Thursday, May 5th was Ascension Day, which is a national holiday in Cameroon. Both Teresa and I had the day off, so we went together to one of my favorite places on the outskirts of Yaoundé: Nkolbisson. Now, French speakers would call Nkolbisson a “colline” which means hill, but from growing up near the Smokies and Blue-Ridge mountains, I’m willing to call it a mountain.
The trek I know (and prefer) starts outside of an agricultural research center (foreground), climbing through fields and brush up to a crevice on the left side of the hill (mountain). Once inside the crevice, a little light rock-climbing and some clambering bring you up to a cocoa plantation, and out onto a large flat rock for a wonderful view. The descent is a steep-yet-quick slide down to a neighborhood on the other side.
Teresa walks a fallen tree to enter the forest.
A short-yet-challenging detour…
…brings us to a small cave above our heads.
A little bush-whacking with my trusty machete…
…and we arrive at the most fun part.
…which Teresa conquered without hesitation!
One last little scramble brings us to the cocao trees…
…and onto the bald ridge-line.
T and the view South.
M and the view Northwest.
The happy couple and an obligatory selfie!
The descent was not without challenges, even Matthew slipped and fell!
All in all, it was a great day, the weather was great, the company even better, and the little scrapes from briers were well worth the view!
Matthew and Teresa's Blog 