Cameroon - Visit Reports

October 2024

Edited, with permission, from a report by Miika Nicholson

Monday 14th October

Flight: Kigali 09:00 to Brazzaville (no change of aircraft) Flight: Brazzaville to Douala 13:40 Hotel: Astoria Hotel, booking.com, 20800CFA (£26.75)

First tried to get a local SIM at the airport - none worked in either of my two phones. Then tried to haggle with the airport taxis, hahaha. Eventually realised I'm haggling over about £2 and just accepted the 5000CFA (£6.50) fare. Once at my hotel, I gave up with the local SIM idea and purchased an e-sim with 2GB data for £10. It provided an "ok" amount of reception coverage on the trip.

Then walked to the train station - took about 35-40 minutes. Once there I realised pretty quickly the website timetable doesn't match reality at all - and Seat61 is also way out of date. Made some enquiries about the Kumba to Mbanga service, to be told it's not running because of the war.

Anyway, the services that are running are (all daily from what I've been able to gather):

06:30 Doula to Yaounde 11:15 Express Train 17:00 Yaounde to Doula 21:45 Express Train Doula to Yaounde Local Train (no fixed departure time) Yaounde to Doula Local Train (no fixed departure time) 19:50 Yaounde to Ngaoundere 09:40 Night Train 19:15 Ngaoundere to Yaounde 08:00 Night Train

I made a rough plan with this new information, which could clearly fail as This is Africa, and with that rough plan, I bought a few train tickets and headed back into central Douala for an evening walk and dinner/beers.

Tuesday 15th October

Train: Doula 12:35 to Edea 15:50

• 1600CFA (£2)
• Loco BB1111
• Both departure and arrival times are actual

Minibus : Edea 16:40 to Kribi 19:40 3000 CFA (£4) Hotel: La Villa Kribi, 30000CFA (£38.50)

Walked to Douala station for 07:00, as told to do so by the woman in the booking office in order to catch the local train. It turned out to be a long wait, with the local train eventually departing at 12:35. Had an omelette with fish for breakfast - seemed to be popular with the Camrail staff and the only option anyway.

The first stop was on the outskirts of Douala (Bassa Gare), and here we spent a good hour doing some shunting - and this is where the train also filled up. It had departed Douala main station with only 6 passengers onboard. I got a slight telling off for photos here by security.

We arrived Edea at 15:50 and again, I got a telling off for photos by the driver but once he knew I was also a driver, all was good.

I walked about 30 minutes to where I thought minibuses would pick up for Kribi (my guess was right) and thankfully the minibus was already full and ready to depart. In true African style, it was way overloaded and the journey of 3 hours to Kribi wasn't particularly.

Thursday 17th October

Train: Edea 07:50 to Yaounde 11:25

• 5500CFA (£7) for 2nd class
• Loco CC3309AC
• Departure time scheduled (on time)
• Arrival time actual

Train: Yaounde 19:50 to Ngaoundere 09:45

• 28000CFA (£36) for 2-berth sleeper
• Loco CC3304AC Yaounde to Belabo
• Loco CC2218 Belabo to Ngaoundere
• Departure time scheduled (on time)
• Arrival time actual

The express arrived on time, but with hindsight, I certainly prefer the local train over the express. There's no getting off the express once on it & the windows are sealed (AC coaches) except for the toilet window that's open. The run itself, from what I could gather, was on time the entire way arriving Yaoundé at 11:25. I took some photos at Yaounde station before getting told off, then had a discussion about getting actual authority for photos of the loco - as they wouldn't let me go that way. I was told to send an email, copying in the guy I was talking to as it was to his boss. So I did - didn't get a reply though.

Boarding for the night train started at about 18:10. It involved a quick glance inside all luggage (one of those silly things again as you can board at all other stops without a check). Departure was on time and the restaurant carriage served a choice of fish or chicken with rice or potatoes. No alcohol, bring your own! The shared 2-berth compartment was very nice.

Friday 18th October

Train: Ngaoundere 19:15 to Yaounde

• 17000CFA (£22) for 1st class (seated)
• Loco CC2218 & CC2228 Ngaoundere to Belabo
• Loco CC3307AC & BB2228 Belabo to Yaounde
• BB2228 was potentially being towed
• Departure time scheduled (on time)
• Arrival time actual

I met a few people on the train over breakfast, one of whom offered to spend the day with me - I accepted. I was dropped off at the station at about 18:45 for the 19:15 departure. I was also given contact information for a member of staff at Yaounde station, who happened to be a close friend and relatively senior at the railway.

Also to add, I did take some photos on arrival at Ngaoundere but again, I was told off.

Sadly for this return trip, I had failed to secure a bed (fully booked at least 5 days in advance) and was left with a very uncomfortable seat in 1st class - which was now also full. The seating arrangement was in groups of 4, with no recline on the seat, no leg room and no AC (most windows open so mosquitos were wild all night). It was hot and the lights remained full on all night. I had an eye mask and somehow managed to get sleep between each stop. At the stops themselves, the noise from the sellers and passengers were incredibly loud.

Saturday 19th October

Train: Yaounde 14:50 to Douala (Bassa) 05:30(+1)

• 3620CFA (£4.75)
• Loco CC2204 (with BB1115 being towed)
• Both departure and arrival times are actual
• Train terminated at Bassa Gare rather than Douala Centrale Gare

On arrival at Yaounde at 08:45, I was met by the person who I had been given contact details about. He took me to his office for breakfast - a cup of coffee and a croissant. I then asked if we could walk around the station in order to get the loco details from Belabo to Yaounde. He agreed and allowed me to take photos, telling the one police who I had seen 2 days prior (who had told me off) to not worry about me. I was slowly cracking the no photo problem!

Back to the office and then a lot of waiting. He couldn't believe I wanted to take the local train to Douala. No one goes all the way. He got me lunch (chicken and green tea), sorted my ticket out (the ticket clerk laughed at my idea of going all the way) but when departure time finally arrived, he took me to the platform and with his help I got some more photos and was introduced to the staff onboard. I was told to go into the staff section (the old first class). Which I was very grateful for.

We departed at 14:50, and at the next few stops I got out for photos - cautiously at first in order to avoid suspicion! At one stop I properly introduced myself to the driver, and as a fellow driver, I'm sure you all know where I was invited to next. At this point I felt I had finally cracked it. I was no longer suspicious, but just left alone - or even part of their railway family. It only took 3+ days of being on the train to get to this point.

At the half way point, after dark, I was handed over to relieving crew. The crew from Yaounde headed back (to Yaounde), and I attempted to get sleep for a second night in a row in a seat, and the third night in a row on a train.

Sunday 20th October

Shared Car: Douala 07:00 to Limbe 09:00 3000CFA Hotel: Victoria Guesthouse, 18500CFA

We arrived Bassa Gare on the outskirts of Douala at 05:30 to be told the train terminated here - about 5km short of the central station. There were a lot of people around (locals), and too many new faces (staff) to get many photos. I watched some shunting take place before jumping on a motorbike for 500CFA (£0.65) for the 8km ride to Rond-Pont.

From there I got a shared car to Limbe for 3000CFA. And with that, the railway part of the trip ended.