M is for mountain. Mt Cameroon to be precise. At 4,095m it stands head and shoulders above any place in west or central Africa and is only dwarfed by Mount Kilimanjaro on the whole continent. It was trod on and over by a ten-strong group of us volunteers just before Christmas.
O is for lots of things but in this instance it’s for “Oh sh!t” which was uttered by most of us when we spotted a lava flow on the slopes of the mountain the night before we set off from Buea. It later turned out that said lava flow was in fact just a bit of burning alpine grass.
Undertaking. And that’s what it was. 3 days and two nights spent on an active volcano required the assistance of 2 guides, 12 porters and the permission of the God of the mountain, Epasso Moto (a ritual dance had to be performed by everybody with the aid of some ferns – it worked, he was happy and didn’t spit any hot rocks at us).
Nice was the name of the mini packets of biscuits that Zeeshan seemed to have in unlimited supply in his magic pocket. Over the 40km we covered in the 3 days he always seemed to have a packet at the ready at each of the countless stops along the way. Nice by name, nice by nature, nice by taste too.
T arzan spent some time hanging out on Mount Cameroon. The film, Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan was filmed on the slopes of the mountain in 1982 and at the time of filming Christopher Lambert’s Tarzan almost had his loin cloth singed by an eruption…of the volcano!
C is for craters. Being an active volcano the most impressive sights on the trip were the craters from the eruptions in 1999 and again a year later.
Ampoule - French for blister. What a lot of people suffered from on day 3. To force your feet into shoes and then ask them to tramp up a mountain when they’ve enjoyed the airy freedom of flip-flops for months does have painful consequences. Mischa scooped the award for best blister.
M arshmallows from Ghana made our meal on the first night by a blazing campfire. Another M is for “Merci Sam”.
Ever-changing was the landscape. From dense rainforest to alpine meadows and topped with ash and lava flows it sometimes felt as if you were a Lilliputian walking over the remains of a coal fire.
R is for the Race of Hope which is held every year in February. It involves headers running up and down the mountain with the first completing it in about 4½ hours – that’s up and down, about 40km which is almost marathon distance…I’d be happy to run a marathon on the flat in 4½ hours never mind up and down a flaming volcano.
Once was the number of times my shoes were decorated with Canadian puke. ‘O’ is also for “I owe you one Bronwyn”.
"Ow, ow, ow" was the sound from everybody’s lips for days afterwards when trying to walk down steps.
N is for number 1 in the Cameroonian tourist charts. Having been lucky enough to enjoy many amazing sights since arriving here, Mount Cameroon has thus far been the highlight. Maybe I’m biased as mountains are my thing but it was a great experience and one that will live long in the memory.
GC
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