Another long day. Morning I left Kribi by first bus around 8:00. Surprisingly it was only 30 minutes after “planned” schedule (if anything van be planned at Africa). Central Voyages took me to their bus terminal at centre of Douala. But my today destination is Limbe.
I have to move through Douala to bus terminal at Bonabéri (Bonabéri gare routiére). I am little bit late here around 11 am. No people, no buses. Only few minibuses are left in the centre of the place. OK I will watt. It is time for „Africa time“. I know I will go today but I have no idea when. I take place at minibus, pay for tickets and discussed with baggage men. Hm… standard trick. I have to pay extra for luggage because I am foreigner. After short bargain I am able to get reasonable price for luggage so I am paying also for this. It is time for lunch. There are a lot of small shops and restaurant to take some rice witch meat and drink. My favorite local soft drink brand is called “Tops” – pineapple is really good one and bottle size 600 ml is really good deal. Especially during hot Cameroon day.
Minibus is getting full so it is time to go. Even if one people is missing driver will not go. Everything is optimized for maximal efficiency. From European point of view minibus is overcrowded – four people in one row (seats are designed just for three persons). Travel time to Limbe wasn’t so long about 3 hours. It’s early afternoon so enough time to look around.
Limbe was founded in 1857 by British missionary Alfred Saker. It is now center of the region and popular spot for weekend trips of peoples from Douala - especially thanks to beaches northwest of town. I have two reasons for my visit – I wan to see Limbe Wildlife Center (zoo) with gorillas and chimpanzees and I will tomorrow continue to Korup NP and Limbe is on the way.
My first steps go to the Limbe Wildlife Center. It is more small zoo than a big wildlife park but it is nice organized and kept well according to the local standard. It is easy to spot chimpanzees, low-land gorillas and other kind of monkeys. It is easy to spend an hour and watching the animals. After Wildlife center I continue to Limbe Botanic Garden – it is not best time to visit it at January because flowers are not blooming. But the garden is really huge and looks really great. I am walking more than hour around it and just before sunset I am leaving it by side entrance and I am walking along the coast. It is time for drink so I am enjoying sunset at seaside restaurant watching sea and sunset. Back to the centre and to find something for dinner. I am near sea so it is time for fish. Around sunset you can find street stalls selling grilled Spanish mackerels – it is great food. It is possible to eat it with bread, fried bananas or some kind of local bamboo-shoots.
