Hiking in Rhumsiki: Boko Haram wasn't stopping me

The Kapsiki peak overlooking the village

The village of Rhumsiki

A good night’s sleep at Kamini’s house did a world of good and although I still had the cold, at least I felt better than the day before. I suspect that whenever I have cold on my travels it’s because of an allergic reaction to dust. I can’t prove that but whenever I have an extended exposure to dust I end up having cold and so goes my theory. That's the reason I always have a scarf hanging around my neck; so now when you see my pictures with the scarf let it be know that it is not a fashion statement but a valid necessity.

A local plant

Kirdi kids

Kamini’s was a devout 19 year old Christian who hadn’t travelled a lot so his father was eager to send him along with me on my hike in the Mandara Mountains. For me It would be great to have company on my hike and I could certainly do with someone who could translate. Normally after a week or so I would have picked up some French but for the first few days I was in the Anglophone region of Cameroon and then the big cities of Douala and Yaoundé where I could get by speaking just English. The visit up north would certainly be a test of my not-so-great French!

Right: Kirdi woman                                        Left: Kirdi man
Center: A snack the people of this region make with peanuts  

Fula girls fetching water 

After a quick breakfast Kamini and I headed to the market to arrange a couple motorbikes to take us to Rhumsiki which was about 55 kilometers away tucked deep in the Mandara Mountains. A couple hours of uncomfortable, bumpy, careless riding followed and it was inevitable that we would have an accident. I was lucky to escape with just a tear in my pants and minor scratches but the driver wasn't so lucky. He had a severe gash on his leg and for a while it was worrying.

The iconic picture of Rhumsiki with Nigeria in the distance

Kids climbing a baobab tree

Sneaking a peak at a stranger in their land

Fortunately for the moto-taxi rider, help came along in the form of a traditional medicine man who just happened to pass us right at the time of the accident. The magic touch of the medicine man and the tough-as-nails attitude of the rider ensured that we continued to Rhumsiki. The ride and the injury probably wore down the rider because as soon as he dropped us off he said he was going home to rest for the day. What could have been a very profitable day for him starting with a good earning to begin the day turned out not so good…if only he had been a little more careful.


Rhumsiki's stunning scenery

Rhumsiki is a picturesque mountain top village surrounded by spectacular scenery but Wikipedia as well as my guidebook referred to it as a tourist trap. In reality it was anything but touristic. The village was devoid of tourists and it seemed like a normal quaint village but there was a very valid reason for its torpor. A quick glance at the British travel advisory shows that this region has serious travel warning.

Left: Pili-Pili, the millet brew              Right: Girl carrying firewood

The village lies just a couple kilometers from the Nigerian border and is in the region where the dreaded Boko Haram is reputedly active. The Islamic terrorist organization is extremely active on the Nigerian side of this region but the border with Cameroon is largely unmanned and extremely porous and in the past year there have been two abductions, first was a French family of seven and then a French pastor as late as mid-November 2013. In the case of the family, a ransom definitely changed hands between the governments of France/Cameroon and Boko Haram. Exactly who paid what remains a mystery. As for the latter, while I was there, there were no leads on his whereabouts. Since then I have heard that the pastor was let go. Was a ransom paid for him?...maybe, certainly no one is in a hurry to divulge the details.

Not a bad place to camp, yea?

Early morning sun

Due to the abductions and the travel warnings the tourist traffic was non-existent but fortunately for a few foolish souls who decide to ignore these warnings it was a perfect time to visit Rhumsiki. Finding a guide at a reasonable price was easy because no tourists meant that we could haggle down the prices quite significantly.

A good way to secure the keys

Village in the valley

some berries to keep the hike interesting 

Once we set off on the hike our first stop was at a crab sorcerer who is revered by the local Kirdi people who still practice animism in certain forms even though most have converted to Islam or Christianity. I don’t believe in fortune tellers, there are plenty of them in India, but just out of curiosity I decided to ask him how many Gorillas he foresaw me seeing in my visit to the Lobeke National 10 days later. The sorcerer pulled out his crab, did his thing and told me that I would see three gorillas. Hmm…I wondered how much of that was the fact he wanted his customer to be happy :). Below is a video of the crab sorcerer predicting my future.

Pumping some drinking water, the lady at right got a kick
watching me do it

Colorful African women

Kamini being a very religious man completely abhorred the sorcerer or the practice of fortune telling but I decided to see the lighter side of things. Due to Kamini’s religious predilection, I decided to call him ‘pastor’ for the rest of the time which he though was quite funny.

Pounding millet

Me and the guide resting to beat the mid-day heat

By evening we were in the valley and decided to spend the night beside a small collection of houses made of stones, mud and topped with thatched roof. I pitched my camp under a mango tree while Kamini was given a bed in one of the local shelters.

Later that evening, the folks of the small community got together to celebrate the impending wedding of one of their daughters. They invited me to drink some pili-pili, a local brew made from millet and one of the residents upon knowing that I was from India hummed a song called as “Jimmy Jimmy” from a 1980’s Bollywood “Disco Dancer”. I have heard this song on the lips of several Africans including Liberia and find it quite amusing why this particular song is so popular all over Africa.

Rhumsiki kids

The next morning I woke up hearing cattle grazing around my tent and had tea seeing the morning sun glistening on the spectacular mountains. As the day progressed, we made our way out of the valley and into the plains. The otherworldly mountains which are basically ancient volcanic plugs dotted all over the region but were not as picturesque as the one in the valley where the stunning Kapsiki peak makes for a very photogenic vista.

Hiking in the Mandara mountains reminded me of my time in the Dogon region of Mali. The landscape although different was equally breathtaking but the stone, mud and thatched houses were very similar. Even the people seemed similar with millet and peanut being their primary produce. If I had to rate one over the other then Dogon wins hands down but that's not a slight to the Mandara Mountains.

Drinking more pili-pili with Martin and the Mafa chief

I am used to multi-day hikes but I sensed Kamini had expected a far less strenuous outing and he couldn't wait to get back. It being Christmas day certainly had something to do with it as well. In the center of Rhumsiki, we got a couple motor cycles to drop us back at Mokolo and this time we made sure to let the drivers know that safety was a priority else they wont get paid. Thus ended my amazing time in the mountains around Rhumsiki.

Celebrating Christmas with a Cameroonian family.
Top left to right: Sorel, Pierre, Marie, Diane
Bottom: Me, Brandon, Nora & Kamini (Pastor)

Back at Mokolo, a refreshing shower was followed by a hearty meal with Kamini’s family and it felt great not eating stale bread and sardines. Being Christmas everyone was in a celebratory mood and soon Martin dropped in. He suggested we pay a visit to his uncle who was the chief of the Mafa people which is the dominant tribe around Mokolo. At the chief’s place we had more snacks which were very similar to “shankarpali” (an Indian snack that is cooked during Diwali) and more pili-pili to wash it down.

I still had a long way to go in the north of Cameroon but this was a not a bad start at all.