4.000 meter glissade

Puh, we were lucky in the last moment.

Exactly on the day of our journey home we got the information about the blockage of the anglophone regions from “weltwärts”. We managed timely to climb the Mount Cameroon/Mount Fako, this one is between Buea and Lime, both towns in the anglophone south-west.

And now from the beginning! My co-volunteers and me decided to climb on the 4.000 meter high Mount Cameroon in the time of Luises birthday. Not an easy task, but we were ready to do that. We met each other on the 06.06.28 in Buea, to start the climbing with the organisation “Sarah Etonge Foundation”. On our meeting point the porters and guides waited already for us, who packed the Food and Water in big bag packs. After some delays we started at 09:30 am. Pierre, the leader of the organisation guided us a small part up, before he gave the responsibility to Kale, our mainguide. I have to say, that already the forst half hour made us to sweat, because the strong sun was burning down on our heads. We were so happy to reach the treeline and we could walk through the forest. But that doesn’t mean it was easier. On and on up hill through the cool forest with small breaks between. But we were still laughing. At the entrance of the nationalpark of the Mount Cameroon we made again a small break, at which I tried to tread some wound parts of my feet. After that Kale did this personally to help me, he decided that my socks were too thin. Before I could say something, he put me some second socks on my feet of himself. Now we could continue. (I just want to say this: Kale safed my feet more then one time!)

Through the forest 

 National Park 

At HUT 1 we were totally happy, that we could make a bigger break with food eventually. Our nice porter overtook us all on the way and waited already for us, chewing food. Every time with: the phone with music. Kale explained us, that we will climb now only to HUT 2, to make a small break, and after to the exhausted part to the “Fako Mountain Lounge”, our sleepingplace. The moment we left the treeline behind, we had to dance to calm down the mountain and to affect his mood positively towards us. Everybody had two objects, like branches, in the hand and together we sang: “mouya mo mvoko moundoh ne wehya”. After we end with the song, we had to through the objects behind us. And we continued with climbing and I have to say, it became more and more exhausting. Not, because it was steeper, because the air was becoming thinner and it was for me harder to breath. I had the feeling no matter how deep I breath nothing comes inside my lunge.

But the „best“ moment came after! To HUT 2 the way was steep up and the ground was made of small and big stones, they love to slip away under our feet. With much swearing and groaning I went to do the climb up and I was so thankful, that Maria was every time on my side and no matter how many breaks she was there. And after some time, the one of the porter joined us, Julius. He goads and encourage me to go on. He started to stop in every my little breaks (not really less), even if he could do the hole part probably twice up and down in this time. Both of them listened to my grumble about this “Sh**mountain” and that I really would love to reverse and keep me with patience of angels with them. Without both I probably never arrived the “Fako Mountain Lounge”. And only because Maria I did the hole climb up, then although I needed breaks again and again, because of the air and I was groaning, she never left me. Between the climbing we heard Makkaroni (nickname), another porter, in clearly sounds calling: “Vitex, vitex, vitex!”. For me it was from really annoying to funny.

Really proud and groggy we arrived at our night base. In the time the porter made a delicious dinner, we lay our stinky feet up. But it only needs some few minutes until we could make jokes again and Annkathrin and me were dancing. And then the food was ready, and the tents were built. It became cold and we ate our stomach full and we sat on the warm fire. Two of the porter, Julius and Makkaroni, showed me the video of “Vitex”, that I could understand, why Makkaroni sang this the hole time. And what I saw was a very disturbing Video, which was about women which rub their buttox on the genitals of men in the rhythm of the music and the men bouncing with their hips against that. So everything clearly showing what it means. A small discussion between us was the result, if it is the only way to dance with a woman and the boys opinion was of course that it is the best way. But no matter what we thought about the video, this song became the attender on the Mount Cameroon. Until late in the evening, when we lay in the sleepingbacks, on with all our cloths which we could find, we were singing. And everybody heard a “Vitex, vitex, vitex!” becoming louder and louder. Now it’s the time to say sorry to all our neighbours, who we disturbed and annoyed a lot, I’m sure.

