I just returned from a trip to Cameroon. Cameroon does not have charter planes by government order . One is forced to use Cam Air. In order to prepare for any future use, I’d like to disclose my personal experience.

I arrived in Cameroon. A little late but we got there no problem. We had to spend the night in Douala . We were to be picked up the next morning to catch our Cam Air flight to Garoua.

We get to the airport . It is a madhouse. Hotter than hell. We are told there will be a delay. No problem. Subsequently we are told that they will not fly that day . Back to the hotel we go.

I am all packed and ready to go early the next morning . I get a call . Cam Air is not going to fly that day . Wonderful. I get to spend another day in beautiful downtown Douala.

The next morning , we were able to fly to Garoua . I am down 2 hunting days. I am sure I will never recover the money for these lost days . It was substantial. Approximately $10,000.

We head to the camp and proceed with the safari . I was pretty successful. I wanted to leave early so I could go a day or two to the SCI convention. This basically proved to be impossible.

We head back to Garoua the day before we are to fly out. On the day of departure , we get word to leave early as they might decide to fly early . Off we go. It is hotter than hell in the airport .

At some stage point , we realize we are not leaving early. Thereafter, we learned that a Cam Air was going to make an unscheduled flight to Youande BEFORE they took us . After a 6 hour wait , we finally departed .

I made my international flights but just barely. My international flight was at 11:55 PM. I was sweaty, dirty and dressed in safari clothing . Had I tried to change, I likely would have missed the flight.

If you go to Cameroon and you must fly Cam Air, I’d recommend adding a day on both ends of the trip to help with these issues .

We were fortunate that our flight to Garoua left on its scheduled day, even though it was hours late.

Our flight back from Garoua to Douala was also cancelled on our scheduled day. We all had to stay an extra day, I think in the same hotel as Larry just did. At least they had good food and clean beds. The bathrooms not so great.

Guav Johnson mentioned to us at some point while we were waiting that Cam Air often cancels or delays flights, so he learned to overnight in Douala in order to not have to re-book his flight home. When I got home I told Shawn Kennedy to be sure to always plan on a 1-day layover for all of her clients in Douala due to Cam Air. I was surprised she hadn’t heard this before.

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Larry, You seem to be having a bad run on airlines of late - Iceland Air and now Cam Air!

Where are you hunting next ??

Just pulling your leg!

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quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
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Larry, You seem to be having a bad run on airlines of late - Iceland Air and now Cam Air!

Where are you hunting next ??

Just pulling your leg!

.

To be fair Iceland was weather related .


I also had to cancel a bird hunt in Spain due to a hurricane locally .

Larry,

Thank you for sharing your recent experience. For me it is incredibly timely and helpful. I leave for Cameroon on Saturday. I arrive in Douala late on Sunday and am scheduled to head to Garoua on Monday, although, my flight has already been pushed back from departing at 10:30 AM until 3:30 PM on Monday. I am assuming if my flight even goes on Monday, that I will be forced to spend the night in Garoua (unless the PH is willing to brave the roads at night).

If you don't mind, I had a couple quick questions...

On the flight between Douala and Garoua, did you stop at another city? If so, did you have to deplane? I just noticed my listed flight time seems long (3+ hours).

In Douala, I am assuming Club Faune had someone assist you upon arrival. I am hunting with a different company (Safaria) but they orchestrated a meet and greet on arrival via Mathias Michel. If you had someone assist you, where did they meet you in the airport? After customs in baggage? I'm just trying to prepare myself for the chaos I understand Douala to be...

Thanks in advance!

quote:

Originally posted by PAGuardian:
Larry,

Thank you for sharing your recent experience. For me it is incredibly timely and helpful. I leave for Cameroon on Saturday. I arrive in Douala late on Sunday and am scheduled to head to Garoua on Monday, although, my flight has already been pushed back from departing at 10:30 AM until 3:30 PM on Monday. I am assuming if my flight even goes on Monday, that I will be forced to spend the night in Garoua (unless the PH is willing to brave the roads at night).

