Trip to Extreme North Province

Our three week Christmas break was much needed! My boyfriend, Darrell, came to spend the break with me. We had such an amazing time together. In hindsight, we were naïve to think that travel within Africa (even with set reservations) would be simple.

After Christmas, Darrell and I set out to the Extreme North Province of Cameroon, which borders Nigeria and Chad. We took one of the weekly Nacam (National Airways Cameroon) flights to Maoura, the capital of the province. Before taking off, the airplane crew argued about the amount of luggage that was piled up in the back of the plane. The luggage blocked passage through the aisle and through the exit! All the commotion caused me to be even more nervous than I already was about flying such an old airplane.

Before reaching Maraoua, we landed in Ngoundere (the north province, which is right below the far north province) for refueling. What seemed as a routine stop, ended up taking us an hour and a half. The crew had to stop fueling midway because the man to accept the fuel money wasn’t around. So, some phone calls were made and the passengers waited. I even saw a few people eating breakfast in the lobby during our wait. But, we did end up making it to Maroua, the capital of the extreme north, more than 2 hours late. The north province was a hot and dry area containing mountains and grasslands. It consists of Muslims, Christians, and Animists. This area was very beautiful and very exciting to visit.

From the airport we took a hotel shuttle. I realized it would be a long ride to the hotel the moment we left the airport going 30 kph. Throughout the journey, the enginge continued to fail and the driver had to constantly remove the hull (located inside the van) to fix the wiring. As we sat there, nasty fumes blew into our faces. At this point I really just wanted to relax in our hotel and grab a bite to eat. After our dreadfully long journey, we finally arrived at the Porte Mayo Hotel.

Check back tomorrow for more about the trip!!