Cameroon Travel Forum

I am hoping to visit my son who is serving in Peace Corps in Cameroon. I have no set time to do this; simply want to find out 1) how do I even go about getting to Cameroon? and 2) What is this going to cost me?

He is living in Hina in the Extreme North Province. He says he is easily 5-7 days from the U.S., so his thinking is that we will meet in a larger, easier to reach location. Any advice on that?

Or, am I foolish to think I can get to Cameroon since I am not really a world traveler? The extent of world traveling is England and Wales.

Thanks,
D. L.

I'm not quite sure how anyone is supposed to advise you on getting to Cameroon when we don't know where you want to travel from! You don't mention it, even if there may be a clue in "5-7 days from the U.S." and your place of residence is not given in your profile. Also: how did your son get there???
I would suggest you fly to Yaounde or Douala and he could come down from Hina to meet you. Cameroon Airlines flies from Paris CDG and you could get there from most American cities with AA. This gives you more ideas:
http://www.cameroonconsul.com/howto.html

P.S. It seems American also flies to Yaounde, or you might consider meeting in Johannesburg, you can fly there with Delta from Atlanta or with S. African Airways from Washington Dulles, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg_International_Airport for list of airlines serving OR Tambo Airport.
Once you have done your research, I would advise you to go to a travel agent and see if they can do any better.
As for being foolish to think you can get to Cameroon - you pays your money (I have no idea how much, you will have to research different possibilities and possibly try different dates), you get on the plane, you endure, you get off the plane - that's all there is to it! (Well of course you will have your jabs etc. before you go, you need a Yellow Fever injection for Africa.) And then you WILL be a world traveller.

Hi,

I traveled to Cameroon last year (Oct 2005 to April 2006) from Canada, and my wife visited in November 2005. The cheapest ticket she could find was with KLM (toronto -> Amsterdam) then Kenya Airlines (Amsterdam -> Kenya -> Douala). She had a 12 hr layover in Amsterdam, and a 4hr stop in Kenya. Her return fare was about $2500 Canadian through expedia.com I think. For about $2900 Canadian return, I did Toronto -> Paris -> Yaounde, which was much faster -only 5 hrs in Paris then straight to Cameroon. A bit more expensive, but definitely worth it considering I spent less time in the air.

Once in Cameroon, you can travel to the north via train. From Yaounde to Gaoundere, which is as far north as the train will take you, it will cost you 25,000 cfa and take about 18 hrs traveling time, depending on how often the train stops. Also, make sure you purchase a ticket for the sleeping compartments, not first class, since first class are just normal seats -like the ones in airlines-. 25,000 cfa will get you a bunk bed, and considering how long the trip is, is worth the extra cost.

I never traveled past Gaoundere, but from Gaoundere to Garoua, another city in the extreme north, by bus I believe it is about 5 hrs in bus.

I definitely recommend you meet with your son in a larger city first, perhaps Yaounde?. Specially if you have never traveled around much. How's your french? I only speak english, and often felt at a loss to communicate in Cameroon, since in only two provinces they speak English.

If you have other questions, send me a line (rolandomartell@hotmail.com). My trip to cameroon was an amazing experience and would recommend it to anyone!

Regards,

Rolando

1,000 cfa ~ 2 USD
10,000 cfa ~ 20 USD
etc...

hi, hope i'm not too late
i think you can get to cameroon by airlines like
air france or brussell airways
but you'll have to arrange another fly to the north provinces
with local airlines
you'll be going to city call Maroua that as far as the plane can go
from there it will be a road journey to kousseri.

thanks tagnal