Kribi, Cameroon Thursday March 10 2011

Cameroon is called the 'melting pot of Africa' because it encompasses much from elsewhere on the continent - every type of people to every form of landscape. Kribi, population 60,000+, is a beach resort and sea port in southern Cameroon on the Gulf of Guinea coast at the mouth of the Kienke River. It is a German-built port but quite shallow so large ships can't enter. The name Kribi comes from 'kiridi' which translates as 'small men' referring to the pygmys who were the original inhabitants. It's known for its palm-fringed white beaches.

Our first view of Kribi showed the beaches and some very nice buildings.

Looking around, we saw several oil rigs and ships loading up.

As I did each time we came into port, I dashed on deck to take pictures and I spotted these two jetskis heading towards us. In the background are the river waterfalls which are our first coach stop - it falls directly into the ocean.

We drove past this lovely church whose spire could be seen from long way away.

We were driving to the beach area where the river cascades into the ocean - this 'shop' was close to the beach

Here's someone who obviously knew how to get cool - but seemed a little perturbed by the strength of the waves.

As soon as I set foot on the beach, my eyes were drawn to the waterfalls - what a spectacular sight. I'm afraid I took way too many photos of this scene so bear with me as I post the better ones here.

Here are two more shots of the waterfalls - look at the power of the water in the close-up on the right

Some of the river spilled over boulders to the side of the waterfalls and we found tadpoles in one of the pools.

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This is a local family enjoying 'beach time' - I told them I'd send them a copy of this picture, but I cannot read the address on the paper they gave me.

I really like this photo - but it could be any of the pacific islands.

What a peaceful scene - the fishing boats are drying on the sand and there's not a soul around.

Some members of the local tribe came down to the beach to dance for us - it was quite entertaining.

After a while, they really started getting into it - lots of chanting, percussion and zest.

After the local tribe, the local pygmy tribe came - they are natural enemies but we had no problems on this day. This is the percussion band which played for the pygmys.

This is the main pygmy dancer - he was about 5' tall and very enthusiastic. We weren't sure about the story of the dance but other people approached him and stood directly behind and danced for a while.

This is a pygmy woman who attended the dance - her face is characteristic of the pygmys - all friendly and happy people.

There were some darling children at the beach, enjoying the dancing so I'm going to post some photos of them here.

This young lady seemed very happy and was anxious to have her photo taken - such a pretty girl.

This little girl was hanging on to her pregnant mother - never strayed away from her at all.

This cute young boy was just too exhausted to enjoy any of the dancing - he just wanted a nap.

This young lady was apparently enjoying the sand more than the entertainment.

We visited a museum with local artifacts, just away from the beach a few yards. This young lady was standing outside watching us go in.

This young lady is her older sister - their father came to take them away when he saw us with our cameras but I gave him a box of chewing gum for the girls and all was OK again.

On our way back to the ship we crossed this river. There are people swimming to the left, one man is waving to me as he's taking a break from washing his clothes and if you look at the back to the right you'll see more people washing clothes.

We saw lots of these lizards on all of our trips - darn little things dart so fast they make me jump.

This fisherman was returning home as we were leaving - the sails are made of just about anything that works - some are very creative.

It was breaktime at the local school - we got lots of waves from the teachers and pupils. Our coaches always attracted lots of attention - I presume they don't see many of them.