Program of festival in North of Cameroon far North Cameroon
Day 1, arrival in Yaoundé, overnight at Hotel Safayad
Day 2: Yaoundé - Bertoua (350 km)
Morning city tour Continue east on a good eastbound road - the road was laid by the Germans in colonial times (until 1914) in the early 20th century and rebuilt by the Brazilians a few years ago. In Ayos, 125 km east of Yaoundé, old houses bear witness to this; noon ago. Especially in Doumé, about 50 km before Bertoua, the German colonial past is clearly visible on the hill with its old buildings and the fort. Bertoua is the last major city in the southeast, surrounded by rainforest Dinner (buffet) and night at the Mansa Hotel, the former Novotel, renovated a few years ago; small but "functional" rooms. (F/M-Pn/A)
Day 3: Bertoua - before NGaoundéré (470 km)
The road is still excellent, so the number of km is not a problem. Garoua-Boulaï is right on the border of the RCA, here a simple lunch. Continue north and towards the Ranch de NGaoundaba. Meals are served at the long table in the equally rustic main building. Antelope horns and other hunting trophies hang on the walls. They tell the story of the ranch, founded in the late 1950s by Frenchman Henri Eyt-Dessus for hunting safaris. He died in 1989; his son Pascal continues - without hunting, but with raising cattle on 34 hectares of land; there are 14 "cowboys" permanently employed. From the hill in the lodge you can see the crater lake. (F/M/A)
Day 4: NGaoundéré - Garoua (280 km) You should take a walk around the crater lake before breakfast (about three quarters of an hour). Back almost 40 km on the paved road, 27 km downhill by car to Idool - the village of the settled Fulbe people is unique in every respect: there are straight streets and paths, lined with tall eucalyptus trees - the place was so laid out in the late 1950s. Behind the mud walls are beautiful round huts with long hanging thatched roofs, like shaggy fries, banana trees and papaya trees. The entrance to the seat of the Lamido, still young and charming traditional ruler, is covered with straw, the columns are decorated with bright colors. All work in the village is carried out collectively. Then to the impressive Tello waterfalls, which can be seen from a huge cave from behind and from below from the front. The Lamidat of Ngaoundéré is still very traditional. The old thatched-roof reception hall with powerful, domed columns decorated in bright colors is impressive. 15 km to the north, the winding road climbs up to the Adamoua plateau. You are now traveling quickly north past Bénoué National Park (so shortly after the rainy season it is still too early for good game viewing). At the entrance to the park is the "Village of the 20 tribes". The village was established in 1998, . The reason for this was the lack of arable land in many settlements in the far north: the hill tribes, who once fled to the mountains after the slave hunters of the Fulbe, have many descendants and only barren cultivated terraces on the rocky slopes of the mountains. But here there was more rain and good fertile soil. The people who live there helped the new arrivals to reclaim soil, build mud huts and cut straw for roofs. Garoua is the largest city in the north. This was particularly important under the penultimate president Ahmadou Ahidjo, who came from here, led the country from independence from 1960 to 1982 and promoted the more Muslim north. Garoua has a university and the country's only inland port - but the Bénoué is only navigable from July to October. Garoua is also the center of cotton cultivation; It is harvested in February / March. Meals and night in the very good hotel "Tour d´Argent". (F/M/A
Day 5: Garoua – Maroua - Rhumsiki (160 km)
Immediately after breakfast, we visit traders with traditional medicines not far from the hotel - including monkey and crocodile heads, claws, bark, herbs. Then he leaves for the first time (out of a total of 4 days) with the company of some soldiers of the BIR (Brigade d'Intervention Rapide) on a rather poor natural route towards the north, first towards Maroua (200 km) 128 km further via Mokolo Mogode Border with Nigeria at Rhumsiki. Even before Rhumsiki, bizarre rocks rise into the sky - remnants of basalts from ancient volcanoes, from which the soft mountain mantle has been removed. They still visit the weavers and a small shop in a mud house and especially the blacksmith in Amsa: with his "crab oracle" he interprets the future - according to the way a freshwater crab moved small sticks in a large calabash. From the "Camp" with the round bungalows you have a magnificent view of the "most beautiful lands" of the empty pool Names among the Mandara Future parents often have long discussions before they can agree on a first name with us. The mandara has an easier time: the names are given according to the order in which the children saw the light of day. That's why you always find the same first names here. In the fifth born, both sexes have the same name: Kodji. And as for the names of girls, the Kapsiki probably did not think much: the fourth and sixth are called Koteri ... boy name girl name 1 Tize Kovu 2 Zra Massi 3 Kori Charcuterie 4 Vandi Koteri 5 Kodji Kodji 6 Teri Koteri
