Yaounde - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
A very good apartment in the heart of the expat community. The apartment has a generator that kicks in when the electricity goes. Teaching housing has basic cable and wifi. - Feb 2023
3 BR / 3. 5 bath, 2 story duplex. About 2200 sq ft. There's a mix of duplexes, SFHs, and apartments here. The apartments seem to be the nicest. - Feb 2022
Our house is probably our favorite thing about Yaounde. It is spacious and close enough to everything we need including groceries, the embassy, and the American school. The yard has beautiful tropical plants, which we can enjoy from our many screened in balconies. Without building codes, there are issues with wiring, plumbing, and maintenance. We have a generator, which we need as the power to our home can go out many times in a day. We also have a water pump provided by the embassy and a water tank. Inside the home, we have a water distiller. You won't find modern amenities here - like updated kitchens and bathroom - though I imagine that is on par for the region. You can find carpenters for a low enough price to make updates that you may like - we were able to add more kitchen shelves and even have a ping-pong table made for a pretty low price. The kitchen is big enough, and though we don't have a dishwasher, most people here hire household help. Almost all expat homes (and all diplomat homes) are walled-in compounds which have barbed wire or other deterrent on all sides along with 24 hour guards. This took some time to get used to, but has become normal after six months. - Jan 2020
Housing is great. We have a huge fenced-in yard that is great for our pets. We are one of the furtherest families from the embassy and the commute should take 15 minutes by car. However, when school is starting or finishing and people are taking their children to school, or even just going to the supermarket, or it rains, then the commute goes up from there. In general the commute is very reasonable and beats the beltway dash. - Jun 2018
The housing is pretty good overall, and the typical commute varies from one to ten minutes. The houses tend to be on the larger side. Some have yards, and some have pools, but few have both. There are some newer apartments for singles and couples, which tend to be very close to embassy. The embassy is located at the edge of Bastos and Golf, in the expatriate area, and the housing is all in these areas, too. - Apr 2017
There are new apartments normally occupied by single personnel. The housing pool is generally old and rife with problems that keeps folks busy getting GSO or Facilities to fix them. Average commute time from most home is 15-20 minutes max. - Apr 2014
There are apartments, semi-detached, and detached single family homes. When you are filling out your housing questionnaire, this is important to know: the Embassy has a killer swimming pool and amazing play ground. With that in mind, do you want an apartment or a semi-detached house with no yard within walking distance to the Embassy? Or do you want a single family home with little or no yard? Do you want a newer home? Do you want an older home with a huge yard? (there are only a couple with huge yards.) Do you want a single family home with a pool? It's important to prioritize what you want because you will not get everything. You can get the newer home with the nice kitchen, but have no yard or pool. You can get the old house with an awesome yard, but no pool. Or the ok house with a pool. Just figure out what is the most important thing to you, and put that as your number one on the housing questionnaire. Also, things will go wrong with the houses, but MGT had some awesome staff that will help and fix things. - Jan 2014
Housing is a problem. There are plenty of houses but also lots of apartments. Problem is securing one. There are termites in the rental that are making me sick but the management won't do anything. - May 2012
Embassy housing is very close to embassy. I walk to work. - Sep 2011
We live in a large duplex (5 bedrooms, 6 baths)only 5 minutes from the US Embassy. Walking time is 20 minutes. All of the expat houses and apartments I have seen are enormous. Depending on traffic, you can be in downtown Yaounde or the American school in 10-15 minutes. However, when traffic is bad or if the main highway is closed because the President or First Lady have a motorcade travelling through town, expect to be in your car for a very long time. In those cases, it can take a couple of hours to drive 5 miles. - Mar 2010
My commute from home to the embassy is 1 minute walking. Many houses are in walking distance, the rest are about a 5 minute drive. Many of the embassy houses are now brand new, though the houses in lower Bastos tend to be old and have electrical problems. All houses are large, average 4 to 6 bedrooms. - Jan 2010
The housing here is very generous and oversized compared to the norm. Currently most units are houses with a yard. There are also some modern duplexes for smaller families. All housing is within a ten minute drive of the U.S. Embassy. - Nov 2008
Houses tend to be quite large - our house is at least 3x what we had in Virginia. Yards are often less large - some have pools which is nice, though the American School, the U.S. Embassy and several other clubs also have pools. Construction quality is below what we are used to, but help is cheap. Expats live in the Bastos neighborhood - 5 to 10 minutes from downtown, embassies, shops and schools. - Sep 2008
Housing varies greatly and does not correlate with ones grade/position. Post is making a large effort to obtain new housing. All housing, regardless of age, have many maintanence issues that you can expect to spend a lot of time and frusturation on. Most houses have large, beautiful yards, some with pools (though pools do not often work and become large mosquito attractions). All housing have generators due to frequent power outtages. All houses seem to have servants and guards quarters. Don't be impressed by this. - Jun 2008
Most housing is clustered in two neighborhoods, and commutes are 10-15 minutes or less. Usually, it's either large, new house with very little yard, or a smaller, older house with large yards. Many expats live in apartment buildings with decent 24-hour security. - Jun 2008
