post up and they ended up cramping each other's space so many possessions devolved into long jump shots as the shot clock was running down. The Senegalese Lionesses, by contrast, passed the ball around quite a lot, and occasionally deployed a 2 to 3 person press which completely flummoxed Cameroon's guards when they crossed halfcourt.

Former stars of Afrobasket Women were honoured at halftime.

Indomitable Lion outside le Palais du Sport.

We headed back to Bastos area to perch above the roundabout in the bar Partenaire. We then got some smoked fish and batons (long boiled manioc/cassava noodles) from a vendor on the roundabout.

View of Rondpoint Nlongkak, Bastos, Yaounde.

Then it was off to bed, where we watched a dubbed Melissa McCarthy running around in Spy, which we greatly enjoyed when we saw it in the U.S. Much of the physical comedy translated, but the French was too fast even for Blair. The picture quality was terrible, but Blair stuck with it then we had a fitful night's sleep as the fan wasn't strong enough to blow away all the mosquitoes or drown out the noise outside.

Blair watched "Spy" for far too long given the reception quality and the fast dubbed dialogue.

For breakfast we enjoyed egg sandwiches cooked by a Fulani gentleman. Due to the mutual intelligibility of many words across the various strands of Fulanis from The Gambia east through northern Cameroon, we were able to tell him it was “sweet” (tasty). We then walked around downtown a bit more before taking one of the posh buses back. It too featured interesting content, including a video where a corrugated tin door got most of the screen time, a Cameroonian comedian going back to school (consisting mainly of him screaming at teachers in a high-pitched voice), and City of Blood, which had darker themes (and a man who could punch the air near a cup or bowl and send it flying). Instead of Cami, we had a bus attendant who had to repeat her request that the onboard toilet be used only for urinating after a couple of passengers flouted that rule.

Passing the hills around Yaounde on the bus home.

Hydroelectric plant on the Sanaga River near Edea.

The trip back went quite smoothly and we got home to Douala early enough to take a couple of beers at our favourite secluded spot down on the water, Marina 2000. It was a little more crowded on a Sunday, with a number of our students and their families, owing to the fact that there's not many places for kids to romp around freely in Douala. We enjoyed the twin visual treats of the sunset and of the salvagers cutting off a few more pieces of metal from the old shipping vessel Arctic Voyager (which is clearly lost).

Sunset in Youpwe, Douala.

Welders salvaging portions of the Arctic Voyager.