On the 24th of August 2018, I landed in Yaoundé for the first time in my life to start up my new role. I had done a lot of research to find out about my new community on most social media platforms and Google but did not find much online. For this reason, I was worried if my 10 months job would be a dull experience. To put my worry in context, before moving to Cameroon, I had been living between Bologna and Milan, Italy for 4 years and before that in Cape Town, South Africa for over 2 years.
On my first night, I used Google Maps to search for a restaurant and found some interesting ones. I also realized that there were not a lot of local guides and I set out to contribute as much as I could. I found out about more places after I made friends. A friend of mine introduced me to some Instagram pages and from this, I learnt that there was so much more to enjoy in Yaoundé than I expected.
I miss those 10 months now that I look back, as a local guide contributor and explorer of the city I exposed myself to new local dishes, met amazing people and added value to the reviews of places I visited. One of my colleagues said once to me “…you have barely been in Cameroon for 2 weeks and I see your comments on my Google Maps giving me feedback of your experience…”. For me, this was a testament of my drive to contribute and I know that as I continue to travel and live in new cities, that I have a lot more experiences ahead of me and that I will continue to use the local guides community to meet and interact with more people.