Though my little trip through the Western part of Cameroon actually revealed only a small part of this country, I´m anyway quite happy I had the chance to discover something else than the taxis of Yaoundé.
A 4 days journey lead us, Dr. Martin Ndeutchoua and me, over the river Sanaga 
from which sand is won for constructions of houses and the like, through Makenene which offers with its market the possibility for travellers to gather some energy
, via Bafia and up into the mountains 
to Bagangté and Bafang where we were hosted for one night by the “father” of Martin. 
He´s 80y old but goes each morning for a 5km run and shared his philosophical point of view over a rice-crevettes dinner in the open air kitchen with us. 
Living in this region is simple and poor but people don´t complain. 
Up in the highlands the weather is refreshing and the air is clean. For Cameroonian standard this is cold whereas one have to mentioned that permanent residency in average temperatures of 30°C implies the lack of reasonable judgement on the coldness of 15-20°C. 
In Mbouo we visited a hospital and the orphanage. Over 100 children in the supervision of a handful women who voluntarily work to feed, educate and entertain them. 
After Bafoussam and Dschang we came down the mountain slopes to the “Plain de Nbo” where our search for elephants was unsuccessful and apparently in vain, as we were told. 
We stopped for a night in Medong, the village of birth of Martin. His mother (this time the real one) welcomed us warmly and steady laughed – maybe at me for unknown reasons. 
With a fully packed car loaded with bananas, peanuts, yams, manioc, .. we left for a quick visit of our colleague at the hospital of Medong where we met a pregnant woman in labour but no doctor. 
Our route to Douala led us through vast fields of banana, palm and caoutchouc trees. 
Bananas fields for export are well guarded and the fruits are considered to be worse in taste than otherwise cultivated bananas. Cameroonians themselves don´t eat those cultivated ones.
All along the road you can buy wood, manioc, yams, potatoes, oranges, bananas, plantains, Petrol, palm oil, 
.. and farmers spread their fruits along the street side to dry cacao, coffee and manioc. 
On our way back to Yaoundé we crossed the proudest piece and relict of German colonisation and a proof for durable construction technique. 
The bridge of Edea over the river Nyong meanwhile counting a hundred years, is still a symbol of the proper and profound work of the German people.
