Day 172 – May 3rd

Today we traveled from Younde to Limbe Beach – what a cool drive it was! We went through several sizable towns, and Douala, the largest city in Cameroon! Douala is also the main port city, where containers come on ships, and many are then sent on trains elsewhere in Cameroon. This also means that if you can’t find what you are looking for at the store in Douala, you are probably not going to find it in Cameroon. We actually drove along the shipping channel, and saw much of the commercial/manufacturing area. It was really cool – cranes everywhere, and the rail crossing was not functioning which meant that the thankfully slow train got too close for comfort! We drove by countless distributors of as many varied items, and so many colors!
We later drove through plantation land, where we saw rubber trees, already tapped for their sap. We also saw corn coming up in a few places! Then we got to the Del Monte plantation, where many of your bananas come from. As the regimes (bunches) become recognizable on the trees, they cover them with large thin blue plastic bags, which stay on while the bananas grow to their full size. That is why your bananas look so clean and perfect when you buy them at the store.
Closer to Limbe, we passed an oil refinery, with a flame burning high in the sky. Then we passed the Semme (water) bottling plant and their (really nice) resort next to it. Apparently, as it is spring fed from nearby Mt Entebbe (aka little Mount Cameroon), the resort has a large spring-fed swimming hole right next to the beach. For you FL folks, think Ginny Springs or one of the others, only leading into the ocean. Pretty cool, huh? Literally, it is just as cold!
When we finally arrived at the Tsaben Beach Hotel, our final destination, we met up with the Schlinskis (from SCA), and their friends, who also were checking out SCA, and we hung out with them at the Schlinskis’ house for a game and dinner night during SCA, and also two other women around my age, one of whom is interning at the orphanage the Schlinskis run, and the other is a friend of theirs who had just arrived in the country (but has been to Africa before). Wow that was a lot. ANYWAY, we all had a blast catching up/getting to know each other. And the kids had fun in the water and digging in the sand. They stayed on for a while, but then it was time to part ways again.
We (Conrods and I) stayed down on the beach, and explored a tidal pool. We saw a sea anemone, lots of crabs, snails, mussels, barnacles, seaweed, and small COLD springs bubbling up from the bottom of the water. And when the tide comes in, it is ALL covered.
Great day!