Ndawara tea estate

 The Ndawara Tea Estate is the largest in Cameroon with currently around 5000ha of cultivated plantation and is set high in traditional Fulani land  A guide will show you around the estate, including the factory, vast tea fields and nursery.

After the tour of the estate, you can hire ponies which will take you on a trip to a nearby crater lake.  Depending on the amount of time you have to spend in the region, you could also choose to spend a night with a nearby Fulani family.  Alternatively, you could stay with a Kom family closer to Belo.

 The tea fields are amazing – rolling hills covered with tea plants. They are a beautiful sight, and bring a sense of nostalgia, conjuring memories of old computer desktop backgrounds. When we arrived, we went to the factory where they process the tea and they gave us a free tour. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside of the factory.

You’ll see the process of drying the leaves, reducing moisture content, fermenting the leaves so they get black tea instead of green tea. The factory is big, bigger than expected to find in Cameroon with machines, big machines working on electricity. The last thing you expected to find tucked into the rolling hills of Northwest Cameroon was a giant manufacturing plant, yet there it is.

The coolest part of the factory tour is seeing that they make everything from start to finish – including making the cardboard boxes and giant plastic sacks that they ship tea in. The machines to put the tea into tea bags and label them were mesmerizing. They are a beautiful display of efficiency.