Packing it all in

We are now back to our usual routine in the office as Joe's parents have gone home. We had a great time together although I think we totally exhausted them they appeared to have a good time. After our trip to the North West we went to Limbe for some compulsory relaxing on the beach which involved some great fun in the spring waters. We then had a day in Buea before heading off to Korup National Park. Korup is one of Africa's oldest rain forests as it survived the last ice age. It was a long dusty road to get there in a jacked up car totally overfilled with 4 in the back and 3 in the front plus the driver. A friend of Genesis was in the nearby town to welcome us and help sort us out. Freda was lovely we had a great time with her and are so thankful for the arrangements she made for us.

One of Freda's arrangements was to get motorbikes the 8km to the park entrance, not sure how keen Ted and Glenys were on this idea but it was fun. We spent about 6 hours in the park with a very knowledgeable guide showing us around. To enter the park we had to cross a rope bridge which was fun!

There are many wildlife in the park but they mostly hide from humans. We saw some elephant poo so had some evidence, we also heard some monkeys and saw the trees moving as they moved. The canopy was so high it was impossible to see them though. We had a great time just walking through the forest seeing all the different trees, some of them huge. We learnt about what can be eaten or used for medicinal purposes. We had a bit of time left at the before the bikes came back for us so relaxed by dipping our feet in the rushing river.

The national park was formed in 1989 as the Cameroon Government recognised what a precious forest it is and the Palm oil plantation was rapidly growing. Had the park not been formed the area would now all be the palm oil plantation.

From here we came home for a night then packed up Glenys and Ted and went for a few relaxing days by the sea. I spent the whole time being not so relaxed in the hotel room with vomiting and diarrhoea. I think Joe and Ted had a great time jumping around on the falls though. I usually have guts of steel so was gutted to be sick but fear not I made a quick recovery with thanks to a few injections from Glenys and am now fighting fit.

At the weekend we spent a day in Douala at our favourite haunt Marche de Fleur for Joe (sorry us) to buy more masks and handicrafts - anyone know a good shipping company? We then said our goodbyes and dropped Ted and Glenys at the airport. We have all had a great time together and were very grateful for their visit. Now its back to the work.