Central African Republic - June 2018

Waiting for my lost luggage

Day 1:  In Yaoundé (Cameroon), I discovered that my luggage went missing and filled in the necessary forms.  According to the officials, my luggage was mistakenly  dropped off in Libreville).  

Conditioner for wigs

Once in town, I went shopping for some underclothes and shampoo – but the shampoo turned out to be conditioner for wigs.  After being advised by a shopkeeper that it was not safe to walk on my own, I took a motorbike back to the hotel. It started to rain and since I was exhausted, I was not very happy when my landlord knocked on my door at 22:00, advising me that the lady from the airport phoned and wanted to deliver my backpack.

Day 2: The original plan of action was to meet at the bus station at 6:00 but I could not get my landlord to wake up.  He only went to bed at 06:00 and was still totally intoxicated when I finally managed to get him out of bed by 09:00.  Francis was already waiting at the bus station and we left at 10:00.

At the bus station

After 15 hours on the bus, we finally arrived at a town where we booked into a hotel.  I was looking forward to a quick wash but after discovering cockroaches in the room, I threw a blanket over my head hoping they would leave me in peace.  After 3 hours sleep (5:30) – we walked to the road before getting on a motorbike that took us to the bus station.

Walking because of the bus's brakes

Day 3: A nice bumpy 5 hour’s ride followed and at one stage, we had to walk a bit because the bus’s brakes weren’t working well... 

We arrived in Ngaoui at 13:00 and was immediately visited by Gendarmes.  Whilst Francis was negotiating with them, I quickly chose a room which I thought would have the least cockroaches in.  

We were given a lift to the mountain by the Gendarm, who stopped to pick up a local and they hiked up with us.  I discovered quickly that it was not just a hike through a nice forest to the top.  

Hiking through the village to the top of the mountain

The rocks we had to climb was extremely slippery and I stopped 5m from the top.  The Gendarme was extremely relieved to see that no one was injured.

Day 4:  At the bus station, the locals were pulling the bus in order for it to start and we finally left at 6:00 and stopped 7 times along the road where the bus driver had to pay bribes. 

Once in Ngaoui, we got a ‘luxurious” bus to Yaounde where we arrived at 01:00.

The Gendarme was extremely happy that no one was injured