Gandalf Around The World: From Nigeria to Banyo, Cameroon

Banyo, 2019-08-26 : Mountain track from Nigeria to Cameroon and the Lamidat of Banyo.

On the track in the mountains between Nigeria and Cameroon

We have before us perhaps the most difficult part of our entire trip: the crossing of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.
In other times the passage to Cameroon by the border post of Ekok in the south of Nigeria would not pose any particular problem by a good paved road. But due to the rebel-led guerrilla war in the English-speaking regions of southwest Cameroon, this border post is closed. In any case, crossing the English-speaking regions of Cameroon would be extremely dangerous. Active guerrilla warfare is not to be taken lightly.
As the north of Nigeria with a second major cross-border axis is also infinitely risky because of the atrocities of Boko Haram, it only remains for the overlanders to find a route in the mountains between the north and the south.

Unfortunately there are no paved roads or good tracks in this area. From the village of Guroji two options are available : either continue by road to Gembu to reach Mayo Darle in Cameroon by a bad track with a very big obstacle: a hundred meters wide river that can be very deep in the rainy season. The second option is to take an equally bad track towards Banyo by Mayo Ngana with some delicate passages, especially in the rainy season, and several rivers to cross, one quite difficult because of the ascent in the mud on the other bank.
We will choose this second option because we are in the middle of the rainy season.

Up to Katsina Ala by the good road N4 the route is very easy. The shortest way from here would be to reach Guroji directly by Takum and a very bad track (violet). It is therefore faster (although longer in kilometers) to reach Bali further north from Takum (green).
The problem is the security situation between Katsina Ala and Takum where attacks are said to be frequent, several cases of kidnapping had been recorded two or three years ago. What is more, the 80 km between the two cities, although paved, are in a catastrophic state.
When we wanted to take this route the police refused to let us continue without an escort.

We spend the night at the Katsina Ala police station. With the DPO and its chief.

As we could not agree on our participation in the cost of the escort the chief of the police station recommended us to make the detour by Jalingo by the very good and very safe road N4 (red). Even if this route is about 100 km longer to reach Bali, I think we will not need more time than by Takum and its rough road. We will not regret because this road is good and much more comfortable.

It's crazy what mopeds can all carry.

On the N4

Along the N4

We take 2 days to reach Guroji from Katsina Ala.
The last 50 kilometers before Goruji take us from 400 m to almost 2000 m above sea level by a fairly damaged mountain road but in a superb landscape.

On the road between Bali and Guroji:

The mountain is approaching.

Starting to climb the mountain

The road condition is getting worse ....

.... to become almost catastrophic.

The rain doesn't help.

Are we still in Africa? or in Ireland?

Bad weather !

We find a small hotel where we can camp in the courtyard with our motorhome. However, we still have to pay a room for 3000 naira (€ 7.50 !!).

Gandalf in the courtyard of the Hamdalla Hotel in Nguroje.

As it rains a large part of the night and it's still raining in the early morning we consider it wiser to wait one more day before going to venture on the bad mountain track which is likely to be very muddy and impassable in this weather.

This morning at the hotel: rain and low sky!

We take this opportunity to "explore" the village where we are the attraction.

On the way to the center of the village (Nguroje).

For the first time in his life, he saw German people in the flesh!

At the butcher's.

Back at the hotel.

The next day the weather seems drier. We are getting started!

The landscape and the weather are Irish: the very green and sparsely wooded hills and mountains with their herds of cattle and sheep, the blue and white sky. Hopefully the sky stays that way all day, but in Ireland, as is well known, the weather changes very quickly. So nothing is won.

In the "Irish" mountains of Nigeria towards Cameroon.

First muddy passages not too difficult.

The first kilometers are easy and the few muddy passages are very easily mastered. The track becomes a little more uneven, so I lock the central differential and soon engages the reduced speeds more comfortable and less demanding for the clutch. We no longer exceed 20 - 25 km / h.
It gets a little complicated afterwards with very muddy passages and others very rough. We are only doing 10 km / h on average.
We sail between 1500 and a little over 1700 meters above sea level and enter the clouds several times.

At 1700 m we reach the base of the clouds.

The track does not improve but is still relatively dry.

Unfortunately the clouds are gaining more and more ground and we fear to find rain soon.

We cross the most important locality of the route, Mayo Ndaga, at around 3:45 pm. As expected, the two service stations have no diesel. We find some rudimentary checkpoints at the entrance and exit of the town where, as elsewhere in the country, the police do not forget to claim their small gift and as usual they must be content with a big smile.

