Limbe, Cameroon Saturday 12 March 2011

We were going to go to Equatorial Guinea but were advised by the US Consul that we weren't welcome there and he strongly advised against our trying to dock.   We, therefore, spent two days at Limbe.

I got a great shot today of Mount Cameroon, the houses on the mountain side and the small island just offshore.

This is one of the many churches in Limbe - I took this photo from the ship.

This is a nice view of part of the town - and one of the local small boats.

On our way to our first stop we got to see the town on a weekend - this is where the huge market sets up during the week. Not your average flea market...

Here's one of the local outdoor cafes.

Our trip was to a banana plantation and packing station - this sign greeted us.

Here's a view of the plantation. The bananas are wrapped in blue plastic to protect the fruit from damage and from the pesticides they spray the plants with.

This is a conveyor belt - you can see on the map on the sign where it is centrally located in the plantation. They hang the huge bunches of bananas on the hooks and they're taken to the processing plant.

When they arrive at the plant, they are first sprayed with pesticides to kill any spiders and other bugs that may be living in the stalk.

The bananas are then cut of the stalk into groups of 8 or so and tossed in a bath of water.

DO YOU KNOW that bananas are not grown on trees but on fruit plants - corms. I learned a lot about banana plants - it's extremely interesting. Why don't you Wikipedia 'banana plants" - you'll be surprised.

Here's the big baths of water which washes off the pesticides and anything else that was on the fruit.

After the bath, they are placed in trays, curve side up.

The trays are conveyed into this box-like contraption which (I think) dries them.

The trays are then conveyed to the final stop where they are packed into boxes for shipment. They are packed curve-side down in 2 layers with paper between them - they are still damp at this point.

The boxes are on a conveyor system also - people upstairs assemble them and send them down to the packers.
The boxes of bananas have to be store in refrigerators so they don't ripen too soon. If they are shipped far away, they will be stored in rooms with ethylene gas so they ripen - and then shipped to the stores for sale.

This sign was hanging up over the water baths. I thought it was rather impressive.

Bananas that were blemished in any way (sometimes I couldn't see a thing on them) were cast aside then shipped to the local towns for the residents to buy.

We left the plantation and drove back to town for lunch. We passed this river which apparently is a popular 'laundromat'.

The river is apparently also a place where residents get their water.

A street scene.

Another street scene.

The Michelin man is there too.

Here's a local markt - you can see the reject bananas on the ground and stalls in the background.

All kinds of footware and clothing can be purchased from street stalls.

Here's a strip mall.

We drove through the old native township where the houses all had a small parcel of land. This is one of the nicer houses there.

We stopped at a beekeepers meeting place and saw these hives hanging in the trees - but because we were delayed getting there, the gentleman who was going to talk to us had left and the hives were empty.

The only thing that looked remotely like anything to do with bees, was this old honeycomb.

One of the old tribal houses - lots of children everywhere.

In town we drove by the JET SET PLAZA - what a shame we didn't stop!

We also passed the LAS VEGAS BAR & RESTAURANT ... no neon lights?

We passed several local nurseries whose plants were displayed along the side of the road - this is one of the larger, more organized nurseries.

A street scene.

These are houses which are provided to the workers of a local palm plantation.

We opted out of the afternoon tour to a lava flow (having seen Hawaii's, we didn't think it could be any better) and took the Zodiac back to our ship. Finally I got to see the hole in this large rock - I had seen it yesterday but was too far away and the sea was too rough to take a photo.

Limbe, Cameroon Friday 11 March 2011

Limbe (from 1858–1982 was called Victoria); is a seaside city in the southwest region of Cameroon. Limbe (pronounced LIMBAY) was founded by the British missionary Alfred Saker in 1858 - it is on the southern slopes of Mount Cameroon. Population is around 85,000.

As you can see, the weather was not the greatest but after all the heat we'd endured, I really appreciated the clouds - unfortunately, they didn't last long enough and they didn't diminish the heat. This was our first view of Mt. Cameroon - the volcano.

As I looked at the various small islands in the bay, I spotted this very strange looking ship.
Later on in the day, I got a closer look at it but still couldn't determine what it was exactly.

