Mount Cameroon…Climbing West & Central Africa’s Highest Peak

Buea...with Mt. Cameroon in the background

Honeybee on a sunflower

Ever since I moved to Africa, this mountain called Mongo ma Ndemi ("Mountain of Greatness") in the local language on the west coast of Cameroon has always beckoned. Someday I will moved away from Liberia, I don’t know when, but when I do what stories would I have if I can’t say I climbed West Africa’s highest peak after living there for over 4 years. With that desire in mind I came to Cameroon to climb Mount Cameroon which at 4090 meters above sea level would be the highest I have attempted.

Cameroon is considered as part of Central Africa and by that definition Mt. Cameroon can’t really be considered to be in West Africa but on the other hand, it is fairly close to Nigeria and is in the Anglophone region of Cameroon (erstwhile called as Anglophone Cameroon before it was merged with the Francophone side to form the nation it is today) so I can understand why its often called as “West Africa’s highest peak”. What can’t be debated is that it is one of the iconic mountains of Africa standing as a beacon overlooking the Gulf of Guinea. The climb to its summit wasn’t technical so all I had to pack was some warm clothes and sturdy hiking boots and I was all set.

Bird with Buea in the distant background

Savanna section of the mountain

After landing in Douala I had to get to Buea (spelled Bo-yaa), a city which sits at the base of the mountain. The traffic to get there from Douala was arduous and chaotic. Perhaps it was the holiday season because it took an awful lot of time to reach Buea. It seemed as though everybody in Douala was on the move for the holidays.

Singing songs by the campsite

Moss covered trees at higher altitude

Once in Buea, I got to the Mount Cameroon Eco-Tourism Office (Mt. CEO) to arrange for a guide the next day. Although it was late at night, luckily the staffs at the office had visitors from Yaoundé and were working late. They seemed to be in good spirits too as I was invited to join in their feast of Cameroonian fish curry and rice; they even suggested I spend the night at their office before I start the trek the next morning.

The ex-champion of the race back from the sumit

Almost there

My guide showed up early the next morning and so did the porter. Considering it would cost me just $30 more for three days I though it was good value if I won’t have to carry all the extra weight. The guide agreed to double up as a cook and taking into consideration how much I love to cook (not) I just gave him some money for food supplies so we could share the food. While they went grocery shopping I went in search of the two most essential things I would need on the hike…water and chocolate.

Top of the sumit

The crew

Descent through volcanic ash

Cameroon is one of the top producers of cacao and the dark chocolate I got was 100% made in Cameroon. It was good to see an African nation not just export its raw material but actually turn it into a quality finished product plus it tasted surprisingly good.

Volcanic flows

Getting some rest along the way

Crater formed by recent eruptions

Life sprouting back

The crater formed after the eruption in 2000 

This is what killed my toes

The hike started through corm and banana farms and soon we were in the montane forest on the lower slopes of the mountain. The same day I was climbing, Johannes, a German was also on the trail and we soon caught up with his party of guide and porters. It was nice company for us and I am sure the guides and porters appreciated going in a team as well. Further up from the forest was savanna were the slope got steeper and the scramble tougher. As dusk approached we set up camp at a site not too farm from the summit.

Early the following morning we proceeded towards the summit and while I huffed and puffed stopping to take deep breaths in the thin air a guy incredibly jogged past me. When my guide saw the puzzled look on my face he assured me that he was an ex-champion of the Guinness Mount Cameroon footrace. Evidently he wanted to regain the title and was training for the race to be held in February. As I continued on towards the summit the thought that there are people who run their way up and down this mountain in four and a half hours left me shaking my head in disbelief. I am reasonable fit and could perhaps do that in a day or two but 4 hours 3 min which is the record time is something else…Quite incredible!

Descent towards Mann spring

The crew stayed in the hut while we had the tent

We soon reached the summit which was windy but not quite as cold as I had anticipated. A 360 degree panoramic view from the summit was breathtaking and having fulfilled my desire to be on top of West Africa…it was time to head back down. Below is a video of the view from the summit

We ascended using the Guinness trail but the descend was via the hunter’s trail which was less steep but the scenery was more varied although it would take longer to get back. It passed through a large track of loose volcanic ash, then jagged volcanic flow as recent as 2000, grasslands and then finally forest. For the night we camped close to a natural spring called Mann’s spring at the junction where the grasslands gave way to the montane forests. Even before I had taken the shoes off my weary legs I knew that the volcanic terrain had taken a toll on my feet. I was just starting on my journey through Cameroon and had some tough places coming ahead requiring hiking and walking so I couldn’t afford the blisters that were popping up on my feet to get any worse.

Morning at Mann Springs

Starting the descent toward Bokwango early in the morning with Mt. Etinde in the backdrop

Had to wear the socks for the stinging ants

After a splendid dinner of sardines and rice I headed to my tent and as I dozed off on the clear starry night I decided to descend the following morning on flip flops. Johannes and his party were splitting to head west to end their hike by the coast while I had 5 more hours through the rain forest to get back to Buea.

Millipede

No animal dares to eat this worm...no wonder its red 

The flip flop idea worked fine until I sprained my right ankle on one of the loose rocks littered along the trail…kind of inevitable I think. Thankfully it was not as worse as I thought initially and was able to continue without significant discomfort. The real things to watch out were colonies of menacing ants crossing the trail. The video below shows them reacting to me blowing air at them. Imagine me putting my feet into one of them with my flip flops.

A farm house in Bokwango

After 3 days in the mountains, loved sinking my teeth
into these fresh tomatoes

Soon the forest made way for coco yam farms indicating that we were close to human settlement. By mid-day we made it back to Buea and I gathered up my stuff left at the Mt. CEO office and headed to the bus station. I had gained half a day by returning back from the mountain earlier than planned so I though of going to the coastal town of Limbe rather than head back straight to Douala. Conquering Mt. Cameroon was just the beginning…having successfully negotiated that task it was time to seek the next adventure but little did I know what I had in store in Limbe.