First morning at Cameroon. I am still at Douala. I am not in hurry so I wake up a little bit late about 8 am. I feel hot and humidity from early morning. Change of the climate is hard. I hope that beaches at Kribi help me to survive this thermal shock.
I will start my trip to Omo after 4 days, after Timkat holiday. Timkat is something special so today I am going to move to Gonder to see celebration. Timkat is celebrated through whole country (well Christian part of the country) but three places attracts more pilgrims than others. Addis Abeba, Gonder, and Lalibela are these three places. Last year I visited Timkat at Lalibela so this year is time for change. That’s why I want to go to Gonder to see celebration inside Fasiladas’ Baths.
I am waiting at Zurich airport for my flight to Douala, the air hub for Cameroon. It is my next travel destination from to West Africa.
After one hour we take off. I am happy. I am returning to Ethiopia which is my lovely country. This is my second visit almost exactly after 12 month. This trip will be little bit different. Last year I visited north historical circuit, this year I plan to go south to Omo valley and little bit to the east to the Bale Mountain National Park. I expect it will be quite different from last trip.
It is one my first dives at open sea and exactly my first dive at Indonesia. What will I see underwater?
Lobéké National Park is probably the best of Cameroon’s rainforest national parks. It's one disadvantage is accessibility – it is far from larger towns. I found two alternatives: Réserve du Dja which in the same region as Lobéké but closer to the capitol Yaoundé. The second option is Korup National Park which is at northwest of the country near Nigeria border.
When you visit Ethiopia you will get impression of the national coffee culture. Small coffee shops are around the whole country. People sit here and drinking traditional strong coffee. Everybody knows Japanese tea ceremony, but it is not so much known that at Ethiopia is tradition of Coffee ceremony. Coffee origin is not known – Ethiopian people say it is from Ethiopia, people from Yemen say it is in their country. But one thing is clear – Ethiopia has rich coffee culture.
I have got several emails with questions about my last travel to Benin. That's why I have just posted few comments about Benin.
Lobéké National Park is managed by WWF. I was lucky and got actual information about park from their local office at Yaoundé.
Huge amount of forest elephants. Lowland gorillas and chimpanzees. Just few examples of animals living at Lobéké National Park. If you are lucky you should see much more. Region is also known for traditional Baka Pygmy villages.
