December, 2011: Douala, Cameroun

Before I went to West Africa, I was familiar with Nigeria and Cameroon only because of their national football teams. The Nigerian team is the Super Eagles, and the Cameroon one, Les Lions Indomptables. Both were great teams during the 1990s, featuring in quite a few of the finals during that, and subsequent, decade. But, things seem to have taken a downward slide in recent years for both teams. Both didn't even make it into the finals of the African Cup of Nations.

I arrive in Douala in Cameroon from Lagos in Nigeria. Both are not the capital city of their respective countries (the honour goes to Abuja in Nigeria, and Yaounde in Cameroon), but both are the industrial and commercial centre. Both are port cities near the water: the Wouri River for Douala, and the Atlantic Ocean in the case of Lagos.

I arrived in Douala on a Saturday. And the next day, walking the street of Boulevard de la Liberte, the busiest street in Douala, it was quite obvious the Cameroon observe the Sunday rest day rather strictly. This is similar to the Nigerian in Lagos.
But here, the similarity stops. Nigeria is a ex-British colony. Cameroon was a German colony, which then ends up on the laps of the French and British after Germany's defeat in the 1st World War. But the influence of the French is stronger here, judging by the ratio of French newspapers to English ones found on the magazine stalls.

Here, French is spoken more than English. The menu are largely in French. Having taken 1 term of French in the University, I have always thought of French as a more 'flowery' language than English. Every time the French teacher, a petite French woman usually in a sundress, speaks, it was always in a sing-song manner.

This difference in the languages spoken seems to have influence the mannerism of the people. The more straitlaced English, combined with the warrior tribal traditional of the Nigerian in Lagos gave the English they spoke there a coarser edge. Many times, I have encountered Nigerian ending their sentence with a "do you understand what I am saying!!!", as if I am too dim to understand a point they are making, when I perfectly understood what they were saying. While the French the Cameoon spoke gave them a gentler mannerism. Even the men, most of those I encountered at least, can be describe as 'soft-spoken'.
The difference doesn't end in the language and mannerism. The Cameroonians seems to be enjoying life better than the Nigerian. Of course, the rich Nigerians can be seen flauting their wealth in Lagos, but the Cameroonians, rich and poor, seems to be taking live much easier. The Nigeria poor in Lagos can easily be seen trying hard to make a living in Lagos. On the road, young men are paddling all sorts of goods to driver trapped in the traffic jam. I hardly see such street paddlers on the streets of Douala. In fact, even in what looks like the poorer part of the city, it is easy to see simple pubs (some operating out of dilapidated huts, with tables right by the pavement) starting business in the early evening, with male clients drinking beer from the bottles and chatting up the ladies. And the music blasted from the stereo in the pub. On TV too, there are a lot of singing and dancing.
In Lagos, I always find it strange that it is rather difficult to find children and women on the road. The streets here seems to be far to tough for the women and children. But, here in Douala, women and kids weave in and out of the traffic with the men.
And one difference that I found to my liking, is the food in Cameroon. The French probably did a better job of passing on their culinary skill then the British.
At the end of a day of dusty road, pothots and traffic jam, there is always good food to look forward to in the restaurant near the hotels.
And if all fails, the Cameroonians, like the Vietnamese and Cambodians (all past French colony subjects) can do really good pastries.
I kind of suspect thatwhat is considered a beautiful woman is considerably different in Nigeria and Cameroon. In Douala, the waitresses are mostly slim and tall, and squeezed into a white blouse and black pencil skirt, the color scheme of a Frenchmaid.