I got stuck on the train
I got stuck on the train coming north from Bamenda. I had THE most eventful journey home. I left Tuesday teatime and all was well until just after 7.30am the following morning when we were perhaps 3 hours out of Ngoundere and I had just had a full cooked breakfast which means an omelette, but thank God I did anyway. The train stops and we discover there has been a derailment of 4 goods wagons further up the line. Most of the line other than the bit where the 2 trains swop over in the middle of the night is single track. We wait to see if they can right the wagons or will send out buses. 1,000 plus people wait in the middle of nowhere for 15 hours. After about 4 hours a 4×4 turns up & takes off the government minister. After about 12 hours we got a small loaf of bread, a tin of sardines and a bottle of water, but we were 1st class – I’m not sure 2nd class got anything. Luckily I already had a bottle of water and peanuts and when the train stops in stations en route people run along the wagons selling things so I also had mandarins and bananas. I was also in a 4 berth sleeper with 3 very assertive women who got off the train, walked across the open country and found a house with a sort of shower and we all had a shower! I also had 2 very good books. It gets dark at 6.30pm and for a while we all sat in total darkness until someone fixed a generator.
At about 10.30pm buses arrived with the people who would normally have got on the train at Ngoundere at 6pm to be taken to Yaounde. We all get off the train. They clean the train and the new people get on, but many buses did not arrive and the train left practically empty. The road was a mud track and it takes about 8 hours to get to Ngoundere then we have 6-8 hours after that. I got back to Maroua about 6pm Thursday. I did think, what if this happens at Christmas, as the airport from Maroua has ceased functioning altogether at the moment so this is literally the only way to get back down the country.
Public toilets are extremely rare. Buses will stop in the middle of nowhere and men and women get out and just pee or poo en masse in front of each other. Basically I try and eat and drink the minimum when I travel because I would have to be desperate to do this.