Now
that you have disembarked in your journey to Cameroon, the heart of Africa, where do
find yourself? You are certainly at the doorsteps of the city of Douala.
You are stepping into Douala because it is also the
gateway to Cameroon. In the distant picturesque background is the Cameroon
Mountain, an imposing volcanic outcrop from the Atlantic Ocean that features
layers of forest, grassland and rocky desert in its entire altitude. You will
also find beautiful creeks, rivers and streams that crisscross and surround
Douala. These unique features give the area its beauty and lustrous
nature—something admirers of nature always marvel at whenever they view the
city from the air, the sea or from land.
Now, brace yourself for the challenge of walking into
a unique unknown by opening the gates of Cameroon through the soul of Douala.
Douala is the city where the German colonial
administration sought to build a cross of Berlin, Leipzig and Hanover in
Africa, leaving behind an impressive array of architectural monuments as a
stamp of their presence in the land, an exploit that lasted three decades and
made Douala the melting pot of multi-ethnic German Kamerun.
The French also embarked on an ambitious project of
making Douala a sub-Saharan Paris after they kicked the Germans out of the city
in 1916. After all, the machinery of the Free French forces in Sub-Saharan
Africa was molded here and Jacques-Philippe LeClerc made his debut in the city,
eventually becoming the finest French general in the field during the Second
World War.
Now that you have walked into Cameroon, what do you
find going on inside the heart of Douala? If you perk your head a little
higher, you will find a modest one storey building standing in the northwestern
portion of the neighborhood of Bali, close to Akwa.
They say the Akwa neighborhood has been popular for
over a century now. It hosts Douala’s popular waterfront and main thoroughfare
where you will find some of Cameroon’s famous restaurants, bistros, bars,
hotels, coffee houses and French-style bakeries and nightclubs—all within
commanding view of the sea, creeks and swamps. It is the part of the city
frequented by the city's large expatriate population and tourists, and those
Cameroonians with a taste for contemporary trends. They say the city’s
inhabitants regard Akwa as their mirror to the rest of the world.
