Africa

[Visited: April 2013]

After roughing it on the Ring Road in Northwestern Cameroon, we felt the need to relax a little bit. Instead of rushing our way through Kribi on the way south to Gabon, we decided a visit to Limbe would be better. Moreover, we were interested in seeing the volcanic beaches and, hopefully, even a glimpse of Mount Cameroon, which I had wanted to climb, but for which we had no time left. An early arrival in Limbe was out of the question, because our bus took almost three hours before it left, but fortunately we still found a connection directly to Limbe, bypassing Douala. The next morning, it was a true change of scenery: we had a direct view of the sea, saw some islands in the distance, and when we stepped outside, could also see cloud-covered Mount Cameroon. At the same time, it was noticeably warmer and more humid - the climate in the Ring Road region had been very pleasant.
The obvious first aim was to explore the bay of Limbe, and we walked the promenade, which was falling apart. With the nearby active volcanoes looming over Limbe, it was no surprise that the sand of the beach was black. It was overcast, giving the bay a slightly somber look, but in the distance, we saw quite some activity, so we continued walking. Small pirogues were coming in, others were already docked on the black sand. Men were repairing the nets, while women were cleaning the fish. We walked all the way to the end of the beach, and back, and got in touch with several of the fishermen and women. A bigger fishing boat had arrived, and most people flocked to the place where bucket loads of fish were brought ashore.
We also wanted to see one of the beaches, and found a shared taxi to the west. We got off at Batoke, paid an entrance fee, and found an empty beach with an amazing chocolate, or coffee, colour. Indeed, some of the scenes of the movie Chocolat were shot here. The lady of the hotel warned us that we had to leave our stuff behind, but we could not imagine it was unsafe, and walked further west. The sun broke through the clouds, lighting up the beach, as well as the tropical vegetation just off it. Behind, over the trees, we saw cloud-covered Petit Mont Cameroon. We had found what we wished for. The visibility was good enough for us to see Bioko Island on the horizon - Equatorial Guinea, with another active volcano clearly rising out of the sea. When we reached the road again, it started to rain, and we were lucky enough to find a taxi back to Limbe before we got soaked.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Limbe and Batoke beaches (Cameroon). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Limbe and Batoke beaches.
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Limbe and Batoke beaches > Cameroon > Africa

[Visited: April 2013]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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