Foumban, Cameroon.

Foumban, 2019-09-28. Bamoun Sultans Palace.

From Banyo to Foumban in two days.

Tuesday August 27, 2019.
We appreciate the mild climate since we are in the mountains. Too bad that the mild cilmate only goes with the rain in these regions!
The sky is cloudy but bright and it does not rain. It's already that !
The laterite track is not very comfortable but luckily the uphill sections are paved. Too bad there aren't more uphill sections than that!

On the track towards Bankim.

 

The track is paved on the upill sections, but not always in very good condition.

The intermittent rains make the track a little more slippery. We have to be all the more careful.

It rains regularly and the track becomes slippery.

We appreciate the rare paved sections

A long paved passage will take us from 1200 m to 800 m altitude. The daisy bushes and the view of the plain below are an opportunity to take some pretty pictures.

A very uncomfortable track.

Soon in the valley!

 

For a while, we cherished the hope of having definitively found the tar, but we were disillusioned when we reached the village of Nyamboya, at the foot of the long descent, because we found the laterite there. The track is even worse than in the mountains, it is a continual succession of sometimes deep water holes and mud passages.

Is this our track down there? I fear it !

 

Crossing the big village of Nyamboya

It is already past 4 pm when we cross Nyamboya, Foumban is still far away and there is no longer any hope of getting there before dark. It will therefore be necessary to seek a quiet corner to bivouac.

It's going on!

Not everyone complains!

 

Our 2012 guide tells us that the road has been paved from Bankim since 2014. As this guide was written in 2012, the claim was daring because in Africa project completion forecasts are only safe when the project is finished. And indeed we do not find asphalt in Bankim.
It is 5.45 pm, the sun is already very low and the sky is covered with large black clouds, so there is no point in wanting to continue much further. We find a gas station at the exit of the city in the parking lot of which we are allowed to spend the night. A policeman on patrol with his Toyota greets us and informs us that there is still 30 km of track before we can find the tar.
Here ! Wouldn't this be a little restaurant that we can see across the road? It looks like it. With a barbecue area right next door. We don't hesitate for long because we are really too tired to cook and after this tiring day on the track,
We order at the "grill corner" two small sea bream accompanied by a stick of cassava and a spicy sauce for 750 CFA each (€ 1.18). We wait at the restaurant "La Maison-Blanche" for the meals to be ready by tasting two large beers at 700 CFA each (1.10 €). The speakers play Cameroonian music and songs while a kung fu movie is played on TV.

Bankim's “Grill Corner”.

It rains almost non-stop and it is in the rain that we return to the camper van a little after 8 pm.

Wednesday August 28, 2019. 

The track we are following this morning is no better than what we experienced yesterday, contrary to the police officer's assertions last night. We will need exactly 1h30 to cover the 29.5 km which still separate us from the tar just before the large town of Maghba.

The villages on the track towards Foumban.

This road is excellent. It will take us up to about 1200 m by a long and steep climb.

Tar. Finally !

We soon arrive in Foumban after crossing unexpected pine forests. Trees surely introduced by European settlers because the pine is absolutely not a tree of equatorial regions. In any case, we did not expect to find any 500 km from the equator!

Arriving at Foumban.

We arrive a little before 3:30 p.m. at the "Pekassa de Karché" hotel in the city center. As in Nigeria, this hotel is not used to receiving campers and asks us to take a room that I can negotiate from 15,000 to 10,000 CFA (€ 15.71). It is a bit expensive for a parking space, but the advantages are undeniable: a small, secure and quiet car park in the city center, 300 meters from the Bamoun Kings Palace and the big market. It's OK for us despite the price. And we also have access to a room with shower and toilet. We will of course sleep at home (in our motorhome)! It's so much more comfortable!

Le Palais des Rois Bamoun in Foumban

Wednesday August 28. 2019.

It's starting to rain again. We do not hesitate to go on foot to the palace, our waterproof jackets should serve well from time to time! It is 4:50 p.m.

