Thirsty Thursdays: Pub Crawling In Douala, Cameroon🇨🇲

Well the dream had been realised and that was when I finally landed in Cameroon in March 2024. After wanting and promising to visit it for years, the reality finally came! I went through the Cameroon Online Visa process and landed in Yaounde International Airport and then Douala International Airport. I was ready for football and beer. Those were my two main aims here, as well as meeting lots of cool people, visiting an art gallery, a crafts market and relaxing by the swimming pool at my excellent lodge, Foyer Du Marin!

1.Foyer Du Marin Bar

I started off here by having an ice cold Harp Lager on my first ever day in Cameroon. This was my excellent lodge for a hat-trick of nights in the Cameroon capital city. Check out Foyer Du Marin and make it your place to stay at Cameroon away!

2.Stade Mbappe Leppe Bar

After touring the sights of Douala, it was time to watch some real life live Cameroon top flight football and what a brilliant experience it was! It was mindblowing. I watched Stade Renard draw 1-1 at home with Canon Yaounde. The craziest thing was that I met Samuel Eto’o, spoke to him, shook his hand and got his autograph! He was just sitting watching the match behind me! For me, Samuel is the second best Cameroon footballer of all-time! After Roger Milla of course and with Omam-Biyik in third!

In the bar here, I loved the fact you just walk up, pay in cash to a lady then dip your hand into a massive bucket full of cold water and beers and pick the one you want. I had a lager beer and a whiskey cola!

3.Liberty Monument Petrol Station Bar

When we backpacked the Liberty Monument, there was a petrol station here, at the roundabout. My driver Clement parked nearby and we took photos at the Liberty Monument and of the nearby church. I told Clement that I wanted to meet my friend Aaron.

I had first met Aaron at Christmas 2023 in Guinea, when leaving Conakry Airport. By coincidence in the queue for that flight, were three lads all wearing their national team football shirt, all of which were green!! Moses from Ghana, Aaron from Cameroon and Jonny from Northern Ireland. We kept touch and aimed to meet up again. I messaged Aaron and he was in Douala that time, by chance as he is often away on business and suddenly we arranged to meet at this petrol station on the roundabout at the Liberty Monument! I popped inside the petrol station to wait. I bought crisps and a beer then saw a few lads standing INSIDE the petrol station at a table having a beer! Epic. Can I join you? I asked and of course, I was straight into Omam-Biyik and Roger Milla conversations!

So after a quick beer and chat in the petrol station, we went to the church and monument and then back in, where Clement had called Aaron and Aaron came in and joined me for a beer! He was wearing a black Real Madrid shirt this time and after a beer here, we did a mini pub crawl in Douala. Some of the bars names were hazy and not easy to find looking back on Google Maps, so I have tried to piece them all together for this post.

4.Aaron’s Bar

At the petrol station bar, after meeting up with my mate Aaron, a local Cameroonian who I had met in Guinea in December 2023, we headed to a bar with no name so I am calling it “Aaron’s Bar” Aaron was driving and therefore not drinking much but we still had time for a few bars together – I finished my beer at the Liberty Monument Petrol Station Bar and we had one in “Aaron’s Bar” which was roadside, had locals just chilling and cold beers. It reminded me of King of Cocktails Bar / Rei Das Batidas in Sao Paulo in Brazil in 2011.

5.Lady Bar

Again I don’t have a name here, but it was just a roadside bar owned by a lady. I asked for a beer initially to take away and then she brought a seat and told me to sit here. I was surprised they had cold Guinness – but the African fizzy version rather than the pints I am used to in Europe. Lady Bar was on a side street not far from where I was staying. I am nearly sure I could never find it again if I tried!

6.Sports Bar

On the Friday night, later on, for the final bar on here, I headed to a wee sports bar where the football was on, again I just chatted to the locals in here. I have a few photos of it below, in here I bought a whiskey and Cola and a water to take home.

Well that was it – my Cameroon Pub Crawling adventure, it was only six bars in three days but I had more than one drink in a few of them. I could also have bought a drink at the airport as there are a few bars there too, but I was happy with the Harp, the 33 and the Whiskey Colas I’d consumed!

For once, I didn’t make many videos of the bars here, which is a surprise, I was so engrossed in conversation with Aron that I even forgot to make a video in the cool wee local bar! Here are some videos from barhopping and groundhopping in Cameroon: