Central Africa 2001: 4 - N'djamena, Chad to Douala, Cameroon

Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - this turned out to be one of those days we all hope for, where everything just seems to go right. Tim and I both had a great sleep, breakfasted at the hotel and headed into town. Before meeting up with Tim I'd got an early start at the hotel office trying the internet for an hour again, completely without success - the only down side to the day.

We left out gear in our rooms, and headed into town at 9 AM when our driver and guide picked us up to see if we could sort out transportation problems. We had made reservations yesterday for a Friday flight to Douala from N'djamena, but our guide told us that as we were paying them to go back to Maroua and it would cost us nothing to go along, that we fly out of there for Douala as the tickets would be less. On checking with the Air Cameroon office, we found he was definitely right - the flight we had booked would cost $US 335 per ticket, and the flight from Maroua would be $US 140 per ticket, so we booked.

This is not credit card country, so we then headed for the bank to change some money to buy the tickets - we had let our CFA supply run down as the Canadian Travel Advisory stated that it was not permitted to leave Chad with over CFA 10,000 - about $US 14.30. A money changer outside the bank saved us the long line up and gave us a good rate - for me a very good rate. On double checking the money later I found he had given me CFA 10,000 more than agreed upon!

We headed back to the airline office, and across the street was the Cyber Café. Tim agreed to buy the tickets while I tried to connect on email - the hotel assistant manager had said that it didn't work at all in this place, but as it was right in front of me it seemed worth trying. Well, it not only worked, but worked well - the best I've found in Africa! All emails were quickly sent, and I went through the backlog of some 30 incoming emails which I'd not found a connection fast enough enable me time to read. All the incoming letters which required an answer I copied to my floppy disc to go over on my laptop when I have the opportunity.

Tim got back with the plane tickets, we went to the travel agency and cancelled the flights we booked but didn't pay for yesterday, then pickup up our cases at the hotel and set of to do battle at the border again. There was the normal penny ante extortion, something like $3 each, and at one stage Tim and I were told we were fine but they shook our guide down for about $1.50! That was a switch - let the tourist go and get the locals. Tim and I agreed that to get their operation beefed up a bit they should spend a little time training in Equatorial Guinea!

We re-entered the Cameroon city of Kousseri, had a cold drink while the driver got gas, and were headed back to Maroua by 12:30 PM. We passed Waza in less than 1 ½ hours. At Waza, where we had stayed near the national park, there are three high humps of rock in an otherwise completely flat countryside. Tim first spotted them at what must have been 80 or 90 Km distance - they make great landmarks!

We had a flat tire - once again in a small village, but this time without the benefit of a pub across the street, and our guide and driver shopped for firewood in one place and fish in another. Even with the interruptions we still made it back to Maroua in 4 hours flat. This time we checked in to the Mizao Hotel, which is the first one going into town on the route we were on, and the only hotel in the extreme north of the country which takes visa.

After paying off the driver and guide over a cold beer and making arrangements with the guide to give us a walking tour of the town tomorrow, we had dinner (not great) and turned in. After the hotel last night, this one is a long drop down the ladder. The carpet in the room was so dirty I wore sandals when walking across it. Over dinner and drinks on the outside patio we were entertained by a fun show put on by the local high school. It was very well attended by their classmates!

It is really very inexpensive to travel in this area in quite good comfort. The average hotel price per night, not counting the Meridien last night, has been about $US 21. The vehicle and driver are costing us $US 61.50 per day plus gas, and the guide $US 11.50 per day. The driver and guide pay for their own meals and accommodation.

It has been really hot and dry. The daytime temperatures have been continually exceeding 40 degrees, but they drop to around 20 at night.

Across the border in Nigeria there has been a lot of violence between Christians and Muslims, but here there is no problem at all. People are uniformly friendly and courteous. Saulie, our driver, is a Muslim and Jean Pierre, our guide a Christian and they are good friends.

Smuggling here is big business, and it seems the government turns a blind eye to it. I mentioned before that we had twice walked into Nigeria, where the border is not even marked. Along the Waza - Kousseri road the border is sometimes only 100 meters from the highway. Gas, pharmaceuticals and many other items are much cheaper in Nigeria, and are being openly sold at road side stands and in town markets throughout this part of Cameroon and on into Chad. On the other hand, beef brings a much better price in Nigeria and we passed big herds of cattle being driven towards the border to be sold. It is the end of the rainy season and the cattle are going to market before they lose weight in the dry season.

As promised, Jean-Pierre arrived in the morning and we set off on foot. It turned out to be quite a trek, so we stopped now and then to give Tim's leg a chance to rest. After a couple of kilometres through the tree shaded streets of Maroua we arrived at the large central market where virtually anything can be purchased. We explored the area for awhile, then Jean-Pierre flagged down a motorcycle taxi for each of us and we headed off to a restaurant for a good lunch. These motorcycle taxis charge CFA 200 to go anywhere in town, a little less than 30 cents.