If you don't mind, I had a couple quick questions...

On the flight between Douala and Garoua, did you stop at another city? If so, did you have to deplane? I just noticed my listed flight time seems long (3+ hours).

In Douala, I am assuming Club Faune had someone assist you upon arrival. I am hunting with a different company (Safaria) but they orchestrated a meet and greet on arrival via Mathias Michel. If you had someone assist you, where did they meet you in the airport? After customs in baggage? I'm just trying to prepare myself for the chaos I understand Douala to be...

Thanks in advance!

The flight to Douala was about 1:20. We did not stop anywhere else . If yours is 3 hours you must be stopping somewhere else .

They met us in baggage claim.

Good luck. Contact me if you have any questions.

Cam Air puts the capital “A” in “TIA”, no doubt about it.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by PAGuardian:
Larry,

Thank you for sharing your recent experience. For me it is incredibly timely and helpful. I leave for Cameroon on Saturday. I arrive in Douala late on Sunday and am scheduled to head to Garoua on Monday, although, my flight has already been pushed back from departing at 10:30 AM until 3:30 PM on Monday. I am assuming if my flight even goes on Monday, that I will be forced to spend the night in Garoua (unless the PH is willing to brave the roads at night).

If you don't mind, I had a couple quick questions...

On the flight between Douala and Garoua, did you stop at another city? If so, did you have to deplane? I just noticed my listed flight time seems long (3+ hours).

In Douala, I am assuming Club Faune had someone assist you upon arrival. I am hunting with a different company (Safaria) but they orchestrated a meet and greet on arrival via Mathias Michel. If you had someone assist you, where did they meet you in the airport? After customs in baggage? I'm just trying to prepare myself for the chaos I understand Douala to be...

Thanks in advance!

The flight to Douala was about 1:20. We did not stop anywhere else . If yours is 3 hours you must be stopping somewhere else .

They met us in baggage claim.

Good luck. Contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks Larry! I was thinking the same with the internal flight, it just isn't listed on the ticket.

Cameroon is far and away the most third world country I’ve ever visited. Everything is delayed or cancelled and hands out for bribes are the name of the game.

Cam Air is really crazy. I've used them a lot when I was working in Cameroon and the experiences you make are unbelievable.

At some point they were so unreliable that we had to go to the airport each morning to find out if they were actually flying.
Sometimes we couldn't get on flights for days in a row, even though we had tickets. Luckily they are better now.

A friend of mine jumped on a plane from Yaounde to Maroua and fell asleep. When he woke up the plane had landed in Chad and he had to spend a day in another country waiting for his connection. They had changed the flight route in air!

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Cameroon is far and away the most third world country I’ve ever visited. Everything is delayed or cancelled and hands out for bribes are the name of the game.

You might not believe it but many of its neighbors are way worse. Cameroon is relatively organised compared to Guinea or Liberia.

quote:

On the flight between Douala and Garoua, did you stop at another city?

Not sure, when I went last year from Douala to Ngaoundere we stopped in Yaoundé, they dropped a few passengers and a few got on, we didn’t deplane.
The flight to Ngaoundere was as scheduled, but on the return flight ( I was trying to leave 2 days early )the plane was 3 hours early and I missed that flight, so I ended up going 2 days later on the original scheduled flight. I believe Douala to Ngaoundere was only scheduled for 5 days per week, so the outfitters try to start the hunts where there are back to back scheduled days in case the first flight cancels.

I’m wondering if, in an airline this poorly run, anyone is concerned about proper aircraft maintenance……

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
I’m wondering if, in an airline this poorly run, anyone is concerned about proper aircraft maintenance……

Definitely crossed my mind.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
I’m wondering if, in an airline this poorly run, anyone is concerned about proper aircraft maintenance……

Definitely crossed my mind.

No thanks!!! I choose life.

Just returned from Cameroon. Cam Air flight in and out was pretty much on time. I was lucky .

Randy,

Welcome home! Glad you missed the CamAir goat rope.

Mark