December 13th or the Twin Lakes

I started my two day hike from a lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere. Admittedly a little over my price range I treated myself with this because this hotel was the base for this hike and provided "trustworthy" guids. I had the whole hotel to myself which made me feel weird on so many levels. Not only because everyone working there knew my schedule and my habits. Oh well. 

John* and I started early. He marched in a strong rhythm- too fast for me in this humid heat. I was looking forward to climbing a little bit higher and the cooler climate. Even though I considered him trustworthy he was still very Cameroonian in terms of not exactly telling me the plan and  "no worries, no worries" instead. One just always has to trust that there are no worries because if you ask for the exact plan you will get a different version every time. 

Anyhow. The volcanic landscape was beautiful. Different again to Mount Cameroon. We came across small craters, walked through rain forests and banana and coffee plantages. It was unbelievably exhausting, the hike was not really tough but the weather and the weight of my backpack made it rough.

I relaxed a little bit once we reached the first village because I felt the fresh breeze.

After about 3 hours we reached the entrance to the crater, our destination. 

We were standing high up with an amazing view of the huge crater and the female of the two lakes. I don't know if it was the exhaustion but my breath was taken. 

We started the descend to the lakes. The female on my right side, the male on my left we walked on hills inbetween. What a wonderful view. I can't describe it with words so I won't even try. (Pictures will follow, the connection sometimes it too bad)

I was the only tourist that day there so I bathed all alone in this huge lake while two fishermen fished. What a magical place, what a magical moment.

We made our way across the crater to the village of the Mouroukou people where we would spend the night. I made dinner over the fire in a hut with the wife of the village chief in the dark and mounted my tent. A while I sat outside with my sleeping bag and laid under the stars. I really had to think hard if I have ever seen a sky as clear and as beautiful before. It was completely calm while I laid there watching the stars. It was so clear I saw lots of shooting stars. But what do you wish for in a moment like this?

*John is a name I call all tour guides. I don't really know why, it just fits. And a lot of them are actually called John