Lobéké National Park: Gorillas & Pygmies in a Remote Corner of Cameroon

Sleepy passenger

Location of Djembe in Lobéké of NP

On my flight from Yaoundé to Garoua I had met a man called Mohamed and due to the long delay we spent a lot of time chatting in the waiting room at Yaoundé. As I waited for my return flight to Yaoundé at the airport in Garoua, someone walked beside me and said hello…it was Mohamed again. The odds of us traveling back on the same flight must have been miniscule but that's exactly how it panned out.

Mohamed was a Hausa man, a school teacher by profession but was working for the Cameroonian Election Commission and that was the reason for his frequent visits to Yaoundé. I don't thing school teachers in Cameron get paid a lot of money so either the government coughed up the money or he was from a well-off family because both times he traveled in business class.

The joys of public transport
Left: A man peddling medicines
Right: Unconventional cargo of goats

House in the central region of Cameroon

Although he was immaculately dressed in his Hausa attire he seemed a very modest man and took pride in listing out the names of some of the yesteryear Bollywood stars like Mithun Chakraborty, Sashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. I was happy to report to him that although they were no longer the superstars they were in the 70’s and 80’s, all of them were alive and well. I could be wrong about the latter’s superstar status though.

With Cameroonian soldiers at Batouri

My ride from Batouri to Yokadouma...notice
the glassless windows 

Mohamed and I took the taxi from the Yaoundé airport to the town where it seemed everyone was in a celebratory mood for the upcoming New Year. I didn't know where or how I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve…all I knew was the place I was going and the fact that it was going to be an arduous journey for the next week or so.

Heading out early in the morning to dig for gold

A minor problem is all fine

An excerpt from my guide book said this about the place I wanted to go, “The eastern region of southern Cameroon is pat of the Central African belt of rainforest, the Congo Basin which constitutes the largest stretch of unbroken forest in the world after the Amazon…This is the most difficult area of Cameroon to explore…if you are adventurous and have the time and determination there is much to experience”. This final leg of my travel in Cameroon sure looked like it was going to be an adventure.

Hardy passengers braced for the dust

The source of the dust

After a good night’s rest in Yaoundé I headed to the bus stop to catch a taxi-bus to the city of Bertoua which is the administrative capital of the eastern region. There was no time to waste…I had earmarked one full week for this adventure but was not sure if it was going to be enough. Along the sealed highway to Bertoua we passed several logging trucks carrying huge trunks of trees and I sensed they all came from the jungles I was heading to. In fact I had seen quite a few of them on the road from Douala to Yaoundé as well and seeing the prostrate remains of these once mighty trees I was left wondering how much longer can this region be a real wilderness. Would future travels be able to experience the same pristine beauty or was there going to be nothing left for future generations?

Logging truck: Is this sustainable?

Jungle road

On the bus journey I met Paul, a Cameroonian working as a French teacher in Nigeria. He had some horror stories of his school being bombed by Boko Haram and generally the population in his city being terrorized. Things were improving he said but still not safe enough for him to take his family with him to Nigeria. After we got down at Bertoua, Paul asked around to see if there was anyone going to Yokadouma so I could just tag along with them. Enter Kenyson…the mystery character in this story of mine.

Hamlets along the way...so reminiscent of Gabon

Dried caterpillars: A local delicacy

Kenyson was doctor, heading to Yokadouma to rest at his aunt’s place. He claimed that he was flying off to Australia for work in a month’s time and wanted to rest before leaving Cameroon. I also learnt that he was one of the two hundred odd stranded Cameroonian citizens who were airlifted by the Cameroonian government from the troubled lands of Central African Republic just a week ago. I was aware of this story since I had heard about this on the radio a week or so ago but to actually meet someone who had experienced it first hand was something else.

Almost traveled on this truck...my backpack waiting
to be loaded

Big Hole: Treacherous road to Mambele and
reason for not traveling at night

Pygmy camp

A comparison of the difference in stature of these
unique people

Pygmy profile pictures

Imagine Kenyson, Me and the Ecoguard
in the same sequence with our bags fastened at the back

At Mambele

His harrowing tale was that of the Seleka rebels entering their clinic and executing all the doctors who were not Muslims. Kenyson, who was a Christian, survived only because he was taking a bathroom break but unfortunately a couple of his colleagues were not so lucky. He seemed to have nightmare visions of seeing the dead bodies of his colleagues and wanted nothing to do with CAR. Even when the Cameroonian embassy officials in Bangui asked him to stay back since he was a doctor and help take care of the distressed people seeking repatriation, he flat out refused to stay back going against his medical oath. I can’t hold that against him because only he knows what he went through.