Then the situation becomes seriously critical because it starts to rain. The track becomes extremely slippery and the passages in the mud multiply. As a precaution, I repeatedly engage the rear differential lock. On the whole Gandalf behaves very well but some passages are really borderline. Like for example this long descent on a gentle slope of 100 or 200 meters entirely covered in mud and dug in deep ruts that we descend in step and crab with the permanent fear of spinning, the heavier rear of the vehicle tending to want to walk past. Fortunately everything is going well but the rain does not seem to want to stop and the border is still far away.

We cross a new small village, it is slightly past 5:00 p.m. The border is still about ten kilometers away, that is to say about an hour's drive. With the rain the track remains extremely slippery. After hesitating a bit, we decide to ask a small farm outside the village for permission to spend the night in the courtyard. The head of the family agrees.
We did well because barely installed rain redoubled.
Of course children come from everywhere to plant themselves around the motorhome and observe us. White people don't have to stop there often.
They disappear one after the other at dusk.
We are both very tired. We covered only 79 km in a more than 6 and a half hours, without a break! Even Christine goes up to bed a little before 9:00 p.m. We go to bed always accompanied by this little fine rain.

The next morning I get up at six o'clock. It's 21 ° C in the motorhome and 16 ° C outside. It rained regularly during the night and even this morning there is still a little fine rain intermittently. Which does not bode well for the day on the track!

Gandalf at the camp in the early morning.

We will say goodbye to the villagers and of course it ends with a long photo session. Everyone obviously wants to be on it! The hardest part is making them smile when they click. Christine gives the young girls on the farm a few empty bottles, a gift that is always much appreciated!

Young girls from the farm and the neighborhood.

… and the boys.

We break camp at 8:40 am towards Kan-Iyaka, the village on the border with Cameroon about ten kilometers from here. Fortunately it is not raining anymore, because the track is slippery enough like that.

The sky is a little milder than yesterday.

We arrive at 9:30 am in the village where we present ourselves at a first checkpoint, that of the health services which verify our vaccination books by entering the data in a large register. I wonder what it can be used for leaving the territory!
A little further we stop at the customs hut to have our carnet de passage checked there. It’s going in a good mood but it’s taking a long time because the ink pad for the stamp is dry. The customs officer is obliged to moisten it a little with alcohol in order to be able to put a credible trace of our passage on the carnet.
Another hundred meters to a new cabin, that of immigration, to stamp our passports and here we are at 10:10 am out of Nigeria.
We now continue on the Cameroon side track. Could it be even worse than on the Nigerian side! ? In any case, it is the first impression it makes on us.

The track on the Cameroonian!

A little rain that starts to fall does not help but fortunately it does not last!

We arrive at around 11 am at the famous river considered by all overlanders as the most difficult and critical obstacle of the whole journey. The river by itself is not the problem since the ford is laid out, it is rather the long, fairly steep and extremely muddy climb on the other side which presents the great difficulty. At the moment, it is blocked by five or six small Nigerian trucks, 6 × 6 Steyrs, which are transporting goods in convoy between Cameroon and Nigeria.

A small convoy blocks the climb to the other side.

I go on reconnaissance on foot by first crossing the river where the water rises to the calves and then inspecting the terrain on the climb to get out of the river. I continue to the small trucks, it is of course the first one that blocks everyone by having planted themselves well in a deep rut. So we have to wait for it to clear before crossing the river ourselves.
Fortunately it does not last very long and the track is clear in front of us. So I'm getting ready for the crossing while Christine is going to take the other side halfway down to film.

Crossing.

It goes !

In the meantime two Land Rovers have arrived and are patiently waiting behind me for the passage to be free. I have of course locked the two differentials and engaged the first slow (with a reduction of 1/77 please!). I'm going for it. The village guys are ready to help if needed. But they will have nothing to do except to gape at how Gandalf controls the passage. I pass Christine and stop at the top of the hill in the middle of the 6x6 Steyrs.

At the top of the hill.

Christine also films the passage of the Land Rovers which, them, have some problem to pass and must be helped while pushing.
At the top of the hill, in this small village called Boudjounkoura, is the Cameroonian customs office. I have to wait for the trucks to receive their laisser-passer before having my carnet checked!
100 meters further a new barrier stops us. The police must register us. They need a copy of our passports for this. "Did nobody warn you?" " No, we were not aware that passports copies were required to cross the border. But I believe that I made two copies when applying for the visa at Cotonou, hopefully we still have one in the safe. I check and indeed we have what it takes and the police can properly register us. It is 11:45 am and less than five minutes later we stop at the immigration office to have our passports checked. It’s Christine who sticks to it while I quietly wait in the motorhome while updating my notes.
I stopped in the middle of the track, blocking traffic. I decide to pass the barrier to hug on the right and pass the Steyrs and Land Rovers that had accumulated behind me.

We had thought for a moment that sending a woman to complete the immigration formalities would speed up the process a little, the hope is disappointed because Christine will also need about 30 minutes before coming back.

