My Journey On Foot To Bali And Back

By Raymond Dingana

The reason for this journey was to have a first hand experience on how trekking on the 19km road from Bamenda to Bali looks like. 

This is how many have been trekking for two weeks now following the ban on commercial bikes and vehicles by the North West Administration and Separatiat fighters respectively.

When it first came to our notice that, people were covering the 19km road on foot, we thought it was fake news reason why we decided to go see things for ourselves.

Our 19Km journey to Bali that started at about 8:30am, Tuesday August 3rd, 2021 began like a joke. The first one hour was cool making us feel like extending the trip to Batibo and beyond. 

The fresh breeze from the hills of Naaka energized us as we embarked on the 19km journey.

The road was void of vehicles and motor bikes. Just after the Naaka bridge, we met people of different ages trekking to Bali and others coming back, a clear indication that, they left very early.

Men, women and children could be seen using hand push trucks to transport crops and other articles to be sold in markets in Bamenda.

Vehicles wait after the Naaka bridge for those who may want to extend their journey to town and beyond.

As we journeyed further, we were accompanied by a farmer who was on her way to mile 84 Bali. She lamented that crops are getting bad in the farms, no way to evacuate them to homes and markets.

She regretted that, water has already entered the maize and destroyed some.

At this juncture, the journey was still friendly, after all, we had someone to be chatting with while we trekked.

 Empty containers of bullets of various sizes could be seen scattered on the tar as we moved on.

From a distance, a young girl coming back from seeing her mother off to Bamenda is spotted going down. She was tired and her legs could no longer carry her body. 

She finally rested on the tarmark, no way to continue on foot. She would later be transported in a handpush truck, and that was how she continued her journey to Bali.

Young Girl Being Transported In A Hand push Truck After She Could Nomore Trek.

We also met another tired looking lady with a bag of groundnut on her head. She told us she was from Ngoungong, (not the right spelling).

After her was sixty- five -year -old Ma Fomusoh who said she was trekking because she needed to feed her grand children who had come to spend the holiday with her. She decried the expensive nature of food stuff in the market saying she bought ten plantains for 1000 FCFA.

65-year-Old Trekking To Bamenda From Bali

Around the entrance to Chomba looking very exhausted was a mother carrying a child on her back with a box on her head. She said she wanted the child to go for holidays. She furthered that, government alone can rescue them from the pain they are passing through.

Bridge Hit By Explosives in Bali Nyonga

As we preceeded, we were warned that the bridge at a place called Sansan in Bali was hit by explosives breaking Tuesday August 3,2021. As this point, we had been joined by a young man from Foundong who now recides in Bali.

He was transporting food stuff using his hand push truck. He explained to us that, he makes two trips a day and is paid depending on the quantity of the luggage. His first trip he explained earned him 700FCFA.

 He also narrated some scary incidents that have transpired on that road just of recent.

He advice us to be careful and that, a man was kill on Tuesday, same day the ban on vehicles went in in to force. He showed us blood sterns on the tar where the man was shot and where he was buried just around the area.

Bamenda-Bali High Way Void Of Bikes And Vehicles

Though we could still see fresh ground on the man's road side grave, we didn't border to find out under what circumstance the burial was conducted because we wanted to go away from that place as fast as possible.

Few meters to Sansan where the bridge was hit, the signs could be seen one hundred meters away. Gravel scattered everywhere. We only understood the gravity of the explosion when we arrived at the bridge. The impact was severe.

Bridge Hit By Improvised Explosive Device Along The Bamenda- Bali High Way

As this point, we could still meet a few persons going to town from Bali and beyond, and this was how it went till we got to Bali town. 

Before now, fatigue had set in, our legs were not as smart as they were when we started trekking to Bali, they were painful and just the thought of covering the same distance back to Bamenda on foot almost caused us to cry.

Before the check point at Ngwan, we decided to rest at a lady's home. 

The reception was warm, fufu and vegatable was served as if she knew we were terribly hungry and exhausted.

The food was devowed and pushed down with some cold fresh water. After resting for a while, it was time to continue with the trip. Knowing it wasn't going to be easy, the lady gave us groundnut to accompany our journey with.

We finally got to Bamenda at about 5pm after meeting and chatting with  many trekking back to Bali from Bamenda.

Covering the 19Km road from Bamenda to Bali is real. Many are doing it in order to survive. They have been doing so for two weeks now and don't know when they will be given the opportunity again to use vehicles and motor bikes for transportation.

The people say, if any side thinks it is winning, then they are only wasting their time because as far as they are concerned, no one is winning.

To them, all they wish for is for the two elephants to have pity on them and lift their ban on bikes and vehicles so that, their legs can rest.

They say the economy has been affected negatively, and when all these happen, it is only the poor masses that  continue to suffer.

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