Still thinking about my Cameroon trip. It is almost time to go but I still have no final plan. I read Lonely Planet and Bradt guide books and I have found new ideas.
New territories at east of the Cameroon are described at both guide books. There should be lot of jungle and traditional Pygmy villages. I do not mean Lobé river around Kribi town. It is too close to seacoast and too much tourist. I am thinking about areas more to the east, areas near borders with Congo and Central African Republic. It would be very interesting to visit more traditional Baka Pygmy villages. This area is in the interest of logging companies so I expect it will change very fast in near future. Fortunately new national parks have been created: Réserve du Dja, Lobéké National Park, Boumba-Bek National Park, and Nki National Park. Also lot of animals should be here. Lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and forest elephants. Lobéké National Park is considered as the place with the highest density of forest elephants of the whole Africa! Many reasons to try to reach these remote places.
It is difficult to get any information about them - especially about transport to parks. I have post question to Thorntree discussion forum but I have got no answer. It is clear that this area is quite remote so it will take some time to reach it. Réserve du Dja and Lobéké National Park are the most easily accessible. Starting point is Yaoundé. To Réserve du Dja you have to go through Abong Mbang to Lomié where is one of the entry points (other is Somalomo). To reach Lobéké National Park it is necessary to go through Bertoua, Batouri, and Yakadouma to Mambele, which is entry point for park. There should be local transport almost every day but it is not clear how much time is needed. Just few days or about week to reach the places? Weather will be important. During rainy season after heavy rains I would expect problems with transport – roads are maintained mainly by logging companies.
