By Mofor Samuel
Going by its beautiful sandy beaches from Londji to Kribi itself, one realizes that the Germans had every reason to try to dispossess the native Batanga people from their fatherland. The wicked war and harassment carried out on the people send them fleeing to seek refuge in Victoria, Bolifamba, (Mile 16), and far off Ndian division. Today there is Ngolo Batanga. These people have historical links with the Batangas of Kribi.
As one makes one’s entry to town, one is greeted by a number of lodging houses- call them hotels, motels, inns etc. they are either constructed across the main road overlooking the ocean or beside the shore. The sandy beaches with their golden colour are only interrupted by the several streams making their way into the ocean and islands of rock masses.
Along the coastline, but for coconut trees, fishermen and their canoes, buyam-sellam selling fresh and dry fish, there is this proliferation of the famous boukarous where roasted fish and drinks are sold to visitors and tourists. Make sure your pocket is heavy with bank notes before daring to go for a bite or a drink in the boukarous. The reason being that most of those who frequent these boukarous are considered as tourists or those who have come to have a nice time, who pay without complaining.
As one leaves the seaside for the town, one is welcomed by another set of recreation and restauration facilities – beer palours and bars. They take the cue from the boukarous, given that when it becomes dark, most people no longer find it secure by the coast. Just like in the boukarous, one has to be loaded with bank notes to be able to withstand the demands of these bars. Most of the customers are mostly whites- expatriates, tourists, and other well-to- do men in town. The main difference with the boukarous is that they are more secured, organized and customers have facilities like Cable TV images, beautiful decorations, light music and other cultural attractions, not leaving out servants at their disposal. Almost all the recreation or relaxation houses are along the major road heading towards the coastline. Roasting activity is accompanied by cooked food mostly Cameroonian dishes and a few foreign ones.
Further into the heart of the town, that is, heading towards Carrefour Kingue, there is a proliferation of business houses, -cyber cafes, hardware shops, bookshops, documentation centres, provision stores, the Nkolbiteng market and other petty businesses.
Carrefour Kingue is very lively and busy at night as far as the common man is concerned. Kribi by night takes a different dimension in this particular area as from 10 pm. It is a “come and see.” The effective presence of drinking houses , women roasting fish (local and foreign), men roasting meat, hawkers selling kola nuts, bitter kola, cigarettes; call boxes at the disposal of those who want to get into contact with friends and “customers” , motor taxi men dropping and picking up passengers, free women advertising themselves to potential customers, couples sipping beer, eating roasted fish or meat, other negotiating for the cost per night before accompanying their potential catches to where they have to pass the night, and some idling around with the intention of having a fast one from anyone who is distracted for their cell phones or wallets to be snatched. In fact the whole area at night is as busy as a bee hive.
That does not mean that life is cheap and affordable, on the contrary, Kribi is very expensive. The situation is even worst now that there is this wahala of reduction of the prices of basic commodities.
Don’t be fooled to fall in that trap. Make sure for those who can afford to always take some provision along with you if you intend to make more than a week in town or you might yourself wanting.
This commentator realized that a fruit seller will rather allow fruits meant to be sold to get rotten and thrown away than sell it at a reduced price. Worst still, if one wants to buy fruits like pears, one has to be very careful, for there is the possibility of the pears being cooked as used to be the case with Douala or harvested before they get ready. Do not be surprised to buy pears looking from without only to discover that they are rotten within. That too, is another side of Kribi not only expensive but sellers can be very dubious and crafty.
Another very interesting thing about the town concerns the very few taxi cabs that ply the streets. Do not look at their number plates or else you will have the feeling they are not of the town not to talk of the province. The simple fact is that the number plates range form (SW) South West, (LT) Littoral, (CE) Centre, and of course (SU) Sud, representing the South province. At the time of writing this paper it was not clear whether the door numbers were being issued irrespective of the province indicated on the number plates. That too is Cameroon, a land of disorder and near anarchy where every Tom and Dick tries to impose themselves to others.
The climate is highly tropical with very hot dry season and very wet rainy season. Kribi is found in the heart of the equatorial forest but most of the land along the road to Kribi is deprived of trees, with the very few ones being threatened by man’s activities in the city itself, a few patchwork of forest is still surviving but this does not prevent loggers from continuing to fell the very young timber for export. Without necessarily being an expert in lumbering, the sizes of the logs being transported through Kribi tells one that the loggers will stop at nothing to cart away anything timber from the Cameroonian equatorial forest. Oh! my God where did we go wrong?
No comments:
Post a Comment