We certainly got up-close-and-personal with a lot more oil rigs than I ever dreamed. But they're quite interesting when you have a close look at them.

As we drove into the countryside, I took lots of pictures of the street scenes - this one is a bakery - still named after Limbe's original name of Victoria. The farther north we sailed on the west African coast, the 'better' the countries became although there was little difference between them all.

This is a typical street scene - unfinished buildings, lots of cars - trashed and not, people milling around.

We drove past a couple of schools - both had kids playing football - these looked more colorful so I posted this picture.

This is a very interesting street scene - the small shop on the left with a sign offering typing, printing, etc. and the crowded home, and carpentry business on the right.

Here's another really interesting scene ... all the motorcyclists (there were tons of them everywhere in every country) on the corner and the mini-markets on the right - the houses on the hillside.

Here's a house on the left towards the back and I gather this enterprising soul is the one selling coffins which are displayed on the top of the hill - and to the right are some headboards and cabinets.

Here's Limbe's answer to one-stop-shopping - we never did go in any of these type of shops - we'd probably have been hassled to death.

Here's a lot of carpentry going on from headboards, bedframes, bookcases - to more caskets.

I was amazed by the burdens the local women carried - I just can't imagine what happens to their spines after so many years of hauling heavy items on their heads and back.

We passed a few CAR WASHES - this was my favorite. Just park the cars in a stream and go to town - it doesn't matter who's washing clothes or themselves in the stream farther up - or who's using it as a bathroom - just park the cars and go for it!

Here's another one-stop shop - including engine oil as shown on the blackboard leaning up against the van.

Here's a nice commercial building - apparently owned by a credit union. I can't help but wonder how many customers it has.

The houses may be drab, but the washing is extremely colorful.

For a moment, I was back in England - this church is definitely fashioned after the older churches at home.

A little farther on when we got out of the township, I finally saw the rolling green hills - but wait - that's TEA I see growing.

The coach parked and we walked back to see the field swarming with tea pickers. Most used their hands to pull the top, new leaves off the plants then throw them into the basket on their backs. They were paid by how much they picked so they showed how deft they were.

A couple of them were using this gadget - it was a pair of shears with a metal basket attached so they'd snip the new growth and the leaves would go into the basket and they'd empty this metal basket when it was full. I'm not sure if was faster than those using their hands but it was creative.

The tea was put into white plastic sacks and driven to the tea plant where it was unloaded onto flat bench-like areas and manually sorted.

It was shunted along on conveyor belts into this big shredder.

More conveyor belts as we followed it on its path.

Finally it's beginning to look more like tea.

we left the tea plantation and drove back to town for a buffet lunch at one of the hotels. I took some photos on the way. This is a regular looking house.

This is a better house ...

Fresh baked bread?

We drove through the nicer section of town.

And the regular type of houses.

Lots of furniture for sale - no need to worry about salespeople hassling you - just try out everything.

Here's a corner strip mall.

Need a new mattress? They were all over the area.

This is the hotel we went for our buffet lunch - it wasn't one of the better lunches we had but it was OK. They welcomed us into the dining room with a table of cold drinks - water, sparkling water and various beers (yeah!)

This was one of the coaches we were being transported in and that's Oskar - one of the cruise people - nice man!

Back on the road - this young lady was selling hard-boiled eggs. I can only imagine what that weighed on her head!

Neighborhood shops.

Neighborhood markets.

These would be the bananas that didn't pass muster at the plantation.

We stopped at a primate rehabilitation center - I hate to see wild animals caged, even if the cages are large, but these are rescued animals - orphans mostly whose mothers had been killed or died. They try to rehabilitate them so they can be released into the wild again - not all make the release.

I love mangoes and we saw them all over the place - of course you can't pick them like this.

Here's that better picture of the weird ship .. if you have any idea what it is, please let me know.

Ah, back to the air-conditioned Corinthian at last - via Zodiac. Here's my sister, on the left with sunglasses, looking at me.

One last look a the oil rig and I'm ready for a wash towel and nice cold drink - they were always waiting for us when we returned aboard.