Without a Nigerian visa, we will have to find an alternative way to get from Cameroon to Benin. Perhaps we can, whilst the rest of our group continues into Nigeria, stay behind in Cameroon, spend a few days there visiting whatever is worthwhile, and then fly to Benin?
There are flights from Douala, Cameroon’s commercial capital, to Cotonou, in Benin. Some take 4 hrs, others 14, with lots of stops in between, but on some days there appears to be a direct flight, 1.5 hrs only. The problem is, of course, that we cannot book this yet. We don’t know exactly when we will be arriving in Cameroon, and even less so, when the group has passed through Nigeria – without us – and will arrive in Benin. But to be honest, the idea of not having to go through Nigeria, with its many corrupt officials manning the many extortionist road blocks, where, as our travel leader Alonso puts it, we may frequently have to pay for certain ‘formalities’, that idea is not altogether unappealing.
Actually, we already have a preliminary plan. With the group we pass through Ngaoundere, roughly in the middle of Cameroon, from where we can pick up a night train to the capital, Yaounde. We can then make our way, in a week, or so, through some attractive towns in the western hills to Limbe on the coast, and then to Douala. Cannot be that difficult, I think, with taxis and other forms of public transport.
Of course, this plan means we do incur extra costs, especially the extra flight. But on the other hand, we save our Nigerian visa costs, which would have amounted to some 196 US$ each for the visa alone, plus another 50 to 100 US$ handling costs. No small matter either!
next, the last about the visas (really!): 14 Feb.
It look likes of you are happy not to go to Nigeria with all his problems ?