My route was Yaoundé-Bertoua-Batouri-Yokadouma-Mambele-Lobéké Park. From Bertoua started the real travel on dusty tracks plowed only by a few sturdy trucks converted into buses which serve as public transport and then the omnipresent logging trucks.

Jungle track to the Djembe camp deep inside Lobéké

Jungle insect

Greater Spot Nosed Monkey...I think.

The moth covered porch at Djembe

Moths at sunset

Yokadouma was a good 8-10 hours away from Bertoua and there was no transport at night so I suggested to Kenyson to push through and sleep in Batouri rather than Bertoua. It would save us just a couple hours but the following days travel would be a little less excruciating.

At Batouri we checked into a small hotel and headed to a popular local joint for supper. Soon the bar was crowded by Cameroonian soldiers returning from the border with CAR. It was surreal to be interacting with them but having an assault rifle tucked around them while they have an alcoholic drink was a little unsettling. Most were in a party mood since they were returning home from the service at the border which wasn't too far.

Sunset at Djembe with Repiblic of Congo across from the river

Sunrise across River Sanga

Mantled guereza or
eastern black-and-white colobus

The following morning we got on one of the modified trucks and managed to sweet talk the driver into giving us the best seats, i.e. the ones beside the driver. The truck had windows but no glass and here we were on roads that are plowed by huge logging trucks kicking up dust like it's nobody’s business. I had to double...triple up the folds on my scarf to keep the dust out.

The ride was bumpy, dusty and reminded me a great deal of Gabon although with a tab bit more traffic. For its remoteness it also reminded me of my journey into the eastern region of Liberia.

Tree trunk with thorns

Forest fungus species

8 hours later we made it to Yokadouma but the challenge was just beginning. In the meantime, Kenyson had decided that he wanted to visit the park as well. I told him I had no issues as long as he was not dependent on me.

From Yokadouma there was no further public transport to Mambele so we had to wait around for a couple hours until eventually we managed to negotiate to pay the driver of a logging truck to allow us to hitchhike with him. The logging truck was heading the way of the Republic of Congo and would drop us on the way.

Making our way through the
dense jungle

According to local legend bark of this tree is supposed
to have magical power that drives away bad spirit

Our cabin at the Djembe camp

Forest of the Congo Basin

What was supposed to be a 30 min wait for the driver to have a quick lunch turned into almost 4 hours being wasted as first, the driver tried to fix one of the wheels and then later called off the journey completely to return back to Yaoundé. At least he returned our money back but that was no solace for the lost time.

Different species of moth seeking
salt from my sweaty socks

At this point I was desperate so with Kenyon’s help we managed to convince a taxi driver at Yokadouma to drop us off at Mambele. There were some others who wanted to go there as well but being the only non-local I had to fork up for the majority of the fare. Not ideal but I had no other option other than waste another day in Yokadouma which was something I couldn't afford.

Forest flower

With the transport issues it had slipped my mind that it was the last day of 2013 but as we passed pygmy settlements on our way to Mambele the feeling gradually set in that I was spending my new year’s eve traveling through the dense jungles of the Congo Basin. How cool was it compared to a humdrum new year’s party? In hindsight it ranks there along with being at the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia on the New Year’s Eve of 2012.

The following morning Kenyson went to the park office to discuss the logistics and costs of getting to the Djembe camp deep inside the park. He came back with the proposal that was silly expensive and asked me not to negotiate further sine he had already done it. I needed to see the details of the cost break down; as they say in finance…the devil is in the detail.

A fruit eaten by gorillas

This black cobra that was found
beside our camp fire 

Stinging ants

Sure enough I noticed a lot of costs tacked on unnecessary which raised a question about Kenyson’s integrity but I thought it must have been an oversight. Eventually I managed to negotiate the price down but then there was only one driver sober enough to be drive that day and he too backed out. The national park I think is funded by WWF but is run by a bunch of dishonest corrupt officials all out to exploit the park amenities and make money rather than really care about the park.

Trying to catch the moths

A pygmy kid

After having spent over two days getting there I was looking at the prospect of returning back from the brink of the park boundary without entering it.

