Since independence from France in 1960 Gabon has had just two presidents, with the late, Omar Bongo, in power since 1967. Despite being made up of more than 40 ethnic groups, Gabon has escaped the strife afflicting other West African states. As Gabon’s oil reserves diminish, eco-tourism has been growing in economic importance. The country’s rainforests teem with wildlife, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants. National parks make up around one tenth of the land area. Tourism in Gabon is in its infancy and while the areas that we have selected for our holidays are absolutely wonderful in terms of flora and fauna, it should be remembered that Gabon can be humid for large parts of the year and accommodation while very clean and comfortable is not five star – yet!

 

General Information on Gabon:

Location: West coast of Central Africa

Size: 267, 670 sq. km

Population: 1.2 million

Climate: Tropical, always hot and humid

Status: Republic; multiparty presidential regime

Capital: Libreville

Main towns: Franceville and Port Gentil

Currency: CFA franc

Language: French (official) and 40 living African Languages

Religion: Christians (60%), Animist and Muslim

International telephone code: +241

Time: GMT +1

Electricity: 220v

 

Gabon’s most popular areas:

Libreville and the Estuary

Libreville

Gabon’s capital lies in the far northwest of the country, spread along the Atlantic Ocean for some 15km. Libreville is French for ‘free town’. The French lieutenant Bouet-Willaumez chose the name inspired by the example for Freetown in Sierra Leone when slaves freed from captured slave ship L’Elizia were settled here in 1849. This date is generally regarded as when the city was founded, although people, mostly the Mpongwe, had been living here long before then.

In fact, in preceding years the French has been making great efforts to increase their power on this part of the coast. In 1839 the local Gabonese chief Rapontchombo put his mark to a treaty placing his territory under the French flag, the first of many such treaties signed with local chieftains.

By 1860 Libreville is thought to have consisted of the village of the freed slaves, a trading post and a handful of missionaries. The city grew a bit after World War II, but the real sparks to its growth were independence in 1960 and the petrol boom in the 1970s, which made the city an irresistible magnet for immigrants from neighbouring countries. The city’s population increased in great leaps. Today Libreville has an official population of 450,000, which accounts for about 40% of the country’s inhabitants.

The coastal road runs from the airport to the north of the city centre – through the city and on to the port of Owendo, to the south on the Gabon estuary. On the way, roads lead away from the waterfront to the different quartiers. Batterie IV is the city’s grandest area full of embassies and large houses and Quartier Louis is primarily an entertainment district. The grand boulevard Triomphal Omar Bongo was built on what was once the marshland on the Sainte Marie Valley. The next big road junction leads up to Mont-Bouet, the busiest part of the city. Stretching from the Presidential Palace as far as avenue Felix Eboue is the commercial centre of the city, known as  Nombakele, and butting up to it is the old colonial Quartier Glass, where many trading companies once had their headquarters. Continuing brings you to the industrial area Oloumi, then the lively residential area Lalala, and finally the train station and port of Owendo. All distances in Gabon are measure from the Bessieux roundabout, ‘le point kilometrique zero du Gabon’.

President Bongo had big ideas for his capital back in the days when the coffers were overflowing with petrol money. For most of the 1970s the city resembled a massive building site. A new presidential palace was built, the first skyscrapers, big roads, new ministries, luxury hotels, plus the futuristic buildings of boulevard Triomphal. Recession in the mid 1980’s slowed construction, but there’s no denying that on one level Libreville lives up to the image of the flourishing international capital that Bongo envisaged. The buildings and hotels are still impressive, and you can dine on food from anywhere in the world if you can stomach the international prices – les Librevillois, immigrants and expats all agree the city is ‘tres, tres cher’. But of course, there is another, less visible side of the city behind the modern buildings, ‘les matistis’ or shanty towns.

