Added: 05/22/2006 |
Douala - a Delightful Mosaic of Historic Places and the Most Significant City of CameroonDouala was actually named after a 17th century tribe that settled in the coastal area of Cameroon. With 1,448,300 people, it is the largest city in West Africa and has a richly diverse population that represents more than 130 ethnic groups.
Douala is situated on the southeastern shore of the Wouri River estuary, on the Atlantic coast about 130 miles west of Yaounde. The Wouri Bridge, 5,900 feet long, joins Douala to the banana port of Bonaberi and carries both road and rail traffic to western Cameroon.
Douala is sometimes dubbed "Armpit of Africa" because it is a sweaty place. It lacks major sights, but the Akwa district is lively enough and has quite some good African restaurants.
The city is connected by road to all major towns in Cameroon, has rail links to Kumba, Nkongsamba, Yaounde, and Ngaoundere, and is served by an international airport. One of the major industrial centers of central Africa, Douala houses breweries, textile factories, and palm-oil, soap, and food-processing plants. It also produces building materials, metalwork, plastics, glass, paper, bicycles, and timber products. Other activities include boat and ship repairing, railway engineering, and radio assembly. Offshore reserves of natural gas had not been exploited by the mid-1990s.
Douala is not the capital of Cameroon, but the most significant city by its population, and by its economic role. Douala has an airport and extensive docks, and is a terminus for two railway lines extending into the interior. Douala's port handles some 95 percent of the country's maritime traffic, and is second only to Kinshasa as Central Africa's largest city.
Douala is divided into quarters or quartiers: Akwa, is the center of the city and the place where you will be spending most of your time, the Stand Municipal Artisanal, and Banajo the administrative district. The major attraction in town is the Hotel Akwa Palace. To sit on the terrace and have coffee is the best way to spend a relaxing morning. The Musee de Doula is in the Hotel de Ville on the second floor. It gives you a good intro in Bamoun and Bamileke art.
Close to the Museum is the Place du Gouvernement with its "Chinese Pagoda" - built by Rudlof Douala Manga Bell, a local ruler who was executed by the Germans in 1914. Daytrips from Douala can be made to the mountain resort of Mt Abu and to the beach resort of Limbe both only an hour away. Better beaches are in Kribi three to four hours by bush taxi.
Douala is mainly an export port for timber, cocoa, coffee, bananas, cotton and aluminum. Douala's deepwater port handles most of the country's overseas trade. It has special installations for handling timber products, bananas, gasoline, and bauxite, as well as fishing facilities. Imports include chemicals, fuel, cereals and building equipment.
Douala is the sort of place you can tell your kids about visiting when you are old. There is no established tourist industry in the area, so you will have to make your own entertainment, but if you do, you can experience a world that is a million miles away from Europe or the US today.
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