The Journal:
  Pages 1-2
  Pages 3-4
  Pages 5-6
  Pages 7-8
  Pages 9-10
  Pages 11-12
  Pages 13-14
  Pages 15-16
  Pages 17-18
  Pages 19-20
  Pages 21-22
  Pages 23-24
  Pages 25-26
  Pages 27-28
  Pages 29-30
  Pages 31-32
  Pages 33-34
  Pages 35-36
  Pages 37-38
  Pages 39-40
  Pages 41-42
  Pages 43-44
  Pages 45-46

Climbing Mount Cameroon

Our trek up Mt. Cameroon was the most carefully-planned event of our entire trip to Cameroon. Kari and Andy were both into hiking and really wanted to hit this item before leaving the country and Trish and I packed with this trip in mind.

Mt Cameroon is an active volcano and is the highest peak in West Africa at a height of 4100 meters (13,500 feet). While it sounds daunting, the guidebook assured us the climb would be very strenuous but not particularly difficult with regard to technique. Hiring a guide is necessary as well as a number of porters to help carry supplies.

Our plan was to take a cab from Limbe to Buea where we would meet our guide. We would stay a night in Buea and the take off at dawn up the mountain.

There is an annual race up the mountain (yes, people run up and down the mountain -- in five hours what was to take us 2-1/2 days!) and it happened to be only four days after our trip up. This meant that all of the hotels/hostels were full. While Kari and Andy had made reservations for the trek, reservations do not mean the same thing as they do in the U.S. Luckily the Mt. Cameroon Ecotourism Office was VERY accomodating and took care of us -- they had arranged for a "bed and breakfast" to take us in. This was the first time that anyone in Buea had ever taken in tourists so it was quite an experience. Even though our hostess was quite wealthy for the area, it was a very unique way for us to stay in an African town to see how they lived.

Buea is not the touristy town that Limbe was -- it is more indiciative of most of the larger towns
we saw in Cameroon. There is usually one paved road connecting towns in Cameroon
and the towns are very spread out along that road.

A picture of our hostess. She was very accomodating and had a very
nice home. Due to road construction, Buea was without running
water and electricity at the time which you could tell
was very frustrating for the residents.

The trek up the mountain took us through two very different ecosystems. We started in a very jungle rainforest and about a third of the way up we ended up in a very open savannah.

Our main mistake with the climb was that we decided to go with the shorter-duration trip -- we took the "old way" up the mountain which was the shortest and most direct. Unfortunately this also meant that instead of climbing with tents we would just stay in one of the three primitive huts along the trail. Had we elected for the four-day trip, we would have had better accomodations (yes, tents would have been better) and would have seen more wildlife and a better variety of scenery. This decision was not the best one.

The views from the first half-day of the trek (rainforest)

Note the green gel shoes on one of the porters.

The plan was to hike about two-thirds of the mountain to Hut 2 and stay for the night, climb to the peak and back to Hut 2 on the second day, and then take about half of the third day to return to the base. Simon, our guide, was absolutely incredible with respect to judging our strength and our abilities. While Andy and Kari were in great shape, it was quickly apparent that Trish and I were going to need some serious coaching. Once Trish got her 'climbing legs' after the first hour or two, it became VERY apparent that I was going to be the weakest link. Simon and the porters really helped keep the pace and called for breaks when needed, gently pushing also when needed.

When we hit the savannah the climbing got quite a bit more difficult. Luckily the side of the hill had been recently burned for the reace so the steps were easier to find, but it was still very steep (two to three feet for each "stair"). I was drinking quite a bit of water and eating enough, but the altitude really got to me. By about 2:00 I made a pact with my body that if it got me to Hut 2 I would not ask it to take me a step further -- I was planning on sitting at the hut by myself all day (I had packed a book -- not sure how that got figured into the weight requirements) and then head to the bottom on Day 3 with the rest. One step at a time, me focussing on the green shoes right above me, we finally made it to the stopping point.

The higher up the moutain, the grumpier Sped gets. Trish, Kari, and Andy
seem to be doing just fine!

However, the word "primitive" was perfect to describe the hut. "Rat-infested" would be another. We found a spot in the hut to strike our camp and Simon and the porters started making supper. We spent the first hour or two just getting our legs and Kari, Trish, and Andy tried to talk me out of my vow of not going further up the hill. Somewhere around the time that I was losing all of the water and food that I had managed to put in my stomach all day, Trish saw a rat in the outhouse. Quite clearly nobody was having any fun. When the sun went down and all we had were flashlights, we had even less fun.

Nobody slept much that night as the only people that could handle the rats were Simon and the porters. What THEY couldn't handle were the screams from the other room every time we heard a skittling of rat feet in the hut. They did manage to kill about ten throughout the night, but Trish saw through the lies of the fact that rats can't climb when we saw one in a hole in the wall gnawing at our bags of food (which were hanging from hooks on the wall to keep the rats away!). I think we managed to get an hour or so of sleep, but the thought of spending another night in Hut 2 was clearly out of the question.

Trish, Kari, and I were all for going back down, but Andy wasn't going to be that close to a peak and not get to the top. He approached Simon with the idea of just the two of them heading to the top and all of the way down in the same day -- Simon was a little wary but Andy talked him into it. At daybreak the porters, Kari, Trish, and myself headed to the bottom and waited for Andy at Hut One.

Luckily, climbing down WAS a little easier (although I would say a little more dangerous) and we did manage to make it all the way down with no problems. Andy and Simon met up with us earlier than expected and we made it all the way back to Limbe the the Atlantic Beach hotel for some non-rat-infested furnishings (room 6 was renamed Hut 6 by us...)

From the smiles it is quite apparent that we are on the way down. These pics
were taken at Hut 1 while waiting for Andy and Simon. No pictures
from Hut 2 survive...

Simon called Andy the strongest climber he had ever seen. I consider
Simon one of the most amazing persons I've ever met.

The porters were not large men but you could tell
they do this for living. They carried very much weight with
very primitive equipment.