Guest Entry !!!!!!
on Notes from Quite Far (Cameroon), 05/Aug/2009 19:58, 34 days ago
Hello!!My name is Gareth and I am Lizzy's friend.I visited Cameroon from March 28thto April 20th2009. We spent 23 days travelling round the country taking inKribi,Limbe, Yaounde,Kaele,Yagoua, andMagga. I have beenmeaningto put some pictures and thoughts on Lizzy's blog since I got back from visiting her and have been rather lax in doing so. Recent prompting has forced me into action.First a little bit about me! I live inGrimsby, North EastLincolnshire, England. For those not so familiarGrimsbyis on the South bank of the RiverHumber(Hull is on the North bank) and on the East coast of England, about half way up.I'ma Merchant Seafarer and have been working at sea for the past 10 years. In that time I have travelled around the world and been luckyenoughto visit countries in the Far East, Middle East, South America,Caribbeanand West Africa. I have worked for companies that have spent time in ports and thus meant I have been able to explore a fair bit in the places I have visited.Before my trip to Cameroon I had already experienced West Africa through my short visits to Nigeria and Ghana. I spent four days in Lagos, Nigeriaandalso spent four days inTema, Ghana in which time I visited Accra the Ghanaian capital.My experiences of Africa before Cameroon where mixed. Lagos is a large city where crime and poverty is very rife. It is hard for a traveller to be safe in Lagos and due to this my experience of the city was limited. I could not help but come away from Lagos and Nigeria feeling (fairly or unfairly) it was not a pleasant place.On thecontrarymy visit to Ghana was great. Although not far down the coast from Nigeria (only Togo and Benin between them) the atmosphere was completely different and I was able to explore freely in a very pleasant atmosphere. Local people were very proud of their country and particularly their football team for making it to the World Cup that summer (2006) and were out in force selling Ghanaian shirts, flags, bracelets everywhere.Cameroon, I was told was more Ghana than Nigeria. With that in mind tickets were bought and a visa sorted. After five months working in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean time for a trip somewhere warmer!!!