Day 6 : Rhumsiki - Mokolo – Maroua 128km
Only about 52km left from Mokolo but the track got worse and worse - if it was finally fixed it would be a nice surprise. In the nearby village of Ziver, the blacksmith Pokpok, his children and in fact all the villagers are waiting for us: the old clay "oven" of his great-grandfather is supposed to start again today. This of course also requires millet beer (which has been drunk since morning) and an offering of chicken. The rock containing iron ore is melted, the bellows hisses. Traditionally the ore was smelted in this way in many places in the Mandara Mountains and now symbolically cleared at the end of the rainy season, of course always with the help of the ancestors. It is the last clay oven; In 2019 it was renovated with our help. There were still many ovens of this type until the 1980s, see p. René Gardi, "Mandara" (only antique dealer). The women dance with enthusiasm, the men drink in friendship, symbolically from a calabash. With its shady avenues and numerous mud houses, Maroua has largely retained a rural character. Our location in Maroua is Hotel Riga (no, not in Russian, a Mafa word for 'strength' by Mafa owner Sakatai Vilday. He decorated the upstairs rooms with the help of Dabala 'ethnically' and has threw the televisions; beautiful view of the plain with the mountains. (F/M/A).
Day 7: Maroua - Meri - Maroua (50 km)
18 km north on the paved road, then another 18 km on the slopes to the north-west - we are in the village of Méri. This village of Mofou is not particularly worth the detour, any more than the small neighboring village of Wazang. Of course, clay farms are beautiful, although corrugated iron often shines in the sun instead of thatched roofs, which are much better climatically. But yesterday is the Marai Harvest Festival here, everyone is up. This is one of the most awe-inspiring festivals in all of the north and it brings ancient times back to life - as in ancient times many men came as warriors with spears, spears and hippo hide shields. At the foot of the Wazang mountains, the village chief symbolically sacrifices a goat to celebrate the harvest and wish everyone a good and long life. Flute players and drummers warm up the atmosphere, there is dancing and partying. Return to Maroua. Many craftsmen live here, for example Sculptors and brass foundries. In the afternoon, visit the central market, the craft center and then the dyers on the outskirts of the city. (F/M-Pn/A).
Day 8: Maroua - Pouss - Maroua (230 km)
Departure towards the east, first towards Bogo, about 50 km. The new Guivirdig road (70 km from Maroua), promised since 2018, was still not ready in the spring of 2020... Pouss is located directly on the Logone; we see the ornate palace (Saré) of the Sultan (Lamido). We are trying to have an audience with the sultan. Outside the village, there are traditional Mousgoum domed huts living here. They measure up to 7 m in length
Day 9.: Maroua - Oudjilah - Maroua (210 km)
100 km north of Mora, but what an abundance of impressions ... a few km north of Maroua we pass a 995 m high island, then rocky mountains rise from the plain, some with balls of granite piled up, as if piled up by a playful god. And there are many gods here, in the land of animists, followers of the religion of nature: Belief in the soul of things, plants, stones, animals. After 50 kilometers: Mora, also surrounded by mountains. 20 km further northwest, to the mountain village of Oudjila. There have been no tourists for a long time. Massif Saré, the complex of round, closely spaced mud huts on the hill resembles a huge termite mound. A faint freshness welcomes us. In one of the mud huts, there are graves of the 14 ancestors with jugs of millet beer incorporated, because the ancestors are also thirsty. Here, the patron's youngest wife sleeps on behalf of his deceased wives. An ox is walled up alive nearby and is fed through a window. The following year, after 2 years, he acquires a mythical power and is sacrificed. We were able to attend the ceremony once in 2019 - it will no longer be allowed. sickle dance Boss Mozogo Daouka, in office since 1964 (!) Died in 2019 at the biblical age of around 100, an old-school macho: at the head of some 25,000 Podoko, he left 52 “remaining” women and 112 children. Peanuts are also grown here, and bananas, corn, and sugar cane grow in the wet valleys. Life is all the more arid in the mountain villages of the Mafa - the Fulani conquerors called them "Matakam", the undressed. German ethnologist Godula Kossack has researched and lived in this area again and again - her book "Magic", the power to harm or good. "As if the hard life especially for women (who are free agricultural workers, many men have more than 5 Women) were not enough: "black magic" is the order of the day here, and there are often of envy behind her Dinner in the house / on the terrace of our partner Dabala, his three almost adult children (F / D).
