What you Gabon on about

I found myself back in central Africa for the final leg of my trip, in a country straddling the equator with a lot more wealth but still horrendous roads.

After the border formalities I hoped a taxi to Bitam, the border town where I was told I had to obtain my entry stamp, for some reason getting the stamp at the border just wasn’t practical, but I am used to the bureaucracy of Africa border crossings, so I wasn’t to surprise. The office in Bitam was no open and took 3 hours before someone showed up, which meant I was stuck in Bitam until I was officially in the country, I could have left but there is no reason to give police a reason to ask for a bribe. I was able to find a bus heading to Ndjole in this time, so it was not a complete waste. In the end I got my stamp and left on the bus at around 21:00.

I awoke at around 6:00 in Ndjole after having spent the last nine hours in semi sleep. Ndjole is about 45km below the Equator and because my trip until that point had been under the cover of darkness my first real look at Gabon. I was in Ndjole to try and get to Lope which is where a National Park that was supposed to be good is located. I spent a few hours going to the train station to discover there was no train until the next afternoon. I headed back to the town and found out there was no public transport other than the train. So, with the help of a local I hitched a ride towards the Lope crossroad. The driver was Henry, a great guy, a mechanic for the timber trucks that are plentiful in Gabon (more on that later). He didn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much French so our conversations contained a lot of gesturing. He took me past the turn of all the way to the Equator, so I could see the cross and stand on the middle of the earth. After he took me back and dropped me off at the turn off to Lope to try and get another car.

It was hot, the middle of the day and my luck wasn’t holding. I waited three hours and only one car headed down the road and it was completely full. I decided to cut my losses and flagged down a passing pickup. It contained three guys; also, mechanics and they were heading to Libreville through Ndjole and said they would give me a ride all the way if I wanted. Was a good trip, they drove fast and listened to good electronic music and the car was air conditioned, so it was comfortable. They stopped when we crossed the Equator again going the other way. They also stopped and bought various goods along the way, including whole bunches of bananas (for about $2) and a few animals that hung on the side of the road (I’ll come back to this). I was also treated to palm wine (which the drive only had a little of) and my first Gabonese beer. They dropped me off at my chosen accommodation option at around 20:00; I grabbed a quick bite to eat (another sandwich with peas, meat, onions and gravy) and crashed out.

The next day I headed down to the Port, I had decided to take a boat via another port city to Lambarene which is only about four hours by car but can also be reached by the water, my first step was a boat to Port-Gentil the only boat leaving was a slow one, so it would take 12-14 hours (the fast ones do it in four) and require sleeping on the boat. I decided to take it and got my ticket. I gathered a few provisions and had a couple sandwiches (with some more fresh avocado) and spent the time repairing my backpack, the one I had purchased for this trip had not fared well and had several rips that were becoming critical. I made friends with the dock crew and they let me on the boat first and showed me the best seat, always good to chat to people.

The boat was an old Russian ferry (all the instructions were in Russian or English which was weird since most people didn’t speak either) with an inside seating area and an open top deck. There was cargo, cars and about 160 passengers crammed into the small seating area. It was for me the best night of the trip though, I slept on the open top deck under a clear sky full of stars with a nice warm wind blowing.

We arrived at around 7:00 in the morning at Port-Gentil; it is quite a posh place with a lot of expats driving nice cars, nice boats in the port, nice house lining the streets. I only spent a couple hours before hopping a boat up the river to Lambarene. This boat was nicer and faster but unfortunately you were stuck inside so I didn’t get to see much of the scenery as I wasn’t next to the window. Got to watch a couple funny Kung Fu movies, they were in French but with Kung Fu it doesn’t matter too much.

Lambarene was beautiful, set out on the banks of the river and a large island in the middle of the river. It was beautiful with lush green vegetation and boats heading of up and down the river. Its home to a hospital for studying disease found in sub Sahara Africa set up by the German-French Nobel prize winner Albert Schweitzer. Much more advanced than when it was first setup but some of the old buildings are still there and the whole setting is beautiful. I spent two nights here just relaxing and not traveling, was nice as I had been on the go so much. Ate some good fish and just spent the time down by the water in the shade, was a great two nights.

On Friday I caught a car back to Libreville about mid day. The last time I was there I didn’t get to see too much so I wanted to spend the afternoon looking around. Libreville is a weird place, Gabon has a lot of money and so the city sports proper shopping centers, large modern buildings and expensive cars. There are cafes, clubs; fancy restaurants that all can make you think you are in Paris. I went past Omar Bongo’s (the President Ali Bongo’s father) palace; over the wall you could see a bunch of ostriches. Ali Bongo has pictures of himself up all over the place just, so you know who to worship.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach before spending a few hours in a nice restaurant having a good meal. I had decided to spend the night at the airport as the check in started at 4:00. I got to the airport and spent till about 1:00 with a bunch of South Africans who had been delayed due to the recent airline issues drinking in the bar. I then played cards with a few guys who were staying there to.

Krista and Jude showed up around 5:00 and we checked in. We were flying to Lome in Togo as this was the cheapest easiest option to get back to Ghana. It was an easy flight to Lome; it was a 120-person plane with only 15 people on it. From here on it was uneventful, crossed back into Ghana without issues and got to Accra without much problem. I spent a few hours in a bar with Aidan and Mike in Accra before heading home on the night bus, got home around 10:00 and slept well, was soooo nice to be back in my own bed. And that is the end of my adventure, simples.

Gabon was a different country compared to the others I have visited. It was a lot more expensive than the other country and had a different feel. It felt less like the traditional Africa and more like European or North America country. Even though the roads were just as terrible as elsewhere in the continent it had a vibe that was not African, well in my opinion anyway.

A couple things about Gabon that I said I would touch on. This is a small country that has a lot of forest, its covered heavily in a beautiful forest with huge trees, driving through it was always a pleasure and when you were in the thick of it presented you with stunning views. But when you drove anywhere you always passed a huge number of logging trucks, either heading to the ports loaded with trees, I’m talking huge old tress, only three on a truck they where that big, or returning empty to pick up more. It was always sad to see these beautiful trees pass and I hope that Gabon realises their beauty and will have a sensible logging plan.

Now I may be completely wrong, but it seems like the average Gabonese has more money than their neighbours. Houses were built out of wood plants and looked quite decent. People looked better dressed and there was a lot of beer drinking going on. It seems that the wealth has trickled down a bit in this country unlike their neighbours.

The other issue is “bush meat”, this is a term used in all the countries I have visited to basically mean any animal that lives in the bush that is killed and eaten. I know it happens in Ghana and they eat dogs, monkeys, snake or whatever but you never see it. In Gabon the main roads were lined with recent kills I saw everything from rats and snakes to crocodiles and Monkeys. I will say seeing a monkey hanging by its wrist was probably the saddest part of the trip, it looked too much like a hairy child.

Anyway, back to normal life for now.