Remote Work in Douala: Is It a Digital Nomad Paradise? (Spoiler: It’s a Wi-Fi Cursed Town)

i woke up this morning realizing i had more digital nomad aspirations than street meat in a war zone. douala’s noise is like a 100 amps playing at 3 am but cheaper. rent here? i booked a studio near the port for €35 a month. my laptop survived a week. my soul? nah. proxy servers? maybe. job market here ain’t a swamp, but navigating it feels like finding a decent mofongo place-ask five people and you’ll get five wrong answers.

*data table time:

here’s the chaos: i’m typing this from a café with a view of the ocean. seen a bunch of drunken foreigners trying to scuba dive in the harbor. ironic. i bet they’d trade their laptop for a beachfront seat. but here’s the real gripe-wifi. anywhere reliable is like pulling teeth. one time, my hotspot was stronger than a village elder’s vibe. another time, it died during a zoom call with my bank. they laughed. i cried.

overheard gossip in a bar:
>"Ali, don’t trust the internet in a place called ‘Bongo Vick.’ last week, a guy vanished after a speedtest."
>"the nomad community here? it’s tiny but they’ll ghost you if you don’t offer them oueyo for wifi."

weather? sticky. humid. like someone poured melted asphalt into my pores. my neighbor’s boat rides are a kilometre away but feel like they’re in another country. i don’t know if that’s good or bad. maybe both.

drunk advice from a local: don’t work near the port.

Streets here are a poem about chaos. one day i saw a guy selling mangoes on a rickshaw, next a group of guys arguing over who owns the street corner. no rules, just vibes. i joined one. they asked for my crypto. i said no. they gave me a mango. win-win.

reviews? i checked TripAdvisor and got 300 opinions on the ‘best co-working space.’ one said it’s great. another said the owner is a shark in a suit. local Reddit? same. people said to avoid places with iron doors-they’ll charge you for a cup of coffee.

here’s where i’m stuck: i want to find people who actually* work remotely here. not in a café with aьeternal smoke alarm. not in a village with awful reception. maybe I’ll just move to Amsterdam. but then I’d miss the street art near Nkonghi Bridge. which is a thing here. locals paint stuff that makes no sense. like a giant chicken holding a laptop. woke me up.

link to Douala Reddit | TripAdvisor Douala cafes | Yelp co-working spaces | local expat Facebook group

the upside? this place isn’t filtered. it’s raw. my internet’s worse than your grandma’s Wi-Fi, but the noise? it’s a soundtrack. you’ll either hate it or use it. if you hate it, use noise-canceling headphones. if you love it, start a podcast.

one last thing: the coffee here is cursed. i bought a bag from a street vendor. it tasted like regret. my cousin said it’s actually good but for some reason, it haunts me.

douala is not a paradise. it’s a glitch in the matrix. if you can handle glitches, maybe it’s worth it. but don’t expect stability. just like life.

update: tried working from a market. got robbed of my charger. now i’m working from a bike. it’s liberating. also, I might’ve this week. shrug.

---

You might also be interested in:

• https://topiclo.com/post/neon-citys-madness
• https://topiclo.com/post/best-afterschool-activities-and-youth-sports-in-chisinau
• https://topiclo.com/post/seasonal-weather-in-etimesgut-what-to-expect-throughout-the-year-and-honestly-everything-else
• https://topiclo.com/post/edmonton-vs-ottawa-which-one-offers-a-better-life-2
• https://topiclo.com/post/quebec-citys-future-whats-really-coming-down-the-pipeline