Christmas in Cameroon - the Kribi Beach trip

We went to Cameroon for two weeks over Christmas to spend time with my family and introduce Ed to Cameroon. Right before Christmas, we made a two day road trip with my parents, my sister Christy, her husband Paul, and their kids, Jessica and Casey, to a town on the southwest coast called Kribi, which is the closest Cameroon has to a tourist spot. :) It's pretty close to idyllic and still fairly unspoiled, with local fishermen still using dugout canoes that they maneuver skillfully through the surf to catch shrimp and fish. Here is a row of canoes hauled up on the beach.
Just south of Kribi, the Lobe River cascades over a waterfall into the ocean, apparently the only place in the world where this happens. I haven't been able to find another one on google - if anyone knows of another, let me know! Above the falls, you can take a canoe ride upstream. At dawn, you can apparently see monkeys in the trees along the river. We just had a leisurely canoe ride through the jungle, and saw some birds.
My dad, the intrepid explorer - he loves canoe rides!
a canoe perched on the riverbank surrounded by lush vegetation
Even not too far from the falls, the river was so smooth, the trees above were perfectly reflectedWaiting for a canoe ride up to the falls, with the falls behind me falling into the little bay.The magnificent falls of the Lobe - they aren't very high, but there is a lot of water coming over though falls!A fisherman catching shrimp coming over the falls - Cameroon's name actually came from the rivers full of shrimp. Early Portuguese explorers were amazed the by all the shrimp - "Camarones!"We stayed at a cute little "hotel" right on the beach - we even had running water and electricity! :) Here are Ed and I sitting on the balcony overlooking the beach at our hotel.

Speaking of beach.... incidentally, Ed and I have had a beach vacation every month since we got married - August in Belize, September on Nags Head, October in Grayton Beach, FL, 'Thanksgiving in Ft. Lauderdale, and Kribi in December. No plans yet for January, although I'm running a half-marathon in Seaside, FL in February. :)

We all had a great time playing in the surf, which was a little on the rough side - great for Ed!Ed, right before taking the plungeJessica and Casey enjoying the shallow water - look at that little surfer stance!The kids have no fear, especially Casey, and we needed to keep a hand on them to keep them from running into the waves!Jessica discovered that it was a lot of fun to play in the waves with Uncle Ed!Here comes a big wave!When we finally got tired of being rough housed by the waves...It was time to build a sand castle. Ed and I could never get Jessica to articulate her vision, though she was firm that she preferred wet sand as a building medium. We had a fairly decent wall and moat going.Ah.. paradise....well, almost. :)