Today was our second and last day in Cameroon. We went ashore at the northern town of Limbe and set out on several different excursions. Some of us visited the beautiful botanical gardens near the port and had a chance to see a variety of interesting tropical plants and some beautiful birds. Some of us went to the Tiko banana packaging plant to learn the process of handling bananas from tree to market. We also visited the Limbe Wildlife Center where a number of gorillas, chimpanzees, Drills, Mandrills and monkeys are housed after being rescued from poachers and bushmeat hunters.
Several strong souls also hiked the slopes of Mt. Cameroon, the 13,309’ (4095m) volcano which provides a spectacular backdrop to Limbe. Mt. Cameroon lies on the Cameroon volcanic line, which is also the site for the islands of São Tomé and Principe which we visited in the past few days. The line runs all the way to the island of St. Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic.
Those who started at the botanical gardens finished the day by walking up the slope of the lava which erupted from Mt. Cameroon in 1999-2000. This lava is quite fresh, but has already been colonized by abundant plants and provides a beautiful vista next to an extensive oil palm plantation which barely escaped being buried by the advancing lava.
Those of us who climbed higher on Mt. Cameroon also encountered a magnificent chameleon and enjoyed some great birding in addition to a quite aerobic outing.
