Kribi!!

At last we were off to Kribi! The bus ride was going fine, but alas, I ate a bad apple or some bad chicken for lunch and had to once again stop the bus to deal with that on the side of the road. We were so close to our destination and I really thought I could make it, but when it wants to come out, it’s coming out. We got to the building and I ran out of the bus, asked for the bathroom, discovered it was locked, ran outside again and let it all out under a bush in broad daylight. I am currently 0-3 on bus rides. But then it was all good because we got to our hotel and we were right on the absolutely empty beach. We walked up the beach for a while but then had to go to a meeting with the leader of an NGO that protects the rights of pygmies. The pygmies, more politely referred to as the Baka and Bakali, are an indigenous people who reject modernized life and instead prefer to live in the forests, hunting and gathering for food. However, they don’t technically have the rights to the land and are now being forced off of it and into villages and contact with other Cameroonians. They do not speak French, go to school or follow any other social norm or law. They are losing their culture and traditions due to this process, so this NGO represents them to help secure some rights and fight for their land. It was an interesting lecture. On Saturday we went into the field and visited two pygmy villages, one who still rejects all outside interaction and the other that has slightly integrated. The first one was incredible, they did a traditional dance to welcome us, and we talked to them about their ways of life and their goals. The next was very short because one of the members of our group is exceedingly ill so we had to get her back to the hotel to lie down, but we learned they are building a school and their children will begin to learn from French. Overall very interesting morning. And then we went to the beach and SWAM FINALLY. I have never been so happy to be in the water. I swam down the shoreline and back for 45 minutes, then played Frisbee on the beach. Later we grabbed some beers and went exploring. It was such an incredible, relaxing afternoon. Sunday we woke up and left paradise for Yaoundé. I think we would have loved to have stayed for a couple more weekends.

Welcome Dance

You don't give your children machetes?

Ocean!

Fishing boat by the water

Sunset