Driving home from the beach one evening I spotted an elephant family with teeny tiny baby in the forest near the road. I immediately asked Teun to turn the car around so we could go have a better look. We parked a couple hundred feet away and watched as the small family emerged from the forest and crossed the road.
teeny tiny baby elephant crossing the road in Gamba, Gabon
The headed into the field on the opposite side of the road, but had to cross a set a pipes on their way. The baby was so small that it’s mom had to help him/her climb over them.
baby elephant making it over the pipes
We continued watching them graze in the field as the light grew dimmer. Without a tripod this lead to difficult photographic conditions, so mainly I just enjoyed watching as the little baby played with it’s siblings/cousins.
But I couldn’t resist the urge all together…
The sky became a beautiful violet color and the moon rose above the trees illuminating these magnificent creatures
After our visit to the gorillas (and changing one tire that developed a leak on the way here) we were back on the road. Today was the beginning of the end…we had no more exciting stops planned, just getting back to Gamba in time for our friends to catch flights back home. As we backtracked north on the road that would lead us to Koulamoutou we heard a pop…yup the spare tire Teun had put on just blew…. Luckily Teun had put a patch on the tire with the hole that he took off, just in case. So we all piled out of the car, mainly to watch Teun change the tire (well done Teun!).
Not knowing how long the patch would hold, we knew we would have to buy a new tire in the next town we came across. We weren’t far from Moanda, so that would be our stop.
There were several auto repair shops and tire stores so it was easy to find a place to buy a replacement. We left the car at the shop and explored Moanda a bit,
getting some delicious little pancake like cookies from the market
wandering around the market and looking at shops. It always amazes me what you can find in small towns in Gabon. You’re in the middle of absolutely nowhere, a place that is notoriously difficult and expensive to get goods in and you find the craziest things. One music shop was selling large amplifiers and speakers from well known brands as well as home made CDs. My friend Neha, after listening to the same playlist for the last week and half, decided to buy one of the local music mixes…unfortunately she never got it to play in her CD player…
The road to Koulamoutou was good and we arrived in the later part of the afternoon. We hadn’t booked a hotel in advance so we drove around to several hotels in the center of town advised by the guidebook, but none had hot water, and after a couple days of short, cold showers I, and everyone, was really keen for a decent shower, so we decided on a business hotel just on the outskirts of town. This hotel was great, AC great showers, a welcome surprise. After cleaning up we went in search of dinner. The first place we stopped only had drinks, so we sat down and enjoyed a beer. A couple of friendly, and rather drunk, locals came up to talk to us, showing us their secret stash of their homemade palm wine. We tried a couple more recommended restaurants, but they weren’t open so we finally found a Pizzaria and were served a delicious fish dinner there (welcome to the randomness of Gabon) by a happy hostess that must have had some of that secret palm wine.
Fish (not pizza)
The next day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then hopped in the car and headed west.
Day 11 – rough roads and bridges between Koulamoutou and Tchibanga
We were headed to Tchibanga and as the distance to get there wasn’t much were hopeful we could make it there by the early afternoon, which would give us enough daylight to make to an area on the coast near the ferry where we could camp and be first in line for the ferry the next morning. Well, the national road that we headed out on that morning soon turned into the worst of the trip. It was a horribly narrow, extremely rough and  potholed dirt road with thick vegetation or steep hillside on either side. We were often going at a snails pace. It was painful. Needless to say we slept in Tchibanga that night.
roadside villages. The first time I’ve seen a domestic pig in Gabonour hotel in Tchibanga
After leaving Tchibanga it only took a few hours to reach the ferry and we were back in Gamba in the late afternoon. It was hard to believe our trip had come to end, but it was also nice to be back in our comfortable beds 😉
My final thoughts about traveling around Gabon:
Gabon is not a really easy place to travel around…there are very few signs and roads in towns are not named (the best way to get around is to ask someone on the street, people were usually very helpful), there are many police stops/checkpoints (some of which will keep you for long periods of time), knowing at least some French is necessary, there are very few websites to use for information/bookings, bookings usually have to be done over the phone and even then you have to get lucky to find the correct phone number and that someone actually answers, and there is little emphasis/money put into tourism so getting to interesting places and the level of service and accommodations is of a much lower standard than in South or East Africa. It is also important to consider the weather…as Gabon is located on the equator there is no summer or winter, but rather rainy and dry seasons. The long dry season is June-September and the short dry season is the end of December to mid January. As you may have noticed some of the roads we took are dirt or laterite, and during the rainy season these can become horribly bumpy and muddy messes. Even the tarmac roads often develop severe potholes during the rainy season. And if you plan on hiking be prepared for thunder storms, very heavy downpours and hot and humid conditions. Animals also move around depending on the weather and what plants are fruiting. We planned our trip for the long dry season, which meant the roads were easy to travel on, the temperature was cooler and less humid, and hiking was easy, but, as you can see from the photos, it is usually gray and cloudy.  Another issue is that one of the main draws to come here is to see the amazing wildlife endemic to and still thriving here. Really the only way to do that is to go to the parks (or spend a lot of time hanging out around Gamba/Yenzi 😉 ), but staying in and visiting the national parks is often very expensive, often the accommodations are very basic, and even when you’re in the parks there is no guarantee that you will even see any animals. Animals here are still hunted and even within the national parks there is still problems with illegal hunting, so most animals would prefer to keep their distance from humans. That being said, Gabon is an absolutely amazing and unique place that I can highly recommend  visiting. Gabon has so much to offer! From gorgeous, lush forests, to stunning white sand beaches, and absolutely incredible wildlife. It is essential when traveling here to have an open mind and a good sense of humor, be friendly and considerate (even in frustrating situations), and have bucket loads of patience. If you do decide to travel around Gabon I wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy it as much as all of us did! Bon Voyage!
