Boubandjida National Park Cameroon

My other trip was to Boubandjida National Park and the journey was epic. First of all we had a 5 hour journey in the bus to Garoua, and an accident en route where a double lorry that did not even have a windscreen swayed across the road and sliced off the back right section of the bus when we were overtaking. Luckily no one was hurt and the drivers are generally very careful with their atrocious vehicles.   We stayed the night in the boiling hot catholic mission. If I can’t sleep outside and there is no through breeze I wake up in a pool of sweat unable to breathe. The next day we got a 4X4 and drove for six hours, only one hour on paved roads with the roads steadily worsening to vertical inclines into and out of dry river beds. Finally, having been the only vehicle on the road for the last three hours we got to this magical encampment on a dry river bed, no swimming pool or air con, but a beautiful, romantic setting surrounded by flowers and birds and where you could sit and have a cold beer. During that afternoon and the next morning we were taken by a guide and sometimes on foot and saw lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, about six types of antelope, baboons, monkeys and wart hogs. You don’t see the large groups like J2 and I saw at Etosha, Namibia because the vegetation is so lush and they fade into the landscape, but what you do get to see is fat, happy looking animals in an astonishingly beautiful setting and you are an elite. There were two other French people in the park who were filming for an ONG. The park shuts in June until December because the rains will make the paths impassable. There are also shooting programmes, but these are very expensive and they only shoot one elephant a year in the park.