Visa no. 15: Gabon in Yaoundé

The security man makes sure you wear long trousers (and possibly shirt). I had shirt with short sleeves and shorts, I lost my long trousers on my way. He didn’t let me in. He simply said I must buy trousers and that it’s not him that it’s the consul and that the rules are written […]

Long weekend in Yaoundé

The train from was comfortable, I had two seats for myself and there was a lot of space for my legs. However if took longer than I thought: 15 hours. We arrived in Yaoundé after 10am. The motos waiting at the station didn’t want to go to rond point Nlongkak for less than 500cfa. The […]

Ngaoundere to Yaoundé

I dreamed of sleeping till noon but outside noise woke me up after 7 and I couldn’t fall asleep again.My hotel claimed to have a restaurant and bar, the menu listed café simple. I asked several times if it’s perhaps nescafé or perhaps it’s real coffee. And I thought there would be real coffee. In […]

Banyo to Ngaoundere

I was thinking how the travel around here doesn’t get easier. After the day on the bike and the crazy mountain roads I was hoping for a bus ride to N’Gaoundéré being an easy thing. Ha. It’s 330kms from Banyo to N’Gaoundéré where I was going to pick the night train to Yaoundé on a […]

Gembu, Nigeria to Banyo, Cameroon

My phone wasn’t fully charged in the morning. First I thought that my New Age cable is already broken, then I realized the power was off at night. At about 6:30am someone knocked at the door. Took me a while to realise that the person was knocking at my door, after all I was in […]

Bali, Nigeria to Gembu

I woke up at night when the light was cut off and the fan stopped working. I was all in sweat. Of course water was not running from the tap and I didn’t fill the bucket in the evening. Then, a muezzin started his chants and I was glad because I thought if was already […]

Ogoja to Bali, Nigeria

Bali in Nigeria is pronounced Bæli. For first time in long time I didn’t wake up by myself at 5am but an alarm clock woke me up at 5:30am. I was so sleepy I kept snoozing it until 6am. I took okada to the junction outside Ogoja, the one on the main road, N300. When […]

Calabar to Ogoja

I didn’t know if I wanted to leave Calabar. I thought I’d have to go to the bank and get some money or find a moneychanger, I didn’t know how long the trip to the border town of Gembu would take me, I reckoned two days if I was lucky, possibly three days, then crossing […]

A Saturday in Calabar

I got out of the room late. Everyone on the internet is praising a bakery that’s across the road from the hotel so I went there. Bought a ginger cake and a “golden bun”. Ginger cake didn’t even lie next to ginger. Golden bun needed coffee to dip it in. My hotel has a very […]

Benin City to Calabar: a day with AKTC

I found a website for a bus service I once used, not sure even when, 2008 or 2009, coming from Owerri to Calabar. ABC transport. It advertised a N6500 bus from Benin to Calabar at 11am. But when I walked around Benin City and asked around noone was able to tell if that’s true, the […]