The clever eco-guard who was supposed to accompany us into the park sensed an opportunity and offered to double up as a driver but he would need to get paid his base wage as well as that of the driver doubled up since it was a holiday and…we will have to do it on a motorcycle. Even the bike he brought was old and seemed unreliable and the whole thing seemed fishy but my options were clear, either I take my chances or return back without visiting the Lobéké National Park.

Lunch of boiled plantain and locally caught catfish

I’ve have had a fair share of uncomfortable journeys but this was plain difficult. It was the three of us plus my downsized backpack, Kenyson’s bag, the eco-guard’s bag on one creaking little motorcycle and we had a potential ride of 4 hours to get to the Djembe camp through rough terrain. It was a scene from the movie “3 Idiots” with me being the main protagonist paying for it all!

Porcupine bush meat

Dusty road back

The motorcycle breaking down a couple times was not bad enough so lady luck welcomed us into the park with unseasonal tropical rain. Drenched, we continued on and had a stroke of good fortune when a gorilla crossed our path stopping momentarily to look at the “idiots” before vanishing into the undergrowth. It’s funny how a 20 second sighting of the gorilla eased all the discomfort from that morning.

Lobéké NP is part of a tri-national reserve

A short while later I could not believe my luck when a vehicle pulled up behind us and offered me a ride in their car all the way to the Djembe camp. The vehicle was hired by a couple, Skadi and Willy, who were also visiting the National Park for the same 3 days I was planning to be there. It felt like lady luck had decided she had enough fun and figured I need some rub of the green!

The Djembe camp was located deep in the Lobéké National Park bordered by the Sanga River. On the other side of the river was the Ndoki National Park which is part of the Republic of Congo and it was quite a thrill to wash away all the dust and strain of travel from the past few days by taking a swim in the tranquil waters of the Sanga.

For the next two days we tracked the Western Lowland Gorillas through dense, itching, biting, and stinging jungle but came up empty handed. One evening we did see a couple forest elephants but the view was far too fleeting to rave about. Nevertheless I have included a video below of the elephant but it's only of the elephant's backside

After two days of not spotting anything I was disappointed by completely understood that we came to see the gorillas in the wild and not in a zoo. The third morning we had to start retracing our way back from the jungle and as fortune would have it; we came across a silverback and his lady right in the middle of our path. Unlike Gabon where I saw them but had nothing to show for it, this time I managed to get a video which I have posted below.

It was an incredible feeling to finally come face to face with the elusive wild Western Lowland Gorilla. The mission for which I had come all the way to this remote corner of Cameroon was finally accomplished!

The gorilla sighting was only for 30-40 seconds and a small fraction of the time I spent getting there and back but the real fun was in the journey itself. I might have complained about the discomfort but what sticks long in the memory are things like meeting the locals and hearing their stories, traveling as they do without the comfort of luxury that a tourist can afford and yes...the discomfort, the frustration and the pain in hindsight become things to treasure.

Me with Willy's crew and Kenyson

Over the next couple days I gradually made my way back to Douala and had it not been for Skadi and Willy who let me ride with them all the way to Yaoundé, it would have been a very prickly journey back. I cannot thank them enough for their help!

As for Kenyson, he never walked into the jungle with us when we went tracking the gorillas preferring to spend time with the driver and the Djembe camp staff. I could not understand why he would come all the way to the park and not track the gorillas…it was puzzling. His demeanor was a mystery as well because some moments he would come off being very nice and helpful (like cooking dinner) and others as very bossy which I didn't appreciate much.

View Journey through Cameroon in a larger map
He even carried a big load of medicines with him into the park. Willy had been nice to drop him to Yokadouma but he even charged him a whopping 50 Euros for a pain reliving injection. Even now I don't know what to make of him…was he a good guy with an incredible story or was he just a shady character.

It had been close to 20 days but my journey in Cameroon was ending and what better way to close it that seeing the gorillas. Cameroon is an incredibly diverse nation and is rightfully claimed as the “melting pot of Africa” with just about all elements of Africa packed into one nation. It has mountains, beaches, jungles, savanna, and semi-desert regions; and then it has the diversity in its wildlife and the people from Muslim traders to the ancient Pygmy people.

It's a country that’s not on the top of most travel enthusiast’s wishlist. Perhaps…that’s a good thing because I was able to explore it the way real travel should be!