 

The Estuary

Within the Estuary region are a number of places where it is only too easy to forget the proximity of the big smoke. Just minutes out of Libreville on the airport road the forest begins. Both along this coast and on the other side of the estuary, there are dreamy beaches where it is possible to walk for miles along the shore at low tide. On the southern side of the estuary is Pongara National Park., which incorporates the tourist resort of Port Denis. Neither side of the estuary is short on birdlife – kingfishers, little egrets, reef herons, sanderlings and other fast-moving waders abound.

 

The Middle Ogooue

The Ogooue splits into two channels at Lambarene, before re-joining a large alluvial plain with a series of picturesque lakes fringed by papyrus marshes, reed beds and dense forests. This is one of the largest deltas in Africa, extending from Lambarene to Port Gentil, and it is hoped it will be granted protective status such as a Biosphere Reserve. Lake excursions can be made from either Lambarene or Port Gentil, but the Lambarene lakes are more accessible and less pre-planning is required. Aside from the lakes this region is known for two reasons: the hospital founded by Albert Schweitzer and the peculiar fierceness of its mosquitoes.

 

The Ngounie

The Ngounie region takes its name from the River Ngounie – an important tributary of Ogooue – which feeds its forests and lakes. It is sometimes also known as Mitsogho country, after the people who have traditionally lived here. To the south lies the Congo, along this region’s eastern flank rise the du Chaillu Mountains, and along its western flank the Ikoundou Mountains. Sandwiched between there forested mountains lies the grassy Ngounie valley, location of the town of Ndende. The Ngounie must be one of the least visited regions of Gabon. If it welcomes any visitors they are invariably passing through on their way to or from Mayumba, or making a brief southerly foray from Lambarene to Fougamou and Sindara. Those who linger a while, however, and venture deeper into the Mitsogho country, are rewarded with the beauty of a little changed part of the country.

 

Coastal Ogooue

The Ogooue Maritime, or Coastal Ogooue, is a region that combines economic resources and diverse beauties in its 23,000sq km. The region’s capital is Port Gentil. From the late 15^th century, Europeans, notably the Portuguese, descended on the coastal peoples to trade in ivory and timber. Later, in the 17^th century, their commercial interests turned to slaves, while by the 19^th century the missionaries were arriving to battle for souls. In the 20^th century the attraction was oil, and that of the 21^st century looks set to be tourism, thanks to the spectacular scenery and plentiful wildlife. The camps here have long been a place of pilgrimage for tarpon fisherman, and are now broadening their net to welcome birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts.

The coastal Ogooue region has many different ecosystems harbouring enormous biodiversity. It is a region that includes forests, lagoons, lakes, floodplains, savannahs and over 200km of coastline. This is one of the richest and most beautiful areas in Central Africa, and preliminary research has shown it to have one of the highest densities of elephants and apes. Yet such riches have not been a guarantee against exploitation. The government has been in the past given logging and oil companies the right to operate in the region, and their presence has both improved access routes for poachers and increased the demand for illegally hunted meat. Now the Gabonese government, in conjunction with the conservation agencies, has given the region two national parks of Loango and Moukalaba-Doudou. They are keen to find a workable solution to the twin issues of conservation and economics by encouraging tourism. Loango National Park is probably the only place on the African continent where western lowland gorillas, forest elephants, buffalo and hippopotami can all, with luck, be seen on the same beach. Even leopard have been spotted on the beach. There is also the chance to see manatees and crocodiles, and at the right times of year, nesting leatherback sea turtles, humpback whales and dolphins.

 

Port Gentil

Port Gentil is located on the north-eastern edge of an island some 30km by 6km, an island surrounded by ocean and swamps. At the end of the 15^th century it was named Lopez Island by the Portuguese sailor, Lopez Gonzalvez. The name did not stick, although the island’s furthest point is still know as Cape Lopez. Instead, the island became known as Mandji Island, a name chosen by the Myene people because of the concentration of mandji trees growing here.