On the next morning we started early. With sleeping sand in our eyes and a lamp in our hands we started with the first meters in the high. And the air became thinner. Every time on my side was Maria, who motivated me and was waiting with me when I got no air inside my lunge. After two hours it was enough for us, Annkathrin let herself down to the ground with the words: “I have to eat before I move again.” And Kale brought us the cheese and chocolate cream and bread, and we could eat before we started again. And after a too short time we started climbing. Higher and higher again and we only could see on the white marks at the stones along the way, where it is. But the sunrise and the view were awesome. We saw nowhere something of towns, which were under us, only sky and clouds. And every time when we had the feeling, after this part we are on the highest point and it’s now more flat, we recognized after a short time, NO! It was going up more and more steep. But one time this part had an end too. We arrived at a flat piece of land with a small hut. There we made a break again with bread and chocolate. On flatter ground with strong wind we started the last part up. We all had only one goal: to arrive on this damn summit! But it took again a long time, because only if it’s flatter it doesn’t mean that it’s less strong. It means a longer march, we had to make some meters in height again. And then finally:

We saw the last small mountain, we had to climb! And then we would be on the summit!

With the last power we had, we went up. I can’t describe, which feelings I had when I finally arrived on the summit and to look on this sign, which shows me, that I, Carla Kerbe, a small girl from a sleepy village in Germany, did it, to climb this monstrosity of 4000 meters high.

Our success we celebrated with a small booze. Cheers!

 Long way

 Somewhere there is the summit!

 We did it!

And again, we had to make the descent, after all we wanted to make some meters of height to arrive our sleeping place.

If I had the opinion, that an ascent is difficult, I know today that a descent is more worse. The first part was only a glissade on small Vulcanic stones, in which you had to trench your feet inside, that you don’t fall always on your buttocks. My toes were paining. I had the feeling some of them are broken. And when we finished the first part and we went through the stonedesert, I couldn’t continue. My hiking shoes were too hard, and my toes were pressing the hole time on the strong top. And so it was again Kale, who was my hero, when he put off his shoes and changed it with my hiking shoes. We went through the stonedersert with rain and sunshine, faster going and pains I could handle. But we weren’t really fast. The stone desert seemed to be endless, so far you could see, everything stone and rocks on which there was a way. But we all know, that everything has an end, only the sausage has two.

The porter waited at the end of the stonedesert with fresh, sutted pineapple and small angry faces, because we were too late. But they had easy to talk, because they only went around, not on the summit and down.

Now we went street which was going down small and we all were finished with our nerves. We only wanted to arrive and to put our feet up. We almost had no look again for the beautiful things around us, like the two craters, they suddenly appeared in front of us and we went around them. It was fascinating and wonderful. But we hadn’t a long time there, because it was getting dark and we had a long way before we arrived. So again down, on slippery Vulcanic stone and absolute darkness. We went down with only two torches and we were holding each other that we didn’t loose someone.  We walked between grasses and bushes and were so happy, when a porter was coming up to meet us. Now it’s the time to confess that I was crying. My feet hurt so much, that I wanted to cut them off and my knees only wanted to stop working. And then I saw the hut and when I finally sat, in the protection of the darkness, my tears became to rivers of relief.

The crater

The inside

In this night I felt asleep fast because of my exhaustion and get woke up from my hurting muscles. 

The third day started with a new guide, Jabby! Jabby guided us through the rainforest, we would go through it the hole day. And how everybody knows, the rainforest has his name out of a good reason.  It rained the day over on us many times. At the tree line we came quiet, because we knew that this is the only chance to see an elephant. We continued in silence with small whispering and in company of the sounds from the animals in the forest. Sometimes between the forest disappeared and we walked on lava fields from different years of eruption. It makes an unbelievable feeling, that we could walk now on it, when you think which strong power was doing that and what under this lava could be. And then Jabby heard the elephant and we had to run fast and on the same time quiet. We ran through trees, over slippery ground and nevertheless we couldn’t see one. We were too many people, who smell like human and being loud. We arrived a small plateau, from which we had a nice view on a lake. And then we had the luck to see an antelope, standing and drinking.

 Lake

Again, through the rainforest with rain, we climbed over felt down tress and slipped on the stones of the ground. Everything was too slippery and stony. How I groaned this stones after the tenth time I almost felt down and of course and the end I felt down. The darkness came, and we had to hurry. But it wasn’t easy to go down in the darkness with the slippery ground. With the hurting feet. But with Jabby and the burrow walking stick it went on. And when we finally arrived and we ate spaghetti, we laid down in our tents and slept after one second.

At the next morning it was like to wake up in a cage full of pumas. We were stinking that bad, that we disgusted about ourselves. But Limbe wasn’t far away, so we hurried to go down. And not even 2 hours later we were standing on the beach. We rested our muscles in the waves before we went back to Buea with the car.

From our porter Prince

At this part, I want to give a big thanks to all our porters and guides! Without you I would never had reach and more, I would never came down safely. And we found new friends in you and had much fun!

See you later, alligator!