After lunch we discovered our driver, Sauli, from the pervious days outside the restaurant. He offered us a lift back to our hotel - which we gratefully accepted as the sun was at its hottest. The rest of the afternoon I used to catch up on the computer, read, and just laze about. Dinner consisted of a sandwich, chased down by a couple of cold beer. Basically we were feeling pretty smug and comfortable at the way things were going.

Just to prove that feeling good like that has its penalties; Jean Pierre arrived at my door almost an hour early the next morning, and announced our flight had been cancelled. I let Tim know, so we grabbed our gear, checked out and climbed aboard another vehicle which Jean Pierre had arranged and had waiting for us. At the downtown Air Cameroon office the flight cancellation was confirmed, but we were told to go to the airport anyhow, as Air Cameroon was laying on a bus to Garoua, where there was a 6:45 PM flight to Douala. (We had been booked out of Maroua at 11:45 AM) Apparently Garoua is about 3 hours from Maroua by road, so it seems we get to see more countryside!

It was not a big surprise to have a flight suddenly cancelled - it is a bigger surprise that so many of our flights have not been cancelled! In Africa it is not uncommon for airlines to just not fly for whatever reason. What was a surprise was that the airline arranged alternate transport. If it had been Air Afrique, for example, they would have simply said, "Tough luck", and we would be on our own, as has happened previously to us. At any rate, we were driven to the airport where the bus was confirmed, we said goodbye to Jean Pierre and settled down in the small but modern, clean and comfortable terminal to wait.

Air Cameroon hired a bush taxi to take us to Garoua. These are the 12 seat vans that ply all the country roads throughout much of Africa, carrying 20 or more people at a time. The roof racks are piled high with baggage, livestock, produce, furniture, pots and whatever else. In this case there were 11 of us scheduled to go, but four Peace Corp people decided to stay in Maroua, and try for the flight tomorrow. That made it fairly roomy in the van with only 7 of us. The van pulled out about 10 minutes before the flight would have departed, should there have been one.

The driver must have thought that his instructions were to get us there in the same amount of time as the flight. He drove like a maniac, and on the potholed roads some of his slalom course tactics at speed were quite amazing. It also got the attention of everyone on board when he frequently drove off the shoulder of the road at 120 kph to avoid pot holes! His one concession to going through a small town was to lean on the horn; the gas pedal foot remained frozen in place. He made the three hour trip in two hours flat! I'd have bet any money he would have had at least one flat tire, but there were no mishaps at all - much to everyone's surprise and relief.

The Garoua airport was also modern and clean, but quite a bit bigger than Maroua. It is surrounded by miles of divided four lane roads with double lamp standards down the middle as it there was a massive industrial development to go in that didn't happen. The airport also seemed enormously over built for the number of people there.

It was time to catch up on reading, having five hours to kill. Our plane arrived from Paris, so we knew it was coming. The airport had four different little bars set up, all within sight of each other, and all selling the same items. The closest one to us was called Chez Lizzie, and was operated by a large, jovial black woman named Lizzie, of course. Her beer was ice cold, welcome in the hot terminal, but food was limited. I had two hard boiled eggs, and then later in the day when I was looking for something else to eat she somehow found me a foot long French loaf which she stuffed with a can of sardines. Not exactly gourmet, but washed down by cold beer it kept body and soul together.

Tim had an interesting question as we were waiting for the flight - how would they tell the people on the international flight from the people on the domestic flight for customs and immigration purposes, as no one cleared customs except those leaving the aircraft in Garoua. Our answer came in Douala - it was voluntary. If you wanted to stand in the customs line to get your passport stamped, fine. If not, just walk around it. It was the same thing with the inoculation inspection that Tim had to bribe his way through when we arrive. Mind you, if you didn't get your passport stamped coming in there would be big problems when you went to leave! I wonder how many people coming from Paris for the first time have big problems when the leave because they didn't know to stand in the passport stamping line!

The September 11 panic on airline security caused by the World Trade Center crashes certainly has not arrived here. In all the airports we have been in, only two have had X-ray machines that worked. In all cases a cursory glance at the suitcase did it. There are also seldom metal detectors - no one bothers. Before getting on the flight at Garoua the most fascinating thing in my suitcase was a spray can of deodorant. It was passed around the five or so people at the gate, with all kinds of wondering looks as to what it could be. The fact that it is an unusual item in this part of the world is very evident in any hot, crowded or confined area!

The flight left on time, getting us to the Meridian Hotel in Douala at about 9:30 PM. We had a couple of drinks while waiting for the rooms to be made up - they had a lot of late check-outs because of the midnight Paris flight leaving Douala - so after half an hour in the bar they got organized and we turned in. I notice a large business center here, so will try to get this off in the morning.