Onto Omboué

She boiled some eggs, made coffee and they were on the road further south. The decision was to keep to the plan of going to Omboué and to stay there 3 nights. They thought they had enough fuel and could fill a Fougamou so that they could make the road back on one tank.

There was a hype in Fougamou, the President and his Ministers were visiting the area for a few days and Fougamou was the first stop. The road there was good and when they reached there, the town was teeming with military, there were people everywhere, loud music and banners and posters welcoming the president.

And there was no fuel to be found in the town. The one petrol station was waiting for delivery. They still had some in the Jerri cans on the car but it was not a good situation. At Yombi, they turned off the tar road onto a laterite road. It was all right until they got to Mandji where they realised that the road had been done because the President was visiting there that day also.

Every shop was closed, they could not find fuel nor airtime. They were told that the ‘barrage’ was closed that they would have to wait about 4 hours in town, until the President leaves, to be able to proceed. It was sounding rather desperate and they decided that they would go to the barrage anyway and see if they can talk their way through.

Cutting of trees to clear land

When they reached there they saw a guy patiently taking their car numbers in a note book and then came to ask where they were heading. He nodded and then just opened the boom; and they drove through. From there the road was rather corrugated. It was not a nice drive. The scenery was fine, with open spaces in the forest where there was grass growing like lawn and mushroom shaped termite hills.

Road in forest

They had to ask their way around. At a place named Carrefour Rabi they headed to the right, but it was in fact the left that led to the place they needed to go to. They got to Yeno and were told that the road ends in that village. They got some fuel at some extortionist prices there and turned around.

The direction was Rabi Adax and when they got to that boom the security told them that Shell was the other gate. Barely 50m later there was the other gate with two uniformed security guys who took their letter of authorisation, asked a few question and then went to communicate by walkie talkie before saying that they could pass.

The condition was that the hazard lights should be on and they should keep a speed of 40km/h until they met with some rather surly guards in a pick up truck, who escorted them to the north gate. There they dropped off the letter of authorisation and proceeded on their own. The road got from bad to worse with big mud holes, they were considerably slowed down.

We stopped to refuel from the jerricans and carried on. They followed their instincts of the more used road because after a while signs became non-existent. It was getting dark when we passed some rather organised gas pipelines and met up with some Frenchman who was checking on his pipes. He said we were on the right road.

They carried on until she found some cell phone network and phoned Fransel at the hotel. She was getting worried and said she will come meet us on the road. Indeed a few minutes later she caught up with us. We followed their vehicle to the hotel.

Old rig equipment in front of hotel

Jetty and restaurant of hotel

There they checked into the rooms and went to have this dinner of fresh water fish steamed to perfection, served with mixed vegetables, rice, bananas and steamed cassava. They spent a silent and peaceful night. It was a bit warm but at least they managed to rest.

Fish eating croc

Trip on La Mpivié

They decided to stay 2 more nights and after a discussion with Fransel about what there was to do in these parts they had a boat prepared for them to go into Fernan Vaz, La Mpivié area to be exact and see the fish eating crocodiles that occur in these parts.

St Anne's Mission

Dried fish operation

The sun was timidly out, and with an 80 hp engine they got to the place in about 30 minutes. On the way they passed the famous St Anne’s Mission where there is an old church of red bricks. And they also passed an operation where they were salting and drying fish.

Spot the croc!

The boatman was good, he spotted the first crocodile a bit before entering the actual lagoon and it was there, on a branch with the mouth open. After that they saw quite a few of varying sizes. They also saw big fisher birds and some kind of swimming squirrel or otter.

They spent some time taking pictures and spotting other crocodiles before heading back on choppy waters; it felt like driving over these corrugated roads.

Camp at hotel Olako

They set up camp when they got back. She and Mariana got into the kitchen and started dinner with whatever means they had. It was quite a well fitted kitchen except for the lack of gas and a kettle.

Dinner was meat balls with sweet potatoes and mash followed by fruits. They set the table out on the veranda overlooking the lagoon. It was quiet except for the night insects. As they washed and settled for the night, the night watchman came in. he did finally understand that they did not want too many lights burning when they turn in.

Beach visit

The point of interest the next day was the beach. Some 25km out of Omboué is this beach of white sand. They checked in with Fransel for directions. But there was more to be done there, papers to prepare for the continuation of the trip, fuel to be purchased and so on.

Beach and lagoon

Beach

Finally all this was done and Fransel was very kind to direct them to the beach. Back onto the laterite road and then onto a soft white sandy track through a little wood. It was at what used to be a tented camp – now abandoned. They were the only ones there, white beaches with the sea crashing in. It was great to find such a place on earth. Yes the sea did bring in the plastics and logs but it was miles of nothing and no one.

Picnic at beach

There are traces of turtles and maybe hippos. They saw one turtle bobbing its head out of water in front of them while they were having a picnic. The picnic was made of the evening’s left overs jazzed up with what they had in the car: smoked salmon paté, hard boiled egg, avo, mayonnaise, tomato etc.

After some tea, they sat reading, writing or turtle watching while Stephanus had a nap.

Last dinner at Olako

They were back at the lodge where they did some organising of the cars and the camp while she organised for the people to prepare some dinner for that evening: deboned chicken the dish was called. After a good shower and some drinks on the veranda they headed for the restaurant. The food was enough and very tasty.