Kumba is Kostly!

After hiking Mt. Cameroon, we made our way from the town of Buea, at the base of the mountain, north to Kumba. We were hoping to visit a lake next to the town that was discussed in our "Lonely Planet: West Africa" guidebook. They made it sound so easy: just take a cheap shared taxi for 150 CFA ($1=465 CFA) each to the road leading to the lake, pay the 200 CFA entrance fee, and feel free to camp wherever you wish. No problem. Not quite that easy.

So, one pattern that I've been noticing so far while traveling around Cameroon is that we've been paying about twice the quoted costs from the guidebook. This is either because we're getting overcharged, or simply because costs have risen since the book was published last year. I'm sensing that it is a bit of both.

Anyway, to reach Kumba we had to take a 2 hr. minibus from Buea, which was quoted as costing, I think, 2000 each, we paid 3000, then, of course, they tacked on an extra 1000 for luggage. The ride was fun, and we only got stuck once in a mudpit, so it was a roaring success. When we arrived at Kumba, of course the taxi drivers start clamoring over who will take us because, they know, they can probably get a lot of $ out of us. After negotiating a bit, we finally cave and agree to let a taxi driver take us, for ONLY 4000 (roughly $8, but a lot for a cab ride here), to the market 1st to buy food for camping, then all the way to the lake, a "very long way" of course. We negotiate the market and buy some basic supplies before getting to the entrance road to the lake which, of course, has a very large chain across the entrance being manned by a guy who stops us.

1st off, the fee isn't 200 per person, it is 1000 per person. 2nd, before camping we have to get permission from his "boss", who is the village chief. So, up the road further to the chief's house, where he asks us why we want to camp at the lake, laughs a bit at us, then tells the 4 men and 2 taxis accompanying us (somehow we've now picked up another taxi and 3 more guys), to first take us to the lake, let us see it, then come back for permission to camp.

So us, the 2 taxis and our 4 escorts start down the rough dirt road. Pretty soon we arrive at a very steep hill. When our original taxi tries getting up the hill, it fails after several tries only to grind backwards, smoking with a dead transmission. Great, we killed the cab. So we just leave our bags in that cab, hop in the 2nd cab, and continue on our merry way. We get to the lake, confirm that we do, indeed, want to try camping there, then drive back along the road. When we pass our original cab, the driver is just standing next to it, wondering what to do. Our escorts just chuckle a bit, but Isaac and I feel a bit bad because, in some way, we are responsible for his dead car. So, as we gather our bags, we give him the agreed 4000 plus a little extra.

So, now in cab 2 we head back to town to find the chief at his office to secure permission. We go in, sit down, and are promptly informed that we need to go to the police station. By now it's about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and Isaac and I are getting frustrated and are very hungry & thirsty because we haven't eaten or drank anything all day.

So, off to the police station where we are sat down with the police commissioner who proceed to photocopy our passports and ask us all sorts of questions. How long in Cameroon, where are we from, where are we going, what church, where, who, ?????? Finally, he informs us that the lake is too dangerous, and we cannot camp there. OK. As we're leaving our escort (the guard guy from the lake) whispers that while it's "not compulsory", it would be nice to give the police chief something for his trouble. As we hold out 5000, they laugh and say it's not necessary. We insist, though, and they take it.

Then our cab with the other 2 guys in it, who have been waiting this entire time, take us to a local hotel. We argue with them for a while about how much we owe, then finally pay 3000. Then the hotel owner insists that we must get 2 rooms ("regulations" say that we cannot share) at 6000 each and then we pay our escort 2000 for his "help" (he actually was friendly and helpful).

He said he would be happy to take us back to the lake the following day, "no problems", but we decided that we'd rather escape to our next town: Bamenda.