Day 10: Maroua - Mindif - Guide (140 km)
Visit to the "Avenir Femme" project, where young women can acquire basic knowledge and receive practical training; the project was funded by BROT FÜR DIE WELT. More... The village of Mindif is 26 km south of Maroua; here the “Zahn”, the “Dent du Mindif”, is visible from afar, also a basalt mountain. Jules Verne let his aeronauts spend a night here in “5 weeks in a balloon”. Not far away you can visit an interesting small cooperative of Muslim women in brightly colored dresses - beautiful fabrics are woven in the Lehmhof and equally attractive colored plates are made, which are well suited as wall decorations or simply as coasters ... Drive on the N1, on to Maroua airport in Salak and further south to the quiet town of Guider. Small clean hotel. (F/M-Pn/A).
Day 11: Guider - Kaélé (60 km)
You visit the colorful weekly Guider market today Friday and from there you will travel to the enigmatic rock carvings of Peske Bori. There are incisions in scattered limestone marble stones, mostly abstract symbols, but among other things also a turtle; was born at the beginning of the Iron Age (2500 to 1500 BC). A little further, we see footprints of dinosaurs that lived here about 100 million years ago. 10 km further east, after the rainy season (until October), the Mayo Louti flows in brown foam through a narrow 20 m high gorge of black and light gray basalt rocks: the Kola Gorge. More than 15 km to the north - from here we came yesterday, but there is no other way - to Kaélé - where Cameroon in the north juts out in a triangle towards Chad. 11 km west of Kaélé, towards Midjiving, is the mysterious Lake Bobouo, surrounded by rocks and in front of huge granite peaks. Crocodiles still live in the lake. Nice little hotel here in Kaélé, "Le Palmier", with a large open terrace. (F/M-Pn/A).
Day 12 Kaele – Bizili - Garoua 250 km)
So today is the famous rooster festival in Bidzili, the rooster festival. There are also (sweating very quickly) officials linked to such festivities, but they do not disturb and have their podium. The predominantly animist, also Christian, farmers and breeders of the Toupouri live east of Kaélé near Yaouga on the Logone in a predominantly Muslim environment. The traditional ruler (lamido) of around 50,000 people is the lamido, His Majesty Madi Welga Doura, a cozy man. The rooster festival, La fête du coq, takes place every year around mid-October in the 12 largest villages in the region. It begins a few weeks in advance with the symbolic cleaning of the lamido in the sacred forest and a goat sacrifice. The rooster sacrificed at the festival is a symbol of the well-being of the whole village in the coming year. Each village organizes the festival for 5 consecutive years - since 2020, it is Bizili, the village of Lamido, 40 km east of Kaélé. So it will take place in Bizili until 2025, then elsewhere. If the rooster breathes its life on the left instead of the right, it means bad luck, another village will be next next year. Dance with many actors, mostly young men: they wear pants in the national colors of Cameroon (green, yellow, red), often hats and red sticks. The women then come to dance again in the small , drive to Garoua overnight at Tour d’Argent hotel .
Day 14 : Garoua - Douala ,
Tour of Garoua city and flight Douala , drive to Kribi or Limbé .
Day 15 : Relaxation and visit of Animals .
Day 16 rexation and departure .
Dabala