12th May. Yaounde, Cameroon

10^th May. Church of St Joseph, Mitzic, Nth West Gabon.

N00 47' 31.3” E011 32' 56.6”

Ended up staying another night at the Tropicana: right on the beach, good food, a/c in room and hot shower. We needed to get some of our energy back. Yesterday we picked up our Nigerian visas after an interview with the consular head. Just wanted to clarify a few points on or route etc. We have decided to go through Nigeria as the route around the top through Chad and Niger is becoming quite unsafe with the muslin rebels in those countries and the north of Nigeria appear to have joined up. The instructions we were given to protect ourselves were quite dramatic. Nigeria's troubles are in the north mainly. We will be passing along the southern route and travelling as quickly as the road blocks etc allow. At the moment we are camped about 200kms from the Cameroon border and will pass over tomorrow.

Travelled over 420kms today, mainly on a good road apart from the pot holes coming out of Libreville. Were held up for half an hour while some earthmoving equipment did their job along the way. The address we had for staying was at Oyem, some 120kms further on we were getting weary and when this church appeared thought it worthwhile seeing if we could camp up for the night. They were happy to oblige. The shower is a mandi and 4 young kids spent half an hour lugging buckets of water to the 44 gal drum for us to dowse ourselves.

The drive today was through rain forest for almost the whole way. It is amazing how much of the country is untouched. We did pass a few logging trucks today with massive tree trunks on them, but it must be small operations.

11^th May. Le Ranch, Ebolawa. Cameroon.

N02 54'54.8” E011 08' 24.0”

Crossed into Cameroon at lunch time. Paperwork quite quick on both sides. Amazing how so many of the customs officials don't know what to do with the Carnet de Passage. It's important they get it correct because if not,there is a possibility our deposit with the AA of South Africa won't be returned to us. It's in 3 parts, when entering a country, they fill in the bottom part, stamp it then tear it off which they keep. They also fill half of the top section. When leaving a country, they fill in the middle section, stamp, then keep. And also fill in the 2^nd half of the top section. This shows the vehicle was imported then exported from the country.

Often it's little happenings that make this trip so interesting. Things that at the time seem run of the mill because of the situation, but afterwards are quite amusing. The other day at Lamberene we went to the nearby supermarket to buy a few things. These supermarkets are small, and really have little on the shelves. It's just the things they do have are spread over a metre of the shelving. There is always an arab-looking person in charge,not sure what country they come from but seems like they have a monopoly on min marts in this part of the world. There is never any fresh meat, only frozen. A bloke was at the chopping block cutting up frozen chicken for a lady standing by. One of the pieces, when chopped, when flying onto the dirty floor. He said 'Pardon', she murmured something in reply, he picked the piece up off the floor, and added it to her pile on the scales. Anybody for chicken?

Rained for most of the morning. Cooled the place down, as long as we don't get too much as it may affect us crossing into Nigeria. There is an 80km stretch of road between Mamfe in Cameroon and Ekok in Nigeria. Once the rains hit this stretch turns into a quagmire than can take days to get through. Get an idea of the conditions by hitting Mamfe Ekok road on Youtube. You will be amazed.