I would like to travel from Calabar to Douala. Does anyone know the best way to do it by public transportation?

We shipped our bike and ourselves from Calabar by ferry into Tiko, outside Douala (halfway towards Limbe, don't ask why, that's where they ferry went to!). We organised everything ourselves at the ferry dock, but it wasn't easy. There were a lot of helpers around who can provide assistance - we try not to do this as much as possible, but it can be hard to avoid and we did end up using one guy for a very small charge for some of the process. There was a gate-opening fee just to get into Calabar dock but when we said we were just scoping prices, we got in free. When changing money, we got advice from a local bank about how much fees should be just for ourselves, so ask around before you get to the dock so you have negotiating power!

You will need to be firm about pricing if taking your bike - we had to do a lot of negotiation to get on ferry and then had some hassles at the Tiko end. Assisting with unloading the ferry at the other end while waiting for the bike to be ready for several hours actually scored us a free lift-off (yes, 20 guys lifted bike!) instead of the massive charge they tried initially. Be patient and calm, and good things come your way!

In a lot of ways, it would have been easier to take the overland route instead, especially as we found out later the more northern route was not supposed to be as bad as the more commonly taken southern route. Who knows what it is like now - we were there in early 2010 and everywhere across Africa was getting paved as we went!

Good luck with your trip.
Tam

We're on two endureo bikes currently in Lagos. We got the Cameroon visa and are thinking of crossing the mainland border. However reports from end of last year say the border was closed due to ebola and terrorism.

Does anyone know what is the situation recently. According to the map it seems there are two crossings one in Ekok in the north and Ekang in the south coming from Calabar. Is there any difference to road condition and border hassle?

__________________
London to Bamako, Oct-Nov 2009, KTM 640 Adventure + DR650SE
Lagos to Libreville, Dec 2015, KTM 640 + DR650

We crossed when the border was officially closed, in the beginning of this year. Was easy, even it was closed. As far as I have heard, it is still closed no one know why, but apparently it is still very easy to cross. So absolutely go for it.
Ekok road is good. Ekang apparently not too good. On the other hand you are with bikes so should be easy.

Kristox, how was the border and which one did you cross? I'm debating which crossing to take next week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We haven't crossed yet, we came to the Calabar carnival, which is also the largest biker fest in Nigeria - 200+ bikers here already more coming on Sunday.

Planning to take the Ekok northern crossing later next week. Heard promising reports from people who passed earlier in the year. DM, maybe we meet on the road.

__________________
London to Bamako, Oct-Nov 2009, KTM 640 Adventure + DR650SE
Lagos to Libreville, Dec 2015, KTM 640 + DR650

Ekok to Mamfe in Cameroon hopefully its going to be dry otherwise it could well be 70 kms of misery......ENJOY

A bit out of date but I crossed into Cameroon from Nigeria, on a motorcycle, in Mar-14, on the Ekom to Mamfe road, without a visa in advance. Stamped out of Nigeria at N 05°48.685’, E008°50.907’, crossed river and was told at the first Cameroon checkpoint to head up the hill to the main immigration office at N05°48.881’, E008°51.474’ where I was issued with a 5 day Cameroon transit visa, on the spot, for no charge.

The road on the Nigerian side is perfect, ignoring the potholes. There's plenty of dirt to the east but good running in the dry.

Hey, I can be even more out of date.

I rode that same road almost 38 years ago.

Ride was memorable due to the large herds of (large) antelope grazing by the road once I crossed the border.

__________________
Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

Kristox, hope you enjoyed the festival. In Limbé now, let me know if you're around.

I crossed yesterday at Ekok. They would not issue a visa on the spot. This I know because two days earlier I walked across the bridge and asked the officials on the other side. I specifically asked about a transit visa to no avail. I was expecting the consulate in calabar to be closed until the 7th because it was closed on Monday after Christmas and assumed it would be closed that week; and knew the embassy in Abuja would be closed Jan 1-6. Anyway, I was turned away so had to return to calabar. Luckily they were open on Tuesday from 9:30 (three pictures, one form, 18k naira / 95euro, 10 minutes).

The road from Ekok to Mamfe is newly paved and in perfect condition. Very little traffic compared to Nigeria.

The road from Mamfe to Limbé will soon be paved (many road crews currently operating). It's pretty rough now but doable and very scenic. A full day's ride for me.

The border itself wasn't a big deal (0 paid; maybe two hours total) although the Cameroon side was particularly disorganized and inefficient. The passavant/TIP was free.

Be sure to spend all your Naira before arriving as their exchange was very bad (10k Naira gets you 25k CFA whereas it should get 30k). I think it would be hard to change at banks in Mamfe by the looks of it.

Sadly, I saw no antelope.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is very good news...they finally paved it

You are right bbevan, banks don't change Naira in Mamfe. I managed to change mine with some help from a local guy (black market) and the rate was really bad.

I can confirm exactly what @bbevan said.

We crossed Ekok-Mamfe on 1st Jan 2016. There are 3 immigration checkpoints on the Nigerian side, in all cases they ask questions and write a little essay on a random white piece of paper. No questions asked about the bikes - one UK plate, one Estonian plate (there was nothing in the passports as we shipped to Lagos).

They check the Cameroon visa at the gate on the bridge, write their notes, then up the hill write a little essay again and once again when you leave the village. No docs asked for the bikes, didn't mark the bikes in the passport.

The road all the way to Bamenda is brand new and reminds of driving up to Swiss alps and it is entirely empty. The north "ring road" from Bamenda is old tarmac with worse than normal potholes. Road from Bafoussam to Yaounde is good tarmac with low to medium pothole frequency.

Now trying to get Gabon visa or failing that Rep Congo in Yaounde. @bbevan, ping if you're planning to pass through here.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

__________________
London to Bamako, Oct-Nov 2009, KTM 640 Adventure + DR650SE
Lagos to Libreville, Dec 2015, KTM 640 + DR650

Unfortunately I used the Ekok road back in 2012, they had started road construction on the Cameroonian side but I still had to contend with this. My poor LC was just too fat!!

Cool pics Danny
It does not look too wet though
How long did it take you to do the Ekok to Mamfe stretch?

Once past that shitty section of road above the drive to Mamfe was only three or so hours, although we did break up the journey and bush camped in Cameroon as we did not get to Ekok till last afternoon and spent at least an hour digging the car out. We did our trip in 2012 and the Chinese has just finished clearing a track through the jungle but at least we had the choice of driving along the temporary construction roads that were in reasonably good shape. If it is all tarmac now it would probably take less then an hour.