We sometimes get questions regarding “How far is it from where you are to this other African country…” or “Are you close to another African city”. The answer usually turns out to be really far away.
Maps tend to enlarge the countries in the higher latitudes and minimize the size of the countries near the equator. Thus, it’s hard to get the idea by looking at a map (unless it’s a globe).
Here’s an image from mapfight.com which compares Cameroon to Michigan, where we are from. Michigan is about half the size of Cameroon.
Here’s another map image from http://thetruesize.com that shows how much of the US you can fit in Africa and still have a lot left.