iforti ya kah

The most prominent hotels found in BC are Icha Hotel and Arena Hotel previously known as the Middleman Inn. Arena has been given a face lift and services are quite outstanding. Icha which also is under good management has decent and affordable rooms as well.

John Kobi, a Yaoundé-based Businessman is also contracting a World-Class hotel at the Aket T-junction just before the branch going to Guzang if coming from Bamenda.

There are many restaurants, bars and roadside eateries in Batibo. The Batibo diet is very rich and it is characterized by starchy foods that are eaten with spicy (often very hot) sauces. Meat (goat meat especially), pork, fried and roasted fish, a wide array of bush meat, curries and peppery soups are common dishes.

Corn is a staple food eaten Batibo and you are going to find it in one form or the other in the many eateries that abound. There is also high consumption of root vegetables, such as yams and cassava, as well as plantains (similar to bananas). In Batibo, the starchy foods are cooked, then pounded with a pestle (a hand-held tool, usually wooden) until they form a sticky mass called, which is then formed into balls and dipped into tasty sauces. The sauces are made of ingredients such as okra, onions, peanut, spinach and tomatoes. Ndole , which is made of boiled, shredded bitterleaf (a type of green), peanuts, and melon seeds. It is seasoned with spices and hot oil, and can be cooked with fish, chicken (fowl) or meat.

Fresh fruit is plentiful in Batibo. The native mangoes are especially enjoyed. Other fruits grown locally and sold in village marketplaces include plums, pears (avocados), bananas, oranges, papayas (pawpaw), pineapples, monkey Cola, cola nuts, cashew nuts, guava, and a host of other fruits.

Amongst the common dishes that you are going to find in local restaurants in Batibo are;

• Churned cocoyams (Nan tari),a combination of cocoyams, bitterleaf, dry meat and dry fish in red oil. This is an ancestral meal that identifies us as a cocoyam producing entity. It is now served in all restaurants and greatly loved by many.

• Abangna and colokosia,a delicacy prepared for very important quests on very important occasions now served in all restaurants.

• Ekwang prepared from grind cocoyams. Cocoyams is Batibo's stable food, and is usually transformed into various meals.

• Suya - chicken marinated in African spices and served with stew

• Egusi Soup - made with pumpkin seeds, onions, garlic, tomatoes, palm nut oil & African spices

• Fufu - pounded yams often eaten with a vegetable sauce or soup

• Joloffe Rice - rice with tomatoes, diced meat and mixed vegetable

• Rice and Beans - white rice served with beans cooked and marinated with a wide array of African spices

• Koki corn - corn mixed with green veggies and other spices and wrapped in plantain leaf.

• Koki beans - corn mixed with green veggies and other spices and wrapped in plantain leaf.

• Meat Stew of chicken or turkey with ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes & African spices

• Eru - a vegetable found in the rain forest

• Ndole - peanut sauce, garlic, onions, tomatoes and African spices

• Okra - stewed with tomatoes, onions, garlic & spices

• Puff puff - This sweet favorite among Cameroon children is also known as make me well. Wheat flour, yeast, nutmeg, soymilk, and brown sugar. I gotta guess the soymilk is the Berkeley influence and not a Cameroon-thing.

• Spinach (njama njama) and corn fufu