Group photo at Leconi, overlooking Gabon and Congo
On Day 9 we left Leconi and headed west to Franceville (supposedly the 3rd largest city in Gabon) in route to Poubara and then Lekedi Park. After reading though the Bradt Guide we learned that there were 2 roads leading to Poubara Bridge, so we hoped that might be able to take the one road there and then cross the river (somewhere) and take the other road further west to Lekedi, instead of just taking the main road that would require us to back track. With that plan in mind we drove around Franceville looking for this secondary road and with the assistance of several locals we found it.
Remember when I said the Bradt book isn’t always correct or it seems the authors didn’t actually test out all the advice they put in there…here is the best example….
Is this the turnoff to the lesser used entrance to Poubara Bridge?
Yes that secondary road does take you to, or rather close to, the bridge, but not in a way you will ever find it or will be useful to you…
We decided to try and take the back way to Poubara – there was even a signThe easy part of the road, it got much worse…checking the depth of the water on the road before we drive through it
Please do not take the back way to the Poubara Bridge! You will end up on a terrible dirt road that become a serious 4 wheel drive experience  (and we drove it in the dry season, I can only imagine what it looks like in the rainy season) and you will dead end at a gate (probably part of the Poubara Dam). On the drive there we noticed quite a few steep downhill “tracks” (even worse than the road we driving on) to our right. I’m sure one of these will take you to the trail near the backside of the bridge, but good luck deciding which one it would be and getting down it.
This is not Poubara Bridge. We didn’t end up where we wanted to – had to back track the whole way
So after that, we turned around and back tracked to Franceville and took the main road to Poubara
Updated Map with a red X on the road you should not take to get to PoubaraFinally got to Poubara
The Poubara Bridge is a suspended bridge made of liana vines and is quite impressive.  There is a small fee to go over the bridge and then a guide will also take to some waterfalls and rapids nearby if you like. The bridge is made by hand by members of the local tribe, popularly known as pygmys. Only one person is allowed to cross at a time (the bridge is not super stable, as you might imagine) and sometimes there are quite large gaps between where the vines are woven together, making the whole experience a little nerve wracking as the wild river water is flowing beneath you towards a waterfall….
Time to go over the bridge
After crossing the bridge we walked to a nearby waterfalland the rapidsheading back over the bridge
After leaving Poubara we headed further west to the town of Bakoumba from which we visit Lekedi Park.
We decided to stay at the hotel associated with the park, which is actually old hotel rooms from the expat camp of the old mining company that used to be there. There was a “conveyer” system that transported manganese to the port of pointe noir. Bakoumba was one of the stops along the route and the company had set up a town to coordinate operation of this system. When this site of the mining company closed down, an initiative was started to start up a private park there, to help provide jobs for some of the workers and keep the town afloat. This happened about 20 years ago and I’m pretty sure none of the buildings or accommodations have seen any maintenance since. It was pure luck as to which of us got a semi-decent bed or a working shower.
entering BakoumbaThe camp at Bakoumba by Lekedi – another yenziDay 9 – we arrived in Bakoumba and Lekedi Park
After a nice meal (it was very tasty, fairly basic like most meals in Gabon, but tasty!) we played a game of cards and headed to our (rather uncomfortable) beds.
The next morning was our first excursion into the park. The park is very large and they have a wide variety of animals, either on islands or separated by several sets of fences. There are two different groups of chimpanzees, a few gorillas, a large group of mandrills, some forest buffalo and antelopes, red river hogs, etc. Most of the animals were either rescued from bushmeat traders or were previously housed a the research university in Franceville before they banned primate experiments, and thus could not be released back into the wild. You pick what you want to see for the morning and afternoon excursions (each of which takes about 3-4 hours including travel time to get there). For the first morning we decided to see the chimpanzees, one of the main draws being that you can walk over one of the chimpanzee areas on a long suspension bridge.