The city itself takes its name after a certain Frenchman, Emile Gentil, an administrator for Afrique Equatoriale Francaise (AEF) who was sent to perform a mission here between 1890 and 1892. Port Gentil at this time was little more than a handful of villages and a mission, and was to remains so until at least the end of World War 1. Today Port Gentil is the economic capital of Gabon, a city that got rich quick, and in the process acquired a disproportionate number of hotels, restaurants and expats (mostly French and Lebanese). The residents of Port Gentil claim there are three separate groups of people here: the Gabonese, the expats and those working for Elf. The question on everybody’s mind is what will happen to the city when the petrol runs out?

 

Loango National Park

The Loango National was created in 2002 when the Iguela and Petit Loango Reserves were merged to become one. The Iguela Reserve has covered an area of 230,000 hectares surrounding the lagoon alternatively called Iguela or Nkomi. Neighbouring it to the south was the smaller coastal reserve of Petit Loango. Visitors come to Loango National Park to enjoy the irresistible combination of scenery and wildlife – ocean, lagoon, forest and savannah – and the different ways of exploring them: namely by boat, 4WD or on foot. The attractions change depending on the time of year. The whale season begins around mid-July and continues through to mid-September, the tarpon fishing season October to mid-November, and the turtle season is October to mid-January. At all times, you will see at least some of the following: buffaloes, hippos, crocodiles, manatees, elephants, chimpanzees and gorillas.

 

The Nyanga

Nyanga is in the far southwest of Gabon, its limits defined by the ocean to the west and the border with Congo to the south. The provincial capital, Tchibanga, lies beside the River Nyanga in a low-lying corridor between the Mayumba Mountains and the Ikoundou mountains, paralleling the Ngounie valley to the east. It is a fairly wealthy region with fertile soil. Its agricultural industry – based largely on rice and some vegetables – is centred around Moabi, and marble is quarried near Tchibanga. Tourism is an embryonic industry at the coastal town Mayumba, famed for its pristine beaches. Talk of building a port on Gabon’s southwestern coast has raised fears about the future of Mayumba, but it seems an unlikely choice as long as oil is not found here.

 

Woleu-Ntem

This region takes its name from two large rivers, the Woleu and the Ntem. It is a frontier region, separated from Cameroon to the north by the river Ntem, and butting up to Equatorial Guinea to the west, and around the Crystal Mountains to the south. The regional boundaries were created by the French in the early 20^th century. Woleu-Ntem fell under German colonial control in 1912-15 – the German legacy lives on in the cocoa they planted – but the factor to impact on the region today is the influx of immigrants from these neighbouring countries.

Woleu-Ntem has an estimated population of 220,000 people, making it second only to the estuary in terms of population density. The majority of its inhabitants are Fang, who are known for the Mvet, the name of a Fang stringed instruments and musical tradition. There are also villages of Baka pygmies near the Cameroonian border. As well as being one of the country’s most densely populated regions, Woleu-Ntem is one of the wealthiest. An immediate indicator of its importance is the beautifully surfaced main road, which allows produce from Cameroon to be easily transported south through Bitam, Oyem, Mitzic to eventually join the road to Libreville.

The region’s wealth is based in agriculture, and specifically on the company Hevegab, which carved massive hevea plantations totalling thousands of hectares of the forest here in the early 1900s. These work opportunities not only meant less of an exodus of the young from Woleu-Ntem compared to other, less-wealthy regions, but also acted as magnet for jobless young men from across the borders. Unfortunately, Hevegab is now experiencing difficulties. Jobs can no longer be taken for granted and unemployment is rising.

Because of the region’s higher altitude, the weather tends to be colder than most of the rest of the country, with a longer rainy season. Seen from the sky, the region’s overwhelming feature is the dense and breath-taking forest, broken only by the dramatic inselbergs that give shape to the landscape, and the occasional roads with their pretty villages dotted with avocado, mango and banana trees. The far northeastern corner of the region, and the country, is uninhabited impenetrable forest broken only by massive granite outcrops.

