CRAZY Travel

To say the roads in Cameroon are terrible is laughable.  I have been telling people to imagine the worst possible road in Vermont in mud season and multiply that times a 1000 or so.  You might come near to visualizing the deplorable lack of infrastructure this country has.  To top it off Cameroon is a "bi-lingual" country.  They speak French (FrancoPhones) and English (Pidgin) (AngloPhones).  However the AngloPhones are highly marginalized, and whatever is bad in the French speaking areas are triply bad in the English speaking areas. So the roads in the Northwest are beyond horrible.  Travel is arduous at best, and the norm is expect at least 2-4 hours more than you planned for your trip, either due to not being on time (highly usual)or 50 stops along the way to pick up one more roadside passenger (when you were positive not one more human cell could fit onto the vehicle) or to navigate roads we would consider goat paths.  There are also Police checkpoints, where driver and often passengers must show their identification.  Yes, even citizens of Cameroon must come forth with ID or pay the "fine" or bribe.  If there's a problem it could delay the trip even further.  Or perhaps you might experience a flat tire. Even as Andrew described the changing of the tire akin to a NASCAR Pit crew speed, I'm not sure they are quite up to that standard.  Out of 3 weeks I probably spent at least 6 full days on the road or more.  We are talking, 6-12 hours per day.  After a bone jarring, bone crunching 4 1/2 hour trip up the mountains to Andrew's home I already dreaded the return trip and began to long for Vermont roads!