The first group of chimpanzees (the larger ones) lived on an island and you take a boat to go see them. Chimpanzees are our closest relative, they’re extremely intelligent, and they exhibit very similar facial expressions to humans. If you’ve ever seen chimpanzees you’ll know this can sometimes be quite disconcerting. They are also notoriously aggressive and some groups have been known to use tools and will hunt an kill other animals. Getting on the island with the chimpanzees is forbidden 🙂
Approaching the island by boat this was our first glimpse of the chimps:
The next morning we visited the chimpanzees! Don’t they look friendly?! *sarcasm*chimpanzee on lookout duty
They were clearly keeping a good eye on us. Soon after we got close the dominant chimp went a little crazy and started screaming and chasing two of the other around and two of them got into a fight.
Soon after we got close to the island the chimps went kinda crazy, screaming and fighting with each other results one of them getting his hand bitinjured chimpanzee putting its hand in the water
Then everything settled down and we enjoyed watching them.
One of the females even had a very little baby!
I understand, buddy
After visiting the crazy chimps on the island, we went to see the smaller, more docile chimpanzees.
Adrienne looks like she was having fun…trying not to flip over the bridge
The are in a very large enclosure, above which a very long (300m) steel cable suspension bridge hangs. This allows you to have a birds eye view of the chimps and tree tops from a safe distance. Sounds great, right?! Remember when I said the Poubara vine bridge was kind of nerve wracking? Well that was nothing compared to this bridge of death…. Being so incredible long (and high off the ground) means that the bridge has a nice swing to it when you’re walking on it that get more exaggerated the further towards the center you are. Now imagine 7 full size adults all walking (at different paces) and all leaning to look for chimpanzees/take pictures/selfies while moving across this monstrosity. I consider myself a pretty adventurous person and don’t have a fear of heights, but when you’re in the middle of a 300 meter long steel cable bridge that may or may not have had any maintenance work done on it in the last 20 years (it’s Gabon, so probably not), maybe 20 meters above the ground where chimpanzees are roaming, and every time someone else move it feels like the bridge is likely to flip over, you get a bit rattled.
walking over the tree tops (and chimpanzees)
As I was walking across the entire middle portion of the bridge I was not thinking oh what a beautiful sight this is, I was gripping onto those steel cables and thinking how on earth am I going to hang onto this thing WHEN it finally flips all the way over. I didn’t take any photos as I was in the middle of the bridge (as I was too busy hanging on for dear life and yelling my friends behind me to stop walking), so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say at certain points that bridge was leaning over 45 degrees to the right and left. But don’t take my word for it, please go and check it out yourself, I highly recommend it! 🙂 No really, I do recommend it, it’s really cool to walk above the trees and on the far end of it some of the chimps came out to take a look at us. One climbed up a nearby tree so were at equal eye level, a second lay on the ground practicing his yoga moves, and another watched us for a while before grabbing some rocks and sticks to throw at us. Good times.
I assume Teun is smiling because he made it across the bridge of deathWho is watching who?ready to throw stuff at us
We then went back to the hotel for lunch and had a chance to walk around and explore the town a bit. A few hours later we headed out to see the mandrills. The park has a large group of mandrills (about 40) that came from the university in Franceville. Several have radio collars and researchers now come out sometimes to study their natural behavior. Because they came from the university they are fairly at ease with people, so for this excursion we would roughly locate where the mandrills were using the radio collars and then get close to them on foot. We were given a safety talk before entering the forest and were told to walk in a single file line, close together, behind the guide and not get closer than 8 meters to the mandrills.
The mandrills did not get this message. After a few minutes of walking into the dense forest we started to see some monkeys darting about on the ground maybe 10-15 meter in front of us. Then we start seeing more, there was a whole group just in front of us! Then the large and very brightly colored male appears. He starts walking towards us. I was super excited, thinking
Beautiful male mandrill!
“OMG they are so close, this is awesome!” Apparently not all my friends shared my same insane feeling of enjoyment being super close to dangerous animals because soon that very large, armed with 3+ inch canines dominant male decided to come aggressively walk towards us and the 3 friends that were at the front of the single file line jumped and went running backwards. Perfect for me, now I was just behind the guide 😉 I glanced at the guide and he indicated to keep walking forward, so I did as the male huffed and puffed and jogged back and forth between us and his ladies. We walked into a small clearing and were surrounded on all sides by mandrills of all sizes and ages. I was loving it. We soon realized why the mandrills were so drawn to us…the backpack the guide was carrying was full of bananas which he began throwing out the mandrills. The excitedly ran around us, some heading up the trees and into the branches above our heads. The guide made sure to keep the big male happy and distracted by throwing bananas in his direction. I was in heaven.
The next morning we headed back into the park for one last viewing….to see the gorillas.
the ride into Lekedi park from Bakoumba
He had another bumpy, dusty drive in, but after about 30 minutes we arrived at a spot along the lagoon where we would take a boat to go view the gorillas. Our guide grabbed his electric motor, attached it to the boat and we all piled inside. The lagoon we glided across appeared to be man made as there were large numbers of cut tree trunks that we had to the dodge. About 3/4 of the way (10 minutes) to the gorillas we heard a loud “thunk” and I looked back to see the guide scrambling to try and grab the motor that had just hit a tree stump got dislodged and was sinking down into the water. He had no luck. We looked at the bubbles coming up from under the water where the motor was still spinning. Not good! Our guide starts panicking and jumps into the completely murky water (containing who knows what in it) and with one hand on the boat (it didn’t appear he could swim well) he tries to start searching for the motor. He’s having no luck, and it probably doesn’t help that the ground is well below his dangling feet. He climbs back into the boat. We continue to stare at the bubbles. A minute later the bubbles stop. The guide grabs a paddle and paddles us to the the steep bank and without saying a word to us climbs out of the boat and wanders into the forest.
waiting for our guide to return to us after he jumped out of the boat and ran into the forest
Ummmmm….ok….we are now sitting in a boat in the middle of a wild animal park without our guide and have no idea when he’s coming back. This led to a discussion in the boat about what happening and how we could find the motor, how dead the motor probably was by now, and whether or not the guide was going to get fired. Should we jump out of the boat and go looking for him? Or look for the motor? Should we all put together money to pay for the lost motor? After about 10 minutes our guide comes back down the hill carrying a long stick. We paddle back out to where the motor dropped into the water and he tries to feel for it with the stick. After several minutes of this he jumps back into the water and tries diving to locate the motor. A few seconds later he comes up, coughing and sputtering, no motor in hand. This went on for several minutes before he climbs back in the boat looking defeated. We all stare at the water, it’s as if we’re mourning the drowned motor. Ok, time to give up and go see the gorillas. Without the motor we now are recruited to paddling through the swampy water. We switch off paddling…it gives us a break from thinking about what’s going to happen to our guide when we return to camp.
We arrive at the gorillas and see a young silverback sitting near the water. Â Upon seeing us get closer, he retreats closer to the tree line. Then a female and juvenile appear. Some caretakers were standing near a fence and threw food to the gorillas to entice them closer to the water. Opportunistic monkeys joined in, stealing any food the gorillas left behind.
Gorillas are magnificent and shy creatures, it’s always wonderful to be able to observe them; however, this moment felt more somber than normal with the uncertainty of the fate of our guide weighing on our minds.
mustached monkey
putty nose monkeyjuvenile gorilla
After about 30 minutes we needed to head back to the car. This trip should have taken 10-15 minutes with the aid of the motor, but our manpowered boat moved a bit more slowly. After about 45 minutes we reached the car and all piled in the the back for the dusty ride back to the hotel. As we neared the hotel our guide saw one of his friends walking near the road. He pulled over and told his friend that he lost the motor. His friend started laughing and then replied back, “Again?!”
The forests of Lope National Park have some of highest densities of gorillas and chimpanzees in all of Gabon, so we decided instead of staying at the Lope Hotel and doing short visits from there, we would camp inside the forest where we could more easily try to search for gorillas. So, the next morning we met with our guide and host that would take us into the Mikongo Forest of Lope National Park, Ghislain Ngonga Ndjibadi, who I can not recommend more highly. Ghislain is truly passionate about what he does and is extremely knowledgeable. If you have looking to visit Lope I would highly recommend that you use his services to tour the park, either with half day full day trips or staying at his camp deep in the forest as we did. You can get more information about him and his services on his website Mikongo Vision http://mikongo-vision.info/
On our way there we observed a family of elephants grazing on the edge of the forest
Heading into the Mikongo forest of Lope National Park – 1st stop, Chief’s house
We also needed to stop at the house of chief of the village in which the entrance to the Mikongo forest lies. We had to ask for his permission to enter and pay… Mostly it was just us sitting in his living room while Ghislain talked to him. Then we headed into the forest and after a bumpy, windy road through the trees we arrive at the camp.
Ali at the Mikongo Forest Camp
We set up our tents, had lunch and then laced up our hiking shoes for our first trek. The forest is gorgeous! There are small streams and creeks feeding though lush trees and bushes and you’re surrounded by the calls of birds and monkeys.
searching for gorillas
No signs of gorillas the first day, but our spirits were still high.
The next morning we set off at the crack of dawn to begin our search. We soon came upon a pair of black colobus monkeys that kept us entertained for quite some time.
Black Colobus MonkeyBlack Colobus Monkey
large millipedesmall snake eating a frog
After several hours of hiking we stopped by a creek for lunch.
a well deserved lunch breakno gorillas yet, but we did see a large, creepy spider during lunch
Back on the train Ghislain started seeing signs of gorillas
We found a knuckle and foot print near one of the streams.
gorilla knuckle and foot print
We were on their tracks, but the sun was getting lower, so we had to head back to camp.
When we came back to camp Ghislain asked if anyone was interested in a small hike, to a nearby former camp. This tented camp fell in disrepair after investors pulled out of the project. While roaming around Ghislain found tracks of gorillas, very fresh tracks, and fresh dung. He was in utter unbelief as we spent all day finding them and apparently they were very close to camp. We tracked them for a bit but had to head back as the sun was setting. As most guides, Ghislain doesn’t want to be in the forest at dark, when elephants are roaming around, but are difficult to spot.
The next morning we headed out for a short hike as Ghislain had a feeling they were close.
mongoose swimming
We found some interesting things, but unfortunately the gorillas evaded us.
One of the things we knew even before we moved to Gabon was that we we wanted to explore as much as the country as possible. So after months of planning, Teun, myself, my brother and four other friends set off on a road trip around Gabon. We planned a route that took us around the center of Gabon and included several different parks. In planning our trip we used the Bradt Guidebook to Gabon (no, I’m not receiving any money to mention it, but it is the only (as of early 2017) English language guidebook for Gabon), and, as we live in Gabon, we gathered information from friends that had already traveling around the country. While the Bradt book was extremely helpful in planning our trip and finding our way around, we did find some of the information to be incorrect or out of date, and in some cases it was obvious that the author did not actually visit what they were talking about, but must have heard this from other people, so just an FYI.
map of our driving route around central Gabon
Getting out of Gamba is always a challenge as after about 45minutes of driving you have to take a small ferry to cross the Nyanga river, and you never know how long it will take to get your turn. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long (only about 45 minutes 😉 ) and we were soon onto the new (not yet tarred at the time of the trip) road that connects to the national road system.
Day 1: Gamba to Mouilaready to cross the Nyanga River at the start of the road trip
On the first day we drove from Gamba to the town of Mouila. It took the better part of the day as a considerable part of the road between Gamba and Mouila is still under construction and consists of laterite (red rock gravel).
I insisted we pull over so that I could get a better look at this shy snake (Calabar Boa)First sunset of our road trip around Gabon seen from the the car as drivingtypical view on the road…lots of trees
In Mouila we stayed in a nice hotel near the river, where we had dinner. There was a wedding going on in the hotel that night, which made it rather awkward for us when we turned up at the front of the hotel in our 4×4 cars covered in dirt and the majority of us dressed in casual/outdoor wear, while all the guests milled around in their fabulous wedding attire. The party went on until the wee hours of the morning, making sleep a little difficult.
Day two took us from Mouila to the lively  town of Lambarene, a drive of about 4 hours on a very nice road. In fact, the majority of the national road network is very good, being new, wide paved roads. However, in certain places there are “national roads” that are pretty horrendous dirt/gravel tracks with loads of potholes and bumps (more about that in a later post).
after a long drive, we stayed the night in Mouila. The next morning we visited the nearby Blue Lake (trust me, it was blueish)
On the way into Lambarene there is a police stop we are all too familiar with. During our trip to Ivindo National Park earlier in the year this police stop had caused us the most delay and annoyance (as we refuse to bribe police). It ended after about 20 minutes with us giving the police officer a few slices of chicken sandwich meat and some stale bread. This time was no different. You always have to present your residence cards or passports to the police at every stop. He quickly examined Teuns and mine, but upon seeing my brother and Adrienne’s passports we asked where their invitation letter was. We explained that they had applied using the online e-visa scheme and they only needed the Gabonese visas that were in their passports. After some arguing, among which he also insisted they needed permission from their parents to be in Gabon, even though they’re both in their 30’s, I suggested that we should call the visa services ministers to determine what was actually necessary. This ended that conversation so he was on to his next issue…in our breakdown emergency kit (there are a large number of items you are required to keep in your car including a fire extinguisher with its own certificate of expiry) we only had one reflective triangle instead of 2. Again more discussion and us being told we could be fined 200,000 XAF (roughly $350) or thrown in jail, and magically one of the other police officers having an extra triangle he could sell us, we eventually negotiated that we would buy the triangle for 20,000 XAF and not get a fine. After 45 minutes and 20,000 XAF we were on the road again.
Lambarene is known for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital and the beautiful waterways that surround it. We stayed at the Ogooue Palace Hotel, which sits on a lovely spot next to the water.
we arrived at Ogooue Palace Hotel in Lambarenesaw lots of weaver birds busy building nests in the trees around the hotelpool time in Lambarene
After a quick dip in the pool we headed out on a boat tour, which included a walking tour of a small island where a former woodmill was located. This island now offers cabins to stay at.
boat trip in Lambareneriverside market in Lambarenefisherman in the lagoon near Lambarene
Â
view of the Albert Schweitzer hospital from the watercoming back to our hotel there was a bridge where hundreds of bats were roosting on the undersidebats under bridge in Lambarene
The next morning we visited the nearby Albert Schweitzer Hospital and museum. We picked up some pastries on the way and enjoyed eating them while watching the sitatungas (antelopes) and pelicans, before heading into the museum which gives details about Albert Schweitzer’s life and work and reconstructs his house.
Albert Schweitzer Hospital museum in Lambarene
young sitatunga at the museumAlbert Schweitzer’s gravenot so friendly pelican
A little before noon we were back on the road heading to Lope National Park, but not before a quick detour to cross the equator.
made a slight detour to cross the equatorgetting closer to Lope the terrain changes to open grassy fieldsfirst elephant sighting as we get to close to Lope National parkbeautiful river view near Lope Hotel
More opportunities to visit the south of Loango national Park have brought with them more incredible wilding sightings and stunning landscapes. Enjoy some of the highlights:
Always fun trying to get from the boat to landRainy season = lots of mud in Loango Park
walking along the beach in Loango National ParkLarge herd of forest buffalo grazing near the beach
Who would imagine to walk out of the forest and stumble across a hippo grazing in the fields above the beach?! Only in Gabonour guides, Zico and Kaza, were surprised and excited by the hippo as well
the elusive red river hogmonitor lizard running across the beachhippos relaxing in the river in the south of Loango Park
Four species of sea turtles occur in Gabon: leatherbacks, green turtles, olive ridleys and hawksbills. All of these species are in danger of extinction worldwide, with their numbers are declining sharply.
Every year between October and January female sea turtles make their way to their birth place on the beaches of Gabon to lay their eggs.  Gamba is one of their prime nesting sites and we have the opportunity to join local researchers on their nightly walks to monitor the beaches for nesting turtles. As the turtles only lay their eggs at night the walk along the beach (that is home to a variety of other nocturnal animals including elephants and hippos) doesn’t begin before 9pm. And because the bright white light of a flashlight may confuse the turtles this is done mostly with just the light of the moon and the stars. It’s actually very fun, if you don’t mind walking up to 12 kilometers in sand, and you actually get to see a turtle (mother nature doesn’t always/usually cooperate 😉 ).
my first turtle sighting…a green turtle
Females lay around 50-100 eggs in each nest.  During oviposition (the name for the process of laying the eggs), the turtle enters a kind of trance and is insensitive to disturbance. During this time it is safe to approach a nesting turtle to observe her quietly and take some pictures. This is also when the researchers measure the length of the turtles and put a tag on them (if they don’t already have one) for identification and tracking.
Gabon has the largest population of nesting Leatherbacks in the world! These turtles are the largest of the sea turtle species and also the most unique-looking. They have a soft leathery shell with longitudinal ridges and white spots. A  full grown adult can measure over 180 cm in length! Last year during a turtle walk with friends I saw one and as you can see from the photos, it was massive!
newly hatched leatherback
After the female lays the eggs and returns to the sea, the nest incubates for approximately two months, buried in the sand. Due to the fact that the sea turtles are endangered the researchers in Gamba have set up a turtle nursery where they move nests to if they feel that the nest was laid in an area that endangers the eggs (such as in tracks cars drive on). When these eggs hatch sometimes local residents are lucky enough to be invited to see the baby turtles and carry them down to the water to be released in the ocean. It’s an incredible experiance to see and touch these tiny, beautiful babies.
itty bitty olive ridleyYenzi residents bidding the babies farewellgoing…
Teun and I spontaneously decided to go to Point Pedras beach one Sunday afternoon, so after loading up the car with some snacks and drinks we hit the road. It takes about 30-45 minutes (depending on how fast your drive down the laterite and sand tracks) to get there and it was already about 3:30 when we made the decision to go so we didn’t think to invite anybody else that day. Just after turning off the laterite path and on to the sand track I noticed something running across an opening between the trees ahead of us. It looked quite large, but I didn’t say anything to Teun at first because I thought it was probably just a monkey (hahaha just a monkey, they’re so common place around here 😉 ). A minute later we both spotted a smaller primate running through the same area and we looked at each other and started discussing what it could be… a monkey? a gorilla? a chimpanzee? All are possible here. He sped forward towards the opening and just as we came through we saw a large ape-like animals running through the savannah towards the next group of trees a couple hundred meter in front of us. I raised my camera through the open window of the car and started trying to snap some pictures of our mystery creature. It was definitely too big to be a monkey! As it reached the edge of the trees it quickly climbed into one of the trees and turned back towards us. It was checking us out too! He must have sat in the tree for a good 5 minutes just staring back at us and occasionally glancing away toward the far end of the forest. This also gave us time to finally identify our mystery animal, it was a chimpanzee! I assume there must have been a family group and this was the alpha male making sure his family was safely concealed before taking off. Soon he climbed out of the tree and took off himself. What an amazing siting!!!
We then continued on our way to the beach and had a nice time walking along the edge along the edge of water with Eva (our puppy) and then having some drinks and snacks under the shade of the palm trees. A little before 6 we decided to pack up and head home as the sun would be setting soon and we would rather not negotiate the sand tracks through the jungle in the dark. At almost the same exact place that we have stopped the car to watch the chimp Teun drove through what looked like a shallow stream of water (normal here during the rainy season) and it ended up not being so shallow. The front of the car made it through thanks to the momentum, but the back end wasn’t so lucky.We were stuck. After a few failed attempts to try get out of the rather deep pool of water that were only digging us in deeper (the back bumper was now completely under water) we knew we were going to have to call someone to help us.I dialed the first person I thought would be able to get to us quickly, our friend Anne, who was actually borrowing out other friend’s (Ann) car. Luckily she picked up and said she would come as quickly as possible, which was good as the sun was about to set. About 30 minutes later we saw our rescue (Ann and Sarah) coming down the road. In just a matter of minutes we had attached the tow rope between the two cars and we were free! We all headed back to Yenzi and invited the girls over for dinner as thank you for saving us!
After an amazing, but short visit up to the Shell Hut and Loango National Park (because Ariana absolutely detested the hut…) we headed back to Gamba. The next couple of days we spent exploring more beaches, searching for oysters, a picnic in Vera Plains, and doing a bit more kayaking.
Then it was time head back to Libreville to drop Ariana off for her flight back to California. But first we arranged to visit Baie des Tortues resort across the bay from Libreville. And it was AMAZING. Truly a little slice of paradise just minutes away from the chaos of Libreville. We arrived by boat and once on land were immediately offered a welcome drink that we sipped while we sat under the trees gazing out over the turquoise water and pristine white sand beaches. We spent the morning walking down the beach and back before laying claim to a few beach loungers and dividing our time between napping and swimming in the crystal clear sea. Lunch was an amazing affair, 3 delicious courses that left us stuffed to the brim. Then we went back to lounging about, with cocktails this time, and swimming. It was a perfect final day of Ariana’s trip! Around 5pm we were shuttled back to Libreville and after collecting Ariana’s bags we headed to the airport to bid her a fond farewell.
At the end of October we were very happy to have our first visitor to Gabon, my best friend Ariana! After spending a few days in Paris to celebrate her 35th birthday we flew altogether back to Gabon. We eased her into her first African experience by spending the first few days doing a bit of relaxing, visiting the beaches nearby our house, watching the elephants coming through camp to eat all the ripe mangos, and kayaking around the lake.
But over the weekend we took a boat and headed up north through the lagoon to Sette Cama where we stayed in the Shell Hut and arranged for a guide to take us for a couple of hikes into the amazing Loango National Park. Before arriving at the hut we of course had to stop at the newly semi-improved BBC Treehouse. I was really impressed that Ariana, who is extremely scared of heights, actually climbed all the way to the top and even crossed the rope bridge! That night we enjoyed some drinks on the beach, just steps behind the hut, while watching the sunset.
all smiles at the start of the hike
The next day we picked up our guide in Sette Cama at 6:30 for an early morning walk in Loanga. We decided to start with an easy 2 hours hike that takes you through the forest and 3 separate savannas. We came across several groups of monkeys (mostly red capped mangabeys), a massive snail, and some fairly impressive spiders. I found walking through the forest was really magical; Ariana, who lets just say isn’t the most outdoorsy person, may have found the experience slightly less magical. Or at least that the impression I had as she asked every 10 minutes if we were almost back to the boat yet and continuously tried to in vain to swat invisible insects away from her face. This probably wasn’t helped when at one point, after our guide pointed out a large spider web and then demonstrated where to walk around it, Ariana then walked through the side of it 🙂
Giant snail, it was bigger than my hand!
We all survived the hike and to our surprise Ariana even raved about how much fun she had! After a bit of relaxation at the hut, we dropped the boys (two of our friends arrived that morning) off on the beach near the lagoon mouth and we went in search of hippos in a little river off of the north side of the lagoon. It was a successful search and we spent about a half an hour watching a fairly relaxed group of hippos bob up and down in the water checking us out. We also spotted some rosy bee eaters, pelicans, and a red capped mangabey monkey hanging out in the mangroves.
After meandering up and down the river for a couple of hours we headed back to the beach to see what the boys had caught (unfortunately nothing this time) and then all headed back to the hut for a (fishless) dinner
The next day we had another early wakeup call and tried to mentally prepare ourselves for what was to come….a 6 hour hike through the heart of the Loango National Park!
Getting from the boat onto dryish landmore spidersgiant monitor lizardour guide Kasalovely scenerymassive trees, small peopleyet more beautiful treesWe finally made it out of the forest an onto the beachHerd of buffalo on the savannah next to the beachHerd of buffalo on the savannah next to the beachCute!Pure Beauty! The only thing we’re missing is a surfing hippo…
We were all pretty exhausted after the long, hot hike, but everyone agreed that it was an amazing experience.
