I got out of the room late. Everyone on the internet is praising a bakery that’s across the road from the hotel so I went there. Bought a ginger cake and a “golden bun”. Ginger cake didn’t even lie next to ginger. Golden bun needed coffee to dip it in. My hotel has a very rudimentary bar, it’s a couple of plastic chairs and a single table. I was quoted N600 for a nescafé, no thank you.
Noone in the reception knew where the ferries to Cameroon leave. The receptionist took me to the hotel manager who kinda knew but nothing was showing up on Google Maps. I wanted to know which direction at least to go. Finally Shoreline Logistics showed up. Not too far.
I walked down Atekong Drive, it’s quite a pretty street, well maintained, with neat houses, cut grass. Almost like not Nigeria. Down by the “highway” I took a N50 taxi to MCC road from where I took a drop to the Inland Waterways – where the “big ships” are loaded. We agreed on N1000 for going down to the ferry port and back to my hotel.
At the ferry port I was introduced to a man. Yes, the ship going all the way to Douala is in port and being loaded. It would leave Wednesday or Thursday, the ticket is N42,000. Oops. The ferry takes about 24 hours to reach Douala and apparently there are seats and even cabins on the ship. It’s not a passenger ferry but it does take passengers and even cars if I had one. We exchanged the numbers.
On the way to the hotel the taxi driver stopped at a betting point to place a bet on the Chelsea Leicester match. N500 bet on a draw. Betting closing time: 1pm. We were in a hurry to make it on time.
Back in hotel I took Cameroon Consulate’s number from the hotel manager. I tried to call the consulate the day before using numbers from the guidebook and internet, none of them worked.
There is a drill ranch nearby, so I walked there. It’s a part of the project that keeps drill monkeys alive in Nigeria, although even up there in the forests they also live in enclosures. When I was there 10-11 years ago, it was said there was not enough forest to set them free. It can’t be better now.
The place has changed from what I remember, the chimpanzees have been all moved to the Afi Mountain Sanctuary, there is one big enclosure for the drills and a cage in which sclater’s guenon monkeys are kept, retrieved from a similar conservation project that had gone bankrupt. The man who showed me around said there are no more sclater’s guenon monkeys in the wild. I asked about the place in the forest, Afi Mountain Sanctuary. Still there, quite popular with overlanders, we discussed the Cameroon border issues. The man gasped at my hotel price – N7000 saying it’s too much, yet Afi Mountain Sanctuary charges N8000 per person. There was an Australian volunteer who said it’s not nearly enough. They also told me they had a Dutch volunteer who just left for Cameroon on one of the small boats. I wonder.
From the drill ranch I took a shared cab N100 towards the Old Calabar. I had a very nice yam porridge and scumbia fish in De Choice cafeteria for N700 including water.
I walked to the old part of town. It was very busy. People called me out on the streets.
Calabar has apparently the oldest church in Nigeria. The Bradt Guide’s maps are very basic but they marked one church there: Duke Town church. It doesn’t look very old and there are other churches nearby.
Before I took the pic I had to introduce myself to an “assembly” of five men sitting in a shade. They too asked me “are you a tourist?”. One of them even started asking me for “something” but the other ones just talked him over.
I walked on. I saw a building that looked like it could be old. And it was, a plaque of department of monuments attached. Some people were sitting nearby, I asked if I could take a photo, I heard N500. I walked on but they called me back and I took the pic.
I walked towards water. That’s where small boats leave to villages around and also, apparently, to Cameroon. A man asked me if I want to “stroll on top of the water.” But he said an hour is N30,000, possibly negotiable. In Cameroon the boats land on several places, I only know Idenao, it’s a beautiful area there, right under Mr Cameroon the beaches are black. It’s also the area that I think I wouldn’t be allowed to land at the moment. Although who knows. The boats leave daily when full, the price is N15,000, the journey takes three hours.
I walked back to where I had lunch. I asked about transport to Ikom and Ogoja, in the North of the Cross River State. A man told me that even though the motor park is where I was standing, cars to Ikom leave from Ayade Park.
So I took a shared taxi to Ayade Park. There was a man who seemed to be calling those taxis out and letting people in. He briefly entered the taxi and sat next to me. Those taxis take 2 passengers in front and 4 passengers in the back. The driver asked him to step out and the man left and something bugged me and I checked my pocket – the phone was gone. I shouted after the man and he ran up to the car that was still standing and dropped the phone on the seat next to me. Very weird situation and the passengers seemed aware of what the man had done, the discussion went on during the drive.
I was dropped at a petrol station, it was empty. I asked the men if that’s Ayade Park, they said yes. The cars only leave in the morning. I could also stand on the roadside and flag the passing busses. They even showed me the gesture of how to show I’m going to Ikom. I still asked where I could find busses going North and they said by Conoil petrol station on MCC road.
I took shared taxi back to Atekong. My hotel cleaned my room. Oooh. Luxury levels through the roof.
As I was sitting in the taxis I heard discreet (or not) ripping sounds. I thought it is my worn out underwear. Rip. Rip. And as I walked towards my hotel, it turned out it’s my shorts! The North Face shorts that I thought were indestructible and that I’ve had since forever, convertible to long trousers. Ripped all over. And I walked with my ripped shorts through Nigeria, where everyone has to look beautiful. And I no longer have long trousers with me, better be hot all the way!
After dark I went out. I sat down in one of the joints on Marian Street next to my hotel. I took Guinness and asked for that roasted catfish. It was N1000. It wasn’t roasted as such, the fish was wrapped in tin foil. And it was delicious. Spiced, soft and tender. Why wasn’t I eating this before?
A man was sitting by my table. We didn’t talk. At one point he bought another beer for himself… And another beer for me. We only started to chat when he was leaving. His name was Yakis, he lives just around the corner and he’s the owner of a car wash.
Sometimes when someone asks me for “something” I answer that I haven’t got anything from anyone around here. I’m losing that argument.
I grabbed suya on my way to the hotel. I came back before midnight. I am not sure whether to stay one more day in Calabar and just hang around or continue the travel. I’ll take the North route via the land border, although the ship is also tempting, a night on the sea, Mt Cameroon on the left, Malabo island on the right…
Coming back to Maman 