Cameroon: Batoufam Palace
Next kingdom and palace we visited was Batoufam Palace – an absolutely incredible place and one of the most famous kingdoms in Cameron for opposing colonization. The royal dynasty goes here multiple hundreds of years, and the current king is the 15th. The palace and the grounds are sprawling and are insanely decorated with wall paintings and a lot of carving – statues, columns, window frames, doors, etc. Batoufam kingdom has about 27,000 people in it, mostly involved in agriculture in this beautiful part of Cameroon. And we even got to meet the king! Picture this – a very large open room with very high ceilings, probably 50-60 carved masks and tables (some ginormous), three huge shell-covered thrones. In one corner sits a normally-dressed guy in his 40-50s, eating boiled peanuts out of a bowl and watching Real Madrid play Atletico…. The king was super cool and casual and with a great sense of humor and perfect English. We got offered to try some royal whiskey, eat some peanuts and chat about the kingdom. The king is an avid wood-carver and most of the woodwork around is his, he dances in festivals and designs costumes for them, he paints paintings and other art, he speaks fluently four languages, does charity work for children in various wood shops he runs, and he produces his own alcohol, and much more! He’s got over a 100 wives, but claims remembers them all by name.
