The wanderlust has got me... by the belly-aching fire. - Robert W. Service

6 September 2019, Boumnyebel to Pouma, 41.35km
Le Jardin d’Eden Hotel 15,000CFA (R375)  

BRIBE! Today, for the first time in over six months of cycling through Africa, we were harassed for money by several ministry of transport officials manning a permanent roadblock at the village of Ndoupe. Once I work out how to do so, I will add a warning to the iOverlander app, a protest and heads-up to other travellers (don’t you just LOVE modern technology?).
Several men standing on the verge beside a hut began to blow their whistles long before we reached them, indicating in no uncertain terms that we were to stop. We did so, greeting pleasantly as we always do, though both of us hate these uncalled for and unnecessary points from which the citizens of a country are hassled. I was ahead of Charl and stopped on the verge leaving room for him to stop beside me. He was motioned forward, further off the road, then each of us were essentially separately harangued by an official joined by one or two acolytes. Charl’s guy asked for dollars, then euros, then central African francs (CFAs), then chocolate, seeing an empty packet on Charl’s handlebar bag. Charl said he had no dollars or euros or chocolate and only a few CFAs. My guy demanded “money”. When I asked what for, he said so I did not “make a mistake”. I tried to clarify what he meant by “mistake” and he threatened to hold the bikes while we acquired money. I told him we do not pay money and he became agitated. Just then another official exited the hut, and Charl shook his rather limp hand. The man asked where we had come from and where we were headed, the usual questions we get at roadblocks, then said we could go. As Charl began to walk away, I followed, with my guy calling “no, no”. As none of the others joined his protests, we ignored him and proceeded on our way.
We have been pleasantly surprised that we have encountered no corruption and almost no officiousness at the points at which we have had contact with police, gendarmes, customs, immigration, ministerial officials, consuls, and a slew of others. There are far too many extraneous controls for our liking, but at almost every single one we have encountered friendly, polite, helpful officials, more curious than actively carrying out their required duties vis-a-vis foreign tourists (checking and recording passport details at roadblocks, for example). As a bribe demand must be accompanied by a threat to exercise power (or it is just a form of begging), the thought of more incidents such as today’s does not make me happy. We are recording bribe incidents, or lack thereof. It will be interesting to see the final count…
We have divided our ride to Douala into short sections, essentially dictated, except for Day 1, by accommodation availability. Had a short ride to Pouma today; another two days will get us to Douala and our flight to Benin.
A jack hammer at work in our room last night would have been only marginally louder than the disco below us on opening night, with dancing until 05:00. So loud was the music, and so insistent the base, that our bed vibrated (not nearly as pleasant as that may sound). Our host told us this morning that the loud music was intended to attract customers to the admittedly up-market venue. The old bar across the road, not to be outdone, too upped its music volume. Between the two and the fan running in our room to cool it, it was a strident night. We managed to get some sleep, but not as much as we would have liked. We are thrilled to find that the Le Jardin d’Eden is sited away from the main street through Pouma, in a quiet garden setting with only birds disrupting the stillness. A little overpriced at 20,000CFA, we were glad to negotiate the price down to 15,000CFA.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…