As we backtracked north on the road that would lead us to Koulamoutou we heard a pop…yup the spare tire Teun had put on just blew…. Luckily Teun had put a patch on the tire with the hole that he took off, just in case. So we all piled out of the car, mainly to watch Teun change the tire (well done Teun!).
The first place we stopped only had drinks, so we sat down and enjoyed a beer. A couple of friendly, and rather drunk, locals came up to talk to us, showing us their secret stash of their homemade palm wine. We tried a couple more recommended restaurants, but they weren’t open so we finally found a Pizzaria and were served a delicious fish dinner there (welcome to the randomness of Gabon) by a happy hostess that must have had some of that secret palm wine.
It was a horribly narrow, extremely rough and  potholed dirt road with thick vegetation or steep hillside on either side. We were often going at a snails pace. It was painful. Needless to say we slept in Tchibanga that night.
armed with 3+ inch canines dominant male decided to come aggressively walk towards us and the 3 friends that were at the front of the single file line jumped and went 
running backwards. Perfect for me, now I was just behind the guide 😉 I glanced at the guide and he indicated to keep walking forward, so I did as the male huffed and puffed and jogged back and forth between us and his ladies. We walked into a small clearing and were surrounded on all sides by mandrills of all sizes and ages. I was loving it. We soon realized why the mandrills were so drawn to us…the backpack the guide was carrying was 
full of bananas which he began throwing out the mandrills. The excitedly ran around us, some heading up the trees and into the branches above our heads. The guide made sure to keep the big male happy and distracted by throwing bananas in his direction. I was in heaven.
We arrive at the gorillas and see a young silverback sitting near the water. Â Upon seeing us get closer, he retreats closer to the tree line. Then a female and juvenile appear. Some caretakers were standing near a fence and threw food to the gorillas to entice them closer to the water. 
Opportunistic monkeys joined in, stealing any food the gorillas left behind.
 
Females lay around 50-100 eggs in each nest. Â 
Gabon has the largest population of nesting
move nests to if they feel that the nest was laid in an area that endangers the eggs (such as in tracks cars drive on). When these eggs hatch sometimes local residents are lucky enough to be invited to see the baby turtles and carry them down to the water to be released in the ocean. It’s an incredible experiance to see and touch these tiny, beautiful babies.
I raised my camera through the open window of the car and started trying to snap some pictures of our mystery creature. It was definitely too big to be a monkey! As it reached the edge of the trees it quickly climbed into one of the trees and turned back towards us. It was checking us out too! 
He must have sat in the tree for a good 5 minutes just staring back at us and occasionally glancing away toward the far end of the forest. This also gave us time to finally identify our mystery animal, it was a chimpanzee! I assume there must have been a family group and this was the alpha male making sure his family was safely concealed before taking off. Soon he climbed out of the tree and took off himself. What an amazing siting!!!
The front of the car made it through thanks to the momentum, but the back end wasn’t so lucky.We were stuck. After a few failed attempts to try get out of the rather deep pool of water that were only digging us in deeper (the back bumper was now completely under water) we knew we were going to have to call someone to help us.I dialed the first person I thought would be able to get to us quickly, our friend Anne, who was actually borrowing out other friend’s (Ann) car. 
Truly a little slice of paradise just minutes away from the chaos of Libreville. We arrived by boat and once on land were immediately offered a welcome drink that we sipped while we sat under the trees gazing out over the turquoise water and pristine white sand beaches. We spent the morning walking down the beach and back before laying claim to a few beach loungers and dividing our time between napping and swimming in the crystal clear sea. Lunch was an amazing affair, 3 delicious courses that left us stuffed to the brim. Then we went back to lounging about, with cocktails this time, and swimming. It was a perfect final day of Ariana’s trip! Around 5pm we were shuttled back to Libreville and after collecting Ariana’s bags we headed to the airport to bid her a fond farewell.
Loango National Park. Before arriving at the hut we of course had to stop at the 
the way to the top and even crossed the rope bridge! That night we enjoyed some drinks on the beach, just steps behind the hut, while watching the sunset.
impressive spiders. I found walking through the forest was really magical; Ariana, who lets just say isn’t the most outdoorsy person, may have found the experience slightly less magical. 
Or at least that the impression I had as she asked every 10 minutes if we were almost back to the boat yet and continuously tried to in vain to swat invisible insects away from her face. This probably wasn’t helped when at one point, after our guide pointed out a large spider web and then demonstrated where to walk around it, Ariana then walked through the side of it 🙂
It was a successful search and we spent about a half an hour watching a fairly relaxed group of hippos bob up and down in the water checking us out. We also spotted some rosy bee eaters, pelicans, and a red capped mangabey monkey hanging out in the mangroves.
