Culinary
Global seasoning
The regional diversity of the country is reflected on the plate or in the bowl. Every Cameroonian – and especially every Cameroonian – is proud of the special features of their own kitchen.
North and south, coast and inland, mountainous region, rainforest region and savannah area, but also town and country, different ethnicities… – all these different influences shape the ingredients and preparation of the diverse dishes, of which only a small selection can be mentioned here:
♦ ” Beignets or Ça va se savoir “, ” Porc braisé avec Frites de Plantains “, ” Chicken DG (Directeur Général) ” – characterize urban cuisine.
♦ “Kono Ngond (Mets de pistache) ” “, ” Ndole ” (= Cameroonian “classic”), ” Poisson braisé à la camerounaise “, – have their home in the south / Littoral.
♦ ” Ndomba “, ” Bobolo (Bâton de manioc) “, ” Nnam Owondo (Pâte d’arachide) “, – come from the center.
♦ ” Koki (Gâteau de haricot) “, “Nah Poh (jaune sauce)”, “Nkui” (“Il faut aimer la personne qui l’a prepared for le consommer”; quotation from H. Fotso), – stand for the western cuisine.
♦ “Bouillie de mil”, ” Kilichi “, ”
Waterfoufou, ” Njama-Njama “, ” Eru “, – are unmistakably Anglophone dishes.
Irvingia gabonensis
And although lavish meat or fish side dishes are usually very welcome, there is also a large selection of purely vegetarian dishes such as Sanga (south and center), Ekomba (center), Folong aux arachides (nationwide) and many more… even original Cameroonian dishes “Fast food” (vegetarian!), Consisting of beignets, beans (” le Jaz [z] “) and bouillie, is now available.
When it comes to drinks, nobody has to limit themselves to industrial soft drinks or the numerous Cameroonian beers. The palette of local soft drinks ranges from coconut milk to a wide variety of fruit juices (orange, mango, pineapple, papaya, guava, prickly annone, tamarind) to Hoyoro (Bissap), Kossam and Njinja. And you can contribute to the preservation of biodiversity by consuming ” Mangues sauvages ” – products, fruits, juice, seeds.
If you want to enjoy traditional alcoholic drinks, you can choose Matango (palm wine) or Bilbil (millet beer).
Money and money transfer
Cameroon’s currency is the F (ranc) CFA BEAC (XAF) (conversion table), 1 euro corresponds to approx. 656 F CFA, 1000 F CFA corresponds to 1.52 euros.
According to healthvv, Cameroon is a country located in Central Africa. It is now possible to withdraw money from ATMs in all major cities; this is usually only possible with a credit card and Visa is recommended here.
Transferring money is often expensive, error-prone and can take some time. The comparison is worthwhile here.
Travel, transportation and traffic
Nid de poule
First things first: Despite state efforts to expand the country’s tourist infrastructure, Cameroon is still underdeveloped in terms of tourism. Although Cameroon has many cultural and scenic sights, and flora and fauna hold numerous treasures, tourist travel is not easy and quickly becomes very expensive, especially if certain comfort and convenience standards are required.
In addition, there are harassment from the police and customs, photography bans, lack of reliability at transport companies, limited accommodation options and poor service in the hotel industry, etc.
In any case, patience, understanding, stress tolerance, improvisation and, last but not least, effective safety management all contribute to the success of the trip.
Traveling by car / bus
The main connections between the provincial capitals are paved, the south-north connection to Ngaoundéré is (still) an exception. The road connections between smaller cities are often unpaved, so the passability is heavily dependent on the weather.
Larger and smaller intercity buses run on almost all routes. You can find them in every design: from the luxury liner to the popular taxi brousse to the reallocated car. However, when selecting the transport company, the road safety of the vehicles should be taken into account.
Road traffic in Cameroon harbors many risks: poor road conditions, vehicles with technical defects, unpredictable obstacles on and on the roads, unpredictable reactions from road users – to name just a few. Serious traffic accidents are the order of the day, but the number of road deaths has been reduced in recent years, also with the help of government measures.
Travel by train
The most important train connection runs from Douala via Yaoundé to Ngaoundéré and thus represents the only, more or less reliable traffic connection from south to north. However, CAMRAIL also has problems with undermined tracks or train derailments. A very serious railway accident occurred at Eseka in October 2016, which paralyzed the Douala-Yaoundé line for the (faster) Inter City trains for almost 4 years.
Travel by plane
Internal flights are currently being operated by the state-owned company, Cameroon Airlines Corporation, which has been operating again since March 2011. The notoriously clammy airline suspended its European connections in 2016 and the flight schedule is otherwise difficult to predict. There are airports in Douala, Yaoundé, Ngaoundéré, Garoua, Maroua and, most recently, in Bamenda. In general, domestic flights are expensive and will certainly remain so.
The bus and train connections are particularly well booked at the beginning and end of the big holidays.
Transcamerounais price list
