Acuna mutata

We stayed with new homestay families for a little over a week. I had a mom, 2 sisters, 1 brother and a baby. I spent most of my time with the baby and was tempted to grab her and run when I was leaving because she was so freaking cute. My sisters were very sweet. Both teenagers. I taught them English a little bit every night and they helped me with my Fulfuldé, which is the language of the North. It was bizarre to learn another language in another language, but it was kinda fun. My brother is a tour guide. I was surprised at how many touristes come to the North of Cameroon. He always had clients. Mostly French. Once some Belgians and Italians. My mother was the niece of the Lamido, who is the traditional chief and religious and political leader of Ngaoundéré. My mom was a princess. She also used to be married to a chief, but they were divorced. Polygamy is very common up North, but muslims can only take four wives, so when they want another wife they must divorce. To divorce you only have to say I divorce you three times.

I loved the city. The main attraction was the milk bar, where ironically enough you cannot get milk. But you can get yogurt and I ate it everyday. It is unsweetened but you pour sugar in it and it is wonderful. They also drink a lot of tea, which is lovely. There is a University in the city and I met some really nice students in town. My favorite part of Ngaoundéré was the mosques. The chanting starts around 4am but it never bothered me. It was beautiful. The mosque of the lamido was right next to our house. It is the biggest one in the city. I always wished I could have gone inside, but it is forbidden for women and people who aren't muslim.

We took a four day excursion to the extreme north, Waza, Maroa and Gidae. We stayed in a hotel the first night and then the next day went on two safaris and camped under the stars. I have never seen so many stars in my life. I couldn't help but stare straight up constantly. We met some friends who gave us ginea hen eggs and we made an interesting omelet. Oh and the safari was SWEET! I think it was my favorite thing we have done so far. We didn't see a ton of animals but being packed into this little pick up truck driving through the grasslands of Waza put me at my prime. Also giraffes in the wild are so different. They aren't yellow and brown they are more white and brown and they are so strange looking. We also saw ostriches, antelopes and a warthog. Ashley and I insisted upon singing the Lion King soundtrack, which just made everything even better. At sunset I was sitting on the roof of the truck with my legs off the side and with the breeze it was wonderful. I could have gone on a safari everyday for a month and then camped out and been completely content.

In Gidae we went on a hike to this river sandwiched between two walls of rock. That is an odd description but it was really nice. The water wasn't too deep so we left our shoes and walked through it for a while. Someone told our director that it was the most beautiful place god had ever created, I don't know about that but it was still fun. One of the SIT employees, Bobo, was watching me and informed me that I fell in the water 5 times. I only remembered the time that I fell up to my neck in water. Just as a disclaimer, the rocks were slippery and there were little mini waterfalls to go around.

So after Gidea we went back to Ngaoundéré for a few days and then headed back to Yaoundé. If I ever make it back to Cameroon, I want to go with my brother to find hippos. You have to go out by Canoe early in the morning before it is light, because hippos hate the light, to see them. My brother is terrified of hippos, which will surely enhance such an experience. I took pictures with my friend Laura's camera, they will get posted one day.

One last thing, our second night at Waza was the night of Obamas win. I was feeling down that day thinking that I wouldn't find out until the morning, but our director came through and we found a hotel with cable and CNN and stayed up all night as the results came in. We drank beer and whiskey to stay up, and to celebrate of course. I cried when he won. We all did. It was partially from a sense of relief that McCain didnt win and partially a shared joy between the Americans, French and Cameroonians at a little hotel in Waza.

written by  peep on November 10, 2008 from Ngaoundere, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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