Maroua
Algol
Hamish Tait, Robin Hastie & Jim Hepburn
Mon 10 Sep 2007 12:38
|
That's us safely in Maroua, where we'll
be for the next week. We're staying in the Baptist Mission, which is calm
& clean. There's also a washing machine - much needed now. It's
much hotter here than in Yaounde, but no doubt we'll adapt to some
extent.
The journey here was fascinating, but
tiring. We left the hotel at 4.30pm on Friday and were taken to the
station. We were in "1st class" couchettes: sounds grand and was OK, but
not 1st class by our standards. I shared a cabin with the two other guys
in our group and a dental surgeon from Maroua - a really nice
guy. Anne was in a separate coach with one othe VSO girl and two
local ladies, one with three children! Seems it was fine - the
children did not cause any disturbance and the other lady was really helpful
& informative. The journey lasted 17 hours, the last 4 hours or so in
daylight passing through tropical rain forest. At N'Gaoundere, the end the
rail line, we transferred to bus. First we had been given tickets while on
the train, then they were taken away to be validated. We then had to stand
in a crowd waiting for our names to be called to collect our ticket and get on
the designated bus, fortunately the same one that our luggage had been put
in! The bus journey lasted 8 hours with two stops for police to inspect
papers, a stop after two hours for a break another two hours later when they
filled up with diesel, then a stop at ~6.15 so that the muslims could go to
prayers. We had been warned beforehand that there is a weight limit
on the last bridge before Maroua and as the river was too high after all the
rain they've had, we would have to take all our luggage off the bus so it would
be light enough to cross the bridge, carry it across the bridge and put in back
on again. We were all feeling really tired by this time and not
looking forward to it so when the bus diverted away from the queue at the bridge
and went down to the ford, and crossed the river, there was a big round of
applause for the driver. During the journey, one little kid attached
himself to us (see attached photo). His name's Dimitri and his mother
showed no signs of being anxious about his whereabouts (probably she was glad to
have a break!). Eventually, he fell into a sound sleep sitting
on Anne's lap. It was fascinating to see the countryside change from
forest to pastureland to "savannah". The villages really are mud houses
with thatched roofs. At one point on the journey, we came across a tribe
of baboons at the roadside, but we were past before I could get a photo.
Now for more "training", then off to Zidim on Saturday
15th. |