 

The Ogooue-Invindo

The Ogooue-Invindo is one of the least populated regions in Gabon. It is traversed by the Ogooue and Ivindo rivers, and two main roads. The regional capital is the small town of Makokou. East of Makokou the road passes through some villages before arriving in Mekambo, the furthest town before the road splits and crosses the frontier into Congo in two different places. Away from the roads, this region is inaccessible and uninhabited, except for the Pygmies living along the length of the River Ivindo and the gold panners sifting through the small streams around the River Nouna. The other people living here are mostly Fang, Kwele and Kota. They are eking out a subsistence existence, growing, fishing and hunting their food. There are iron deposits around Mount Belinda that were once a source of great hope, but the quality is simply not good enough to justify the expense of mining it and transporting it to the coast. Now the government, in conjunction with environmental organisations such as WWF, hope that ecotourism will provide a boost to the economy in a region that is after all one of Gabon’s richest in terms of flora and fauna. Until now, Lope has been the only real options for tourists, from those in search of the little-known Dja River Warbler or a rare species of orchid, to those interested in primarily in a ‘gorilla experience’. The formation of three new national parks means an explosion in tourist possibilities is imminent.

 

Lope National Park

Lope National Park is a vast expanse totalling 2,069 square miles. It is bordered by the Ogooue to the north, the Offoue to the east, the du Chaillu mountains in the south and the River Mingoue to the west. Lope was created as a national park in 2002 (prior to this it had been a reserve since 1946). More than 1,500 plant species have been recorded here, of which 40 represent new species for Gabon. Lope is home to 400 of the 680 species of bird recorded in Gabon, and according to the ECOFAC there are 60 different species of mammal within the reserve. Little wonder Lope is the chosen research centre for long term studies on gorillas and mandrills. In the region of 1,350 mandrills are thought to inhabit the reserve and the surrounding area. They are particularly visible in the dry season (July – August), when they hand around in super-groups numbering hundreds in the north of the reserve for up to two weeks at a time. There are estimated 3,000-5,000 western lowland gorillas roaming within the reserve.

 

Ivindo National Park

Southwest of Makokou is the Ivindo National Park. The highlights of the park includes its two waterfalls, the Koungou and the Mingouli. By far the greatest are the Mingouli falls – a magnificent series of falls that crash down into the river from every direction. A pirogue trip through the forest to the falls provides plenty of opportunity to glimpse birds, monkeys and hippos. The dry season is not the best time to go, as the river can get dangerously low and it will be necessary to drag the pirogue over the rocks in places.

 

 

The High Ogooue

Historically, the high Ogooue region as it stands today has been very cut off from the rest of the country. It even became a Congolese territory in 1925 – because of the building of the railway from Brazzaville to the ocean – and was only reunited with Gabon in 1946. Even then, it was to remain isolated from the other regions until the roads to Libreville and the airport were built in the 1970s, followed by the Transgabonais railway and the Intercontinental Hotel in the 1980s.

The rich resources in the mining towns of Mounana and Moanda in the west of the region played an important role in ensuring that Franceville be brought closer to the capital, but arguably the most important factor was President Omar Bonga himself. Of all the people in the High Ogooue – Ombaba, Bawoumbou, Banjabi and so on – the dominant people are the Bateke, the president’s people. Bongo hails from Bongoville (originally named Lewai), a village lying between Franceville and Leconi. He has been unceasingly committed to developing his region, but has not yet succeeded in fulfilling his dream to transform it into an important place on the international stage. The airport never handles international flights, and the Intercontinental is never full.

 

The Ogooue-Lolo

The Ogooue-Lolo is crossed by the Ogooue and its tributary the River Lolo, hence its name. A third important river, the Ofooue, marks the natural border between this region and the Ngounie region. It terms of landscape these two regions are remarkably similar, both being green and mountainous. The dense forest has long attracted forestry companies, and more recently scientists and conservationists. The du Chaillu Mountains are rich in endemic species – just how rich is not yet known – and excursions on foot guarantee encounters with numerous monkeys and birds. Climbing Mount Iboundji represents the biggest challenge, but there are other, less strenuous alternatives. The road directly south of the region’s capital, Koulamoutou, leads to the Congo border via Pana.