Sightseeing week-end with my colleagues

The program was very tight. We had just Friday, Saturday and Sunday to finish our tour and return to base in Douala. In all, we had to cover a total distance of about 900kms on not so good roads.

We kicked off from Douala before 7am and stopped at one of the popular fruit markets at Njombe for breakfast that necessarily included fruits.

Due to time constraints, we skipped the visit to a flower farm at Njombe and headed for the Ekom-Nkam waterfall that is located 9 kms off the main highway between Nkongsamba and Melong in the Littoral Region. The natural environment around the waterfall is quite appealing and the force of the waterfall at this time of the year (October) is spectacular.

After concluding the visit to Ekom waterfall, we had a long drive straight from there through Dschang and stopped for a visit at another waterfall (Metche) located between Bafoussam-Mbouda highway in the Western Region. The proximity of Metche falls to the highway makes it easy to be visited.

The last sight to be visited on this first day of our trip was the Bafut palace located some 20 kms outside Bamenda in the North West Region. We arrived the palace shortly before dark, participated in a guided tour of the palace and its museum and were thrilled by traditional dances.

We later had dinner and spent the night at Saddle Hill Resort in Bafut. Saddle Hill Resort is part of an innovative trend in the hospitality industry in the North West region. A hotel built away from the noisy city in a natural setting. Some of us did not hesitate to take a walk around the resort early in the morning to enjoy the fresh air and nature.

After breakfast, we left Saddle hill to Ndawara Estate which is located some 40 kms away from Bamenda. On the Bamenda- Kumbo highway you branch off at Babungo and do quite a lot of climbing to arrive this agro industrial complex where over two thousand people work at the tea estate alone. The tea plantation is the largest in Cameroon. The cattle ranch is another arm of this estate.

We returned from Ndawara and stopped at Prespot Bamessing to see how pottery products were made. A demonstration on how a jar was made kept many of us spellbound as we admired the artistic dexterity of the man molding the jar from clay.

We finally had dinner and spent the night at Zenna Resort in Sabga. The resort is about 23 kms from Bamenda on a hill along the Bamenda-Ndop road. Zenna Resort is another nice place in a quiet setting in a natural environment with a spectacular view. The hill opposite was very attractive and some of us had to climb it early in the morning.

We left Sabga for Bamenda Sunday morning, ate some achu there before heading for Douala shortly before midday.

Video Ekom waterfall:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5LFTcMfzEY

Video Bafut palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95IhM68M7As

Video Sabga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N_KTB_W1FQ

CNN report on Bafut palace http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/06/08/inside-africa-cameroon-history-a-spc.cnn