Biking through the Jungle

A while ago, some fellow PCVs were thinking a loud about taking a bike trip from Ambam in the South region to the beach in Campo through the Campo-Ma’an National Park. It sounded like an amazing, yet lofty, idea. Somehow, though, we just realized this project.

Bike team members from left to right: Joe – Captain. The one who did the organizing and talking with all the villagers along the way. He was also our bike mechanic. We started at his post in the South. Eddie – Posted in the East in Messamena near the Dja reserve. Awesome guy who is doing collaborations with UNICEF, so I get to see him every time he comes to Yaoundé because he stops by my office. Ryan – In charge of food and security. He was essentially posted in the East in Messamena for 6 months. I also got to see this guy every time he came to Yaoundé because he could not stay at the peace corps house so he stayed chez moi. Goeff – the EMT who would save our lives if anything went wrong. Posted in the East in Kenzou on the border with CAR. Me – the voice of reason (or just the annoying squeaky voice that you can’t turn off).

The trip started by all five of us heading out of Yaounde together to Ambam. Once in Ambam we spent a day organizing things, fixing our bikes, and getting last minute supplies for the trip.

Then we took a car to our starting village of Nyambissang. That afternoon we biked to a nearby village and then hiked to some waterfalls with a guide.

We had to cross the river in pirogues, one by one. Eddie made it without the help of our guide, while the rest of us took turns crossing with the guide. Then we made it to the bottom of these amazing waterfalls. It was kind of like two rivers running parallel, one 50 feet above the other and every 10 feet or so there was a waterfall until the whole top river joined to bottom one. It was a very enjoyable hike to start our trip off.

The next day we decided to start out really early to get through the entire national park because there were no villages inside of it. This was it, it was the test. We were going to be biking with all of our stuff on the backs of our bikes: food, clothing, tents, etc. I was pretty nervous because I was the only girl trying to keep up with all these strong guys. The rain started in the middle of the night and kept on going. I could hear it all night in my sleep, but when we woke up we realized that the tin roof was making the rain sound a lot harder than it actually was. It was really just misting, so we decided to continue with our original plans. Before picture:

So we were off. The beginning was very steep hills and I was struggling a lot. I refused to go fast down the hills and then I could not get a lot of momentum to go up the hills. But after maybe 10km we hit the national park and the hills were much more graded and it was easier to do.

That first day we made some really good long runs where we didn’t stop for several kms. Somehow we made it to the end of the park. We were exhausted. And pretty dirty.

We stopped at the first village that had a guest house. A family there made us a very western meal: mashed potatoes, macaroni, and meat and peas.

The next day we took our time and set out a bit later after a nice breakfast. We stopped in one of the next villages and had an amazing shrimp lunch.

Then we had the afternoon to make it to Campo. It started raining harder when we set out and the road got muddier. We also started having some very major problems with the bikes. Ryan and Geoff were both stuck in gears 2-7 for the rest of the trip (aka impossible to climb hills in). At one point we started being able to smell the ocean, there was a noted difference in the air with an added humidity and the smell of saltiness. Then we made it to the ‘Welcome to Campo’ sign.

It seemed like a miracle. We rode through town straight to the ocean and jumped in. In campo we relaxed, cleaned up all of our stuff, got to see Equatorial Guinea and hang out on the beach.

Then we set out for Kribi by 4x4 (with all of our bikes on top). That morning they overpacked the car, so I didn’t really have a seat. Let’s just say it was one of the most uncomfortable rides I have had in this country (and I have had my fair share of uncomfortable rides). We slid a lot getting out of town and I really thought we were going to tip. Then at one point the road was completely blocked by several trucks. It took a lot of talking with the truck drivers but the problem was easily solved when two of the trucks moved back just out of the way. While the actual problem was solved in less than five minutes we sat there for almost 2 hours figuring it out. Finally we were on our way again to Kribi.

Kribi was great. We met up with several other volunteers and celebrated Yaya’s birthday. Basically we just hung out at the beach all day for 2 days straight. Good company, good food, and a beautiful ocean, what more can you ask for. I went for runs along the beach in the morning and got to see Lobe falls, a waterfall that goes directly into the ocean. Beautiful.

Then it was the end of our vacation and I headed back to Yaoundé. Back to reality. I hope I get a chance to do more trips like that in the future.