Cameroon!!

I was born in this beautiful country. They call it "Africa in Miniature" because it has such varied vegetation, from desert to forest, grassland, savannah, and veld. Don't ask me...we were taught thus in school... Primary School geography... and, amazingly, Mount Cameroon in Fako has at least three of those vegetations on the one mountain - forest, grassland and savannah. It is truly amazing. To see pictures of the mountain, just type mount cameroon, fako, in your google search box, and you will be able to find some really good pictures there.

Well, I was born in Bamenda, which is in the North Western Province. There the vegetation is grassland, and the soil is very rich and dark brown. Bamenda has very gorgeous hills, and rivers that weave in and out of them on the outskirts of the town. As a teenager, I climbed these hills quite a bit and we enjoyed hiking up them, mostly just for fun and to enjoy the view from atop them. On these hills, you sometimes found nomads or the Fulanis with their goats or cows. You sometimes got fresh milk from them to drink. It was always fun on those hills.

Anyway, back to the country. I wanted to share some pictures with you. However, in order to avoid illegally copying over pictures of Cameroon from internet sites, whether to avoid problems of security breach or authenticity, I decided to use pictures taken by my friend, Sahar, during her trip to Cameroon a couple of years back, and a few from my dear friend, Miranda, on her recent trip too. Miranda is one of my best friends ever!!!

Food!!!!!!! Oh, that's one thing we all miss from back home. It's one thing that brings people together quite often. After a hard day of work in the offices and the fields, people often visit together and there's usually food to eat. It is customary to offer your guests something to eat. And I mean EAT!!! The food is healthy and not processed, so there's nothing to fear. The soils in Cameroon are so rich, we grow all the food we eat, and there's a lot of that too. In some of the pictures you'll glean corn fields and rice.... Big, big pineapples straight from the farms and the market. Very juicy...I wish I had some photos. Papaya, mangoes of all shapes and taste (all of these straight from the farms), tomatoes, pear (what you call avocado in the U.S., but much bigger and with smooth skin), bananas, corn, plums (totally different from plums in the U.S.), and all types of vegetables...plantains, cocoyams, yams, potatoes, cassava, and a broad variety of vegetables. Oh, as far as food goes, I come from a blessed land. I am going to get Sahar to send me some pictures of fruits and veggies in the markets. Oh, and did I mention how cheap these things are?

Like I mentioned earlier, I have Sahar to thank for the majority of these pictures. And so you'll see her and her family in many of them...but also notice the land and the vegetation. The first several pictures are of food...andI must say that they do not begin to cover the vast spectrum of food variety we have in that country. I will name them as we go through them.

Roasted plantain (in the right hand) and roasted plum (in the left hand) ~ A dish of Ndole (which is vegetable cooked with egusi - a protein from pumpkin seeds - and tomatoes, onions, meat, seasoning, and other african spices) ~
Home-grown chicken in tomato stew ~Achu (my tribal dish. Each tribe has a different staple dish) ~ I have to say this, and everyone who knows my mother knows that I am not bragging. She is an excellent cook. Achu is from my father's tribe, but my mother has mastered the art of cooking that meal. She can cook just about anything just as well, and her dishes are just...yumm!!!! I miss that. Her three sisters are all the same way too... gifted cooks.

How Achu is eaten. (the pounded cocoyam is laid out on a plate (or warmed plantain leaf if in the village), and the soup is served in the middle of it ~ Egusi Pudding (wrapped on a leaf) - this is a protein dish ~ Sahar toys with a bobolo (this is cassava wrapped in a leaf) Bobolo eaten with roasted fish ~

Now for some scenic pictures

Banso Hills. My friend, Mirry's, village is situated in these hills. Miranda and her boyfriend, Ken, and friend, Ayuk~
Mirry & Ken on the rocks by the sea ~With her friend and one of her brothers in the botanic gardens ~
Fog on the hills

River Nyong

The sea in Limbe. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
The roadsides as you drive between provinces

Cows graze by the roadsides ~
Public Transportation can be tedious ~
Often loaded to capacity (especially from villages where cars don't go often because of difficult roads and terrain) ~Sahar and her family visit the botanic gardens and the hills. Notice how very green, tropical, and lush everything is. [And may I sidetrack to say Sahar's family is like my own family. We all grew up together and they are an awesome family, well-known and very neighbourly. They also are great Baha'is, not only in words, but in action too. It is my pleasure to know them.]

This is one of their pieces of land. And they have no mortgage on it!!! It's amazing, there is no such thing in my country. You just own land or you don't...and most people do.