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.

Heading South

Equator

The morning was a flurry of activity to pack and get started. Jimmy was guiding us out of town. Coen was driving. Outer city roads are not good and then it got better as we approached the equator (again). There they did find the board announcing the equator a bit beyond the 0’00 coordinate where they stopped to have something to eat. But there came some rather annoying people – beggars more like – from the village and they soon packed up and left.

On the road they met with a contingent of the French army in Gabon most probably on their way to some place where they will do some exercises or something; there were quite a few of them trucks, personnel carriers, armoured cars etc.

The scenery was very much the same as the north, villages made up of cement houses but also wooden houses, people selling bananas and bush meat along the road, people carrying cut wood, slash and burn parts of the forest etc.

All countries have their natural beauty one way or another. Gabon has rain forests, rivers with white sand, sandy beaches and rocky beaches too. It is a warm place but all this would make for a beautiful country but for its people.

In all this nature, there is practically nothing left, they have eaten it all. Pretty fleeting statement but what can you think when you drive along their roads you see posters about protecting the environment: the trees, the turtles and the rest. Then all along the same road you see animals hanging, for sale: pangolins, mongoose, monkeys, snakes etc. You see posters about the training of game rangers but there are organised poachers in the parks.

This place is where rare species occur: leatherback turtles, dugongs etc. Let us not mention the logging that is taking place. It seemed to be pretty well organised in places but then you see parts of a forest just being burnt and the trunks cut in small pieces. Not forgetting the water and power cuts in this oil producing country where all infrastructure is not catching up with whatever development that is allowed to happen.

It is very unfortunate that there seem to be a handful of educated people here and then the rest of the population who does not seem to do much in general or to want to do much. Then there is a rather high population of immigrants who work – at anything: small vendors, house personnel, shops, and manual work of any kind.

Oil producing! And how come other countries are funding their forest projects, their roads, their food security programme?

And they went on south and further until she noticed that suddenly the temperature of the car had risen too high. This was in Lambarene where they stopped at a petrol station to fill. They pulled up into some empty area at that same petrol station and did a réparation de fortune with two part putty, waited for it to set and moved on.

Water source

They were told of a fresh, drinking water source further and they stopped there too. This is just a little stream jutting out of the flank of the escarpment; the water was clear and not as cool as she expected. The putty work seems to be holding.

Towing

However, when they wanted to start off, Hans’ car was not starting properly, the clutch was playing up. It would not make it to the next town, they concluded. They phoned around and Willem recommended that they go back to Lambarene and see with someone there if something cannot be done.

They got the towing gear in place and turned round in the direction of Lambarene. The road was good and it was raining a bit. At one point they saw a commotion, it was a truck that had recently driven off the road – lost control or something. They drove on and got to the airport to find the person who could assist with making a diagnostic on the car.

A few minutes later they were guiding the towing into the premises of the airport and very soon there were about 3 army guys onto the car. While they were finding out what was wrong, she drove out to find a place to sleep. She read about this ‘Soeurs de l’Immaculé’ and Coen found the directions from the army people.

When they arrived there, it was still raining but the sister said she can help them with rooms for a night or two but after that she was fully booked. The rooms were suitable, not cheap but as Gabon goes, it works out. They have the use of the kitchen complete with cooker, washbasins outside and dishcloths as well.

It looked like nerves were running rather raw when they were all at the mission. She opted to cook that evening and made couscous with merguez. They ate in the refectory reserved for visitors.

Lodgings above the nursery school at the Sisters of Immaculé

And then they prepared for the night, the water did not heat up in the shower but it was ok. The place was silent except for the odd car that raced down the road. It was a very peaceful night. They woke up with the noise of the army vehicle leaving the premises (the one guy on this army exercise sleeps at this mission every night).

Soon coffee was ready, the cars were hooked together and they were off, leaving Mariana with her at the mission. They went to the room where they watched school children coming in that morning – small ones on the sisters’ side and bigger ones on the other side. Very well behaved children altogether, prayers and singing of national anthem before going into class.

Entrance of the A. S Museum

Inside the museum

Old hospital refurbished

Later, when it was time to remove the car from school premises, they drove off to take a look at the Albert Schweitzer hospital and museum. This is on a scenic part of the river and they spent a bit more than an hour there walking and looking at the scenery and taking pictures. The girl who looks after the place took their entrance money and then said she had to go to the bank and will not open the other part of the museum! That is where they still have the original equipment that Albert Schweitzer brought in the first hospital.

After that they went to the market where they found and bought plastic kettles!!?! It was drizzling a bit but nothing nasty. The market was a bit of a covered place. People were friendly and explained a few things to