On the right, the immigration.

It is therefore 12:20 when we take the track all the customs and police formalities completed.
We are soon catching up with the convoy of small 6 × 6 trucks that will block us for a moment during a particularly difficult muddy passage. They all have some difficulty climbing the small hill in the mud and local villagers are there to help them.

We catch up with the 6x6 in a delicate climb.

Once all the trucks have passed it's our turn to try our luck but for Gandalf it goes without a hitch. Which again seems to surprise the spectators. Suddenly the Steyrs let us pass in front of them so as not to hinder us.

We pass without big problem.

The delicate passages, even downright difficult passages are multiplying: a section of about twenty meters in very liquid mud for example, or this small shallow river but with two very muddy ramps and with deep ruts to descend there on one side and climb up on the other, not very muddy but extremely uneven sections…

The mud continues all the more.

Very delicate access to the ford.

There are two routes to reach Banyo. A short route more direct but with a few rivers fairly deep to cross and an alternative by a detour to the north obviously a bit longer but with apparently fewer obstacles. We are going to choose the northern route, it is also the one that most overlanders choose.
The track starts by climbing a little higher on a kind of small plateau, it is quite good there and we cherish the hope of having done the most difficult and of finding now a more human track.
Unfortunately we will soon find the mud on the way down and the difficult passages will again follow one another. We find a fairly deep river, about fifty centimeters, to cross with a very delicate descent and ascent. The very pretty waterfall about fifty meters upstream does not really interest us.

Among the many passages in the mud I must mention a particularly vicious one where we will get stuck at the bottom of a deep puddle of muddy water. Fortunately, I can get Gandalf out of this bad reverse pass by one or two round trips of a few tens of centimeters. We will bypass the sector on the right by following some recent traces in the fields. We were hot!

The easier sections become a little more frequent and the average increases a little, without however exceeding 20 to 25 km / h at top speed. But regular passages of extreme mud remind us that we still haven't left the chalenge.

We take advantage of one of its pleasant sections to have a little coffee break at 2:10 p.m. Even if we are only fifteen kilometers from Banyo, it will take us more than an hour and a half to get there. I may be repeating myself, but the diabolical muddy passages with deep ruts follow each other to the end.

Banyo is in sight!

But the mud continues!

Even the immigration checkpoint 3 km from the city does not mean that we are done with the mud. On the contrary, there is still a terrible muddy passage on a descent which forces me to back up to take a small deviation not much better.

But at 3:45 p.m. it's finally there, we are in Banyo.
140 km covered in 2 days. 14 hours of driving!

Here some videos on the track:

Visit of the "lamidat" of Banyo (August 26, 2019)

A lamidat is a traditional Fulani muslim chiefdom in northern Cameroon. The Fulani, these nomads from Mali, arrived and settled at the end of the 16th century in the north of Cameroon and it was they who began the Islamization of the region. They organized themselves into small theocratic states, the lamidats. The one in Banyo is particularly interesting to visit because it is one of the richest.

Thierry and Gandalf in front of the lamidat of Banyo

It is obviously not the small state itself that we are visiting but of course the seat of the "government". We stop in the parking lot in front of the buildings asking for permission. A small group of men is sitting and chatting in front of the entrance, one of them advises us to come back at 4:00 pm, it will be more interesting and there will be more to see, it seems. I don't really understand why, but since we wanted to have a snack in the motorhome anyway, that's fine with us.
When we show up at 4 p.m. in front of the entrance to the lamidat, another small group of men is sitting there. One of them asks us what we want and if we have an appointment. I explain to him that we just want to take a look at the courtyard and the buildings and that, no, we don't have an appointment but we were told to come back here at 4:00 p.m. The man replied that he could not take responsibility for letting us and that we should return around 5:00 p.m. when the chef is there. We cannot wait so long since we want to get back on the road as soon as possible towards Foumban. After five minutes of discussion, another man who had said nothing until now gave permission to enter. He’s the oldest in the group, but to be honest I don’t understand who is who and who is responsible for what. But the main thing is that we can finally take a look at the buildings and the courtyard.

The great courtyard of the lamidat.

We start by entering the large arcaded courtyard where a few men are praying. It is in this courtyard that the population meets on days of ceremonies or major Muslim holidays. We are shown some of the buildings from the outside, including the court and the lamido residence.
The lamidat of Banyo was created in 1823. Since 16 "lamibé" ruled here, the current lamido has been in place since 1997, he is also a senator in Yaoundé.

The arches of the large courtyard.

We are also shown the small courtyard where in 1902 the German lieutenant Hermann Nolte was stabbed by the lamido of the time after an altercation following the demand of the lieutenant to deliver to him a notable of the city who had taken refuge in the chiefdom. The lamido and a few notables present were immediately killed by the lieutenant's men.