Thu 25/06/09 16:24

So I’m walking around the Dubai airport at 1am just looking for something to do. It’s busy here, and I’ve had a little bit of a hard time finding somewhere to plug in my computer. I finally found a somewhat out of the way place to sit and write my usual airport blog entry before I head out on some vacation.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything in my blog. There hasn’t been any reason for it, it’s just that there always seemed to be other things to do. I found out some things about where I’m going to be going to in Cameroon. First it’s going to be cold and rainy. Cold like in the 70’s and rainy as in “very” but what can I do. I decided to go and even though the weather is probably going to suck, I am still excited about going.

My flight tonight leaves Dubai at 235 and gets into Nairobi at 640, so it’s a fairly short flight. I’ll be in Nairobi for two nights and then fly to Cameroon on the 28th, in the morning.

I’ve got the feeling that this is going to be one of those blogging trips that nobody is going to read, but if you are reading it, then welcome.

That’s it for now, I’ve got to get to my gate for the flight.

Okay, so I was struggling trying to figure out what I was going to do this summer. Yeah, I know I was going to Cameroon late June, but that was about it. Up until about 2 days ago, I didn’t know what to do afterwards. Would I stay in Africa? If so, do I go to Morocco or south to South Africa? The difficulty was not so much on where I wanted to go, but more on the cost, to fly to Morocco it was about $800 additional. The choice was so difficult that I basically was not making any decision at all, That’s not the case anymore…

This is my tentative schedule:

• June 25 I fly to Nairobi, Kenya for two days

• From there I go to Douala, Cameroon for three weeks

• On July 19 I fly back to Dubai for two nights

• July 23 I fly to Amman, Jordan

• I will backpack my way to most likely Kiev, Ukraine

• August 24 I arrive back in Dubai

So that’s the schedule for now. The tickets to and from Dubai are purchased, and my vacation time has been approved so the first month is pretty much guaranteed. The second half is a little bit more tentative, but as far as I’m concerned it is solid. This weekend I’ll buy the ticket to Amman, and get my travel insurance. Some of the countries that I’m planning on visiting are Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Ukraine, and hopefully Serbia, Budapest.

Wed 08/04/09 23:47

So now that I have made the final decision to go to Cameroon, the process of preparing for it is about to begin. The biggest hurdle, or rather the biggest step, is going to to be getting a visa. Since there isn’t any Cameroon”ian” embassy here in the UAE I have to try and figure out how to apply and get my visa. Although I don’t want to, I will most likely have to send my passport to the embassy in the US.

The next step is getting my shots. It’s been one of the things that I’ve neglected, getting immunized for all the different locations that I’ve been to. Normally, I have this, “I don’t think it will be a problem” kind of attitude towards much of the suggestions about getting immunized, but in this situation I don’t have a choice. There are certain requirements to entering Cameroon that I have to take care of. The most important is Yellow Fever inoculations. I figure since I’m going to be getting that one, I’ll probably do all of them.

Then comes getting some of the more basic things done, like planning what I’m going to be doing afterwards. Do I go back to the states, stay in Africa, or head home… maybe do a second trip to India. I’ve been having a hard time making up my mind, but I’m going to have to make a decision very soon. Right now, I’m leaning towards staying in Africa for at least a couple more weeks, and then heading to Dubai.

I have to say that I really like that my biggest problems are whether I’m going to go to Morocco, South Africa, or Kenya, and after that am I going to be going to Dubai or the US. Nice problems to have. :)

So it will finally happen. There has been a goal of mine to see Africa, and to experience it the way that it actually is. What I mean by that is that I want to be part of a community, to experience it not like a tourist. This June if everything goes as planned, I’ll be heading to Cameroon, Africa to volunteer for three weeks. I’ll probably be teaching while I’m there, but I’ve also put my name in for manual labor. This trip was organized by a club in the school I teach at, and there may be a chance that we’ll be sponsored. That would be great if we had a sponsor to pay for our plane and lodging while we’re there. Even if we don’t get sponsored it won’t change my opinion about going.

I’ve been talking about the chance that I’ll be going now for a couple of weeks to almost anyone that will listen, and today I got confirmation that it is for sure, that if I want to go, I will go. That’s all I needed to hear, so as far as I’m concerned I’m going to Cameroon.

So what does anyone know about Cameroon? Not too much from what I can tell. It is a very poor nation, that is about half Catholic and half Muslim, some people speak English and others speak French.

According to Wikipedia, “The Cameroonian government promotes the country as “Africa in miniature”, asserting that the country offers all the diversity of Africa—in climate, culture, and geography—within its borders. Other touristic phrases sometimes used include “the melting pot of Africa” and “Africa in microcosm”. Cameroon’s tourist destinations are in four general areas: the coast, the major cities, the Western highlands, and the north. The coast offers two major beach resort towns: Limbe is English-speaking with black, volcanic sand; and Kribi is a French-speaking city with white-sand beaches. Mount Cameroon on the coast is the highest mountain in Central and West Africa and draws hikers and climbers. The stepping-off point for climbing Mt. Cameroon is the city of Buea, where guides can be hired and equipment can be rented. There are several tin-roofed huts for hikers to sleep in during their trek up the mountain.”

After my time in Cameroon, there are several places that I have been thinking about seeing. I may go to Morocco, or maybe South or East to see other parts of the continent. I’m also thinking that I may come back to Dubai, and then head to India for a couple of weeks. The way I’m looking at this Summer is that it may be my last Summer here and I may end up back in The States, so I should travel now while I still feel like I can.