Congo
Digging the truck out of mud to the rich city of Point-Noire
Congo has always fascinated many people from the stories you hear on TV to the Michael Crichton bestselling book “Congo.”
I can tell say that the little time we spent here was worth it!!! Crossing over from Gabon we stayed at the border crossing station over night. In the morning we continued through checkpoints until we hit a fork in the road as the National Guard told us to take this road as it is the best. Long story short is we got stuck for seven hours in the mud and it took a total effort to get the truck out…SEE PICTURES BELOW

[Show slideshow]

In the end we crossed into the second biggest city of Point-Noire which was unbearably hot and humid. I spent my day there walking around the city of oil expats photographing everything I could as my grandma and grandpa spent time there in the 60’s and 70’s.  Great Place with great people and now onto the next place…

[Show slideshow]

Gabon
The story of Rain along the Equator and Bush Camps with stunning scenery….

As we have gotten pretty lucky on our trip with rain so far, it seems that it all decided to come down in one fail swoop while we were in Gabon.
Gabon a country in Africa with enormous wealth and a small population seemed to be the most green of the countries we have been too thus far. I would definitely rank it up there in one of the most scenic countries with rolling hilly jungles and endless rivers as far as the eyes can see
We entered from Cameroon and it was decided that we would not be going to any big cities along the way as we were going to stick to the small roads and small villages.
Our goal (which we didn’t know if we would accomplish because of rain) was Lope National Park. Fortunately we made it to Lope, despite stopping on a dirt road because of heavy rain along the way.

Rain at Bush Camp

We arrived to Lope with hopes of seeing different types of animals such as Buffalo, Mandrills, Elephants and Chimps. In reality we saw a few herds of Buffalo, some monkeys in a distance, and Elephants as it got too dark. It seems like the trackers for the animals were not out that day to track the animals. We actually saw more monkeys along the road to Lope than we saw in Lope.
Overall Gabon despite all the rain, (5 of 6 days), it taught us to always be prepared. Lighting fires was a different story……and onto Congo….

[Show slideshow]

Cameroon
Country 100, hiking Mt. Cameroon, and the humidity of the tropics strikes many times
Going into Cameroon I did not know what to expect. I have heard about the humidity and of course Mt. Cameroon which is the tallest peak in Western Africa. Being this was my 100th Country, I decided to shake it up by upgrading and also doing Mt. Cameroon!!!

Coming into Cameroon from Nigeria we were automatically struck with a wave of humidity and heat. Sometimes reaching 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity. Sleeping in tents, this was not an ideal condition for anyone, but we survived. Getting into the coast, the humidity and heat got worse with very little breeze, so I decided to upgrade to a hotel room for the duration of my stay in Limbe.
Hiking Mt. Cameroon was something I have always wanted to do and nothing was going to stop me. Little did I know, most of the mountain had no paths and jagged rock is what you walked on (straight up, and strait down, as level areas do not exist). It was a hard journey of 6 hours the first day, then staying at a camp halfway up the mountain where it got very windy and a little cold at night. Then the next day hiked all the way to the peak then back down, which a few days later, people were still walking slow.

The Pygmy Village we went to visit was fascinating as we saw this group of people dancing and talked to the chief. We basically learned that they are still hunters and gatherers and deny any government help whatsoever. Fascinating to see how their village works!!!!

[Show slideshow]

[Show slideshow]

Nigeria

The friendliest people (and chimps and drill monkeys) coupled with a million roadblocks

In the news, we always hear a lot of negative things about Nigeria because of extremist groups that are in the country. Often times we base what we see on the news as fact about the country. Imagine if everyone in the world based what they saw on TV about the US as truth and happening all the time. They would probably think that we are crazy with shootings in schools all the time.

SEVEN PEOPLE ON MOTORBIKE!!!!

Let me start off by saying that this is probably one of the most friendly countries that I have ever been too in my life with everyone trying to help you and show you around and making jokes (easy when they speak English). Even the police and military had time to make jokes and talk to us to ask us how we were doing.

Of course you have your scams that people in villages try to do, such as the tax for the roads (which were not good), but the driver would just mess with them for a while at the roadblock then get out of it. The roadblocks are set up with legit people and people just trying to make a dime. The most times we got stopped in a day was 19 (which made me feel safe for security purposes).   But it was always fun talking to the officers and them making jokes and asking what they always do “WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR ME?”

[Show slideshow]

We were initially expected to bush camp for much of the time we were there, but with lack of bush camps and safety concerns, we were put up in different small hotels (some worse than our tents), but it made it all the more fun in getting to know locals. Most of the hotels consisted of nothing more than a bed, a bucket with a tap to wash yourself and have put together toilets (this is why I prefer the bush more). But I did and everyone enjoyed our time at the hotels and getting to know people around and having beers with them.

Chimp at Drill Ranch

One of the highlights of Nigeria besides the people was the Drill Ranch where they take Drill Monkeys and Chimpanzees that have been pets of people and try to rehabilitate them back in the wild. It was started by an American Couple some Twenty Eight ago and it is way up in the forest near Afi Mountain with hardly any roads to get there. Our whole group enjoyed our time going around there with people putting donations to help keep the ranch going and volunteers coming in and out over the last twenty some odd years. They also have another outlet in Calabar Nigeria and another in Limbe, Cameroon,  in which they get the primates ready to head up to the Drill Ranch in the mountains….See the pictures for yourself:

[Show slideshow]