I woke up this morning to see the huge fiery orange ball of the sun clawing its way through the dense foliage of the giant tree under which I had pitched my tent last night and realised that it was not the light that had woken me but the cacaphonous sound of a troupe of red colobus monkeys as they shrieked and shouted their loud and exuberant celebration of a new day.
spectacular sunrises and sunsets over the dense African jungle; a koranic school alongside the road -- anywhere is a good place for learning
Red clay roads make for 'interesting driving' : everyone helps everyone else to get through, lots of shouting and laughter and hands thrown in the air when the tow cables snap or the large heavy trucks threaten to fall over.
Orm is the only one of our group in there to help push while a mammoth oil tanker pulls in reverse and a machine-gun-armed 'soldier' stands by; seems every vehicle has an auomatic weapon on board (except ours!)
An exhausted man takes a rest. These truck drivers drive 24 hours a day and when they come to a stretch of road like this one after the tropical storm, they work through the night helping each other fight their way out of the clinging clay - but never a frown or an angry word! How they keep their sense of humour I shall never know. And while they are fighting their way through the deep red clay that seems to want to hold on to them, life goes on: an old man takes his goat to the village to sell to the butcher for our lunch...
In the middle of nowhere, a big cattle market -- Fulani men standing around and discussing the merits and the beauty of these magnificent animals, hoping to strike a good deal before the skies open up. In town Emy and Orm on an expedition to find all those delicious things we dream about while on the road...
in the market place the men sit around and chat and wherever there is a flat piece of ground, the women spread out the 'foul-smelling!) cassava to dry in the sun before pounding and grinding it into flour.
With so much green it is almost a relief to see such a vivid different colour! We drive up mountains and down the other side and every bend, every moment has you gasping for breath as the spectacular scenes reveal themselves one after the other
The mud towns are well planned and well maintained and some of them seem to house several hundred family compounds. Emy and Orm trying to catch another glimpse of the HUGE hippo that swam past our picnic spot on the banks of the fast flowing Benoue river.
A perfect picnic spot on the banks of the Benoue River (that flows from Caneroon into Nigeria and eventually links up with the Niger River). A good quiet moment for Tony to finally beat John in a game of chess
A tiny little field mouse decides it would like Randy to leave his tent behind as it provides excellent cover against the tropical thunder storms. Sometimes crossing a low lying section after a heavy downpour can be a tricky exercise and a long wait
A boy with a slingshot : this could be anywhere in the world! But this particular one in Maroua is aiming on having grilled fruit bat for dinner tonight! Any place is a good place to mark out an area facing east and declare it a mosque
Mealies for lunch anyone? Yum! Suzanne has a knack for finding weird and wonderful sunglasses -- this one giving her a somewhat laconic view of the world.
Waiting in a hospital in Maroua to see a doctor- hoping he will tell me that the flesh-eating bacteria some unfriendly six-legged tent visitor had squirted into my arm will not cause my whole arm to fall off. As I wait; it continues to munch away at me... A gorgeous little daughter of a certain admirer called Don Quichotte
A typical mountain village in North-West Cameroun. Emy teaching the local kids 'Ching Chong Chai'; patience is a virtue, Emy...
A beautiul base of a forest tree. More beautiful African herds...
Everywhere and every day is washing day -- always a gloriously colourful affair. A typical road -- this one not red clay but big flat rocks. A few kilometres in as many hours and yet Mark gets us to our destination every day!
More cattle (have I mentioned that I am passionate about them?! and there are so many herds to feast ones eyes on!) The group taking over the village well to fill up our jerry cans and water tanks, while the somewhat bemused locals looked on. "Stair Master"! they call it but tiring after only a short while and then the local children -- no more than 8-9-10 years of age come and show them how it should be done. Wouldn't it be fabulous if we could dig one of these wells in every flashy gym back home and be pumping water for these people while still getting all that exercise!
two moments of sheer beauty in a field of yams
Some border posts and customs offices are posh and impressive, others are less poshe but more impressive in their simplicity.
The village well is the best place to gather around and catch up on the latest village gossip
I woke up and looked out and thought someone had gotten hold of my bag of red buttons -- they walk around in pairs, these bright, velevety and fluffy little red spiders?/mites?/little creatures. I simply had to add my own red button to the collection!
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