In the rain, walking towards the Palais des rois Bamoun.

We quickly find ourselves in front of the new museum in the shape of a spider, one of the symbols of the kingdom, which is scheduled to open at the end of the year. In fact, a project that does not end because the initial inauguration was scheduled for 2012 for the twentieth anniversary of the arrival on the throne of the current sovereign.

The Spider, the future Foumb museum.

 
The Bamoun Kings Palace is only a few hundred meters away. We are immediately picked up by a young man who accompanies us to the entrance gate (only 20 meters away !!) and hands us over to an official guide. We strongly suspect that the first young man is not official, but he is not asking anything for his "services".

Our guide leads us to the entrance of the museum behind the palace where the reception is located, at the top of a long wooden staircase. We pay entrance fees at 2000 CFA (€ 3.14) per person. We automatically pay an additional 500 CFA (€ 0.79) per person for the visit of the tam-tam house on the market square.

The kingdom of Bamoun was created at the end of the 13th century by Nchare Yen when he crossed the Noun river with 200 to 300 people. After having subdued some local ethnic groups, he laid the first stone of his new capital here, in Foumban.
Among the 19 rulers of the dynasty, two have made a special mark in the history of the kingdom. The 11th king, Mbouombou (1757 - 1814), shone with his military exploits, enlarging the kingdom to its current size of 7,700 km² and repelling an attack by the Fulani in the north. One of the kingdom's other symbols dates from his time, the two-headed serpent symbolizing the kingdom's ability to wage wars on many different fronts. After his death there followed a long period of instability until the coming to power of Ibrahim Njoya, the other great king of the dynasty and until today particularly revered. 

The Bamoun dynasty

 

"Njoya began to rule around 1892/1896, around the age of 19 (he was born in 1876). At that time, gradually, monotheistic religions replaced traditional African cults, which more or less preserved the converts from the slave trade. Arrived on the throne, Njoya removed from the palace, as tradition dictates, the 1st grand officer of the palace, Gbetnkom, inherited from his father. The latter, not hearing it that way, rose up against Njoya. The young sovereign decides to appeal to the Fulani of the lamidate of Banyo, some 200 km from the Bamoun country. Their support and that of their cavalry has been decisive as they allow Njoya to win the battle. Impressed, Njoya decides to equip himself with the elements that he believes has forged the power of those who helped him to win: an armed force with cavalry, firearms, writing and a monotheistic religion. Njoya forged a religion inspired by both Islam and Christianity (taking Ibrahim as a first name, after the Patriarch Abraham) and a writing of 500 syllabic signs." (Wikipedia).

Our guide explains to us that the king who loved to smoke and drink wine therefore converted to Christianity. But as Christianity prohibited polygamy, he ended up creating his own religion which allowed him to keep his 681 wives! A religion cleverly bringing together the verses of the Koran and the passages from the Bible that suited him best, with a bit of traditional animist religion. The mosque he originally had built near the palace was later turned into a church upon his conversion to Christianity. And when he created his own religion it was a mosque on Friday and a church on Sunday!
When the Germans arrived in Foumban in 1902 the king immediately recognized the superiority of foreigners and played cooperation rather than confrontation. It was the contact with the Germans that made him to decide to rebuild the palace as a solid (until then earth, wood and bamboo dominated).
We narrowly missed the Sultan. He has just returned to his residence after welcoming the pilgrims returning from Mecca.

The museum itself is very interesting and the explanations from our guide are up to par. There we will discover thrones, traditional costumes, masks, statues, jewelry, weapons and many other objects that bear witness to the history of the dynasty.

In the Bamoun Kings Museum

Thierry in front of a costume of the greatest… sorry: the tallest king!

Some historic seats and thrones.

 

We can also take a look in the great courtroom with its four massive columns.

We then stroll a little in the courtyard to take some pictures before going out.

A beautiful baobab in the courtyard of the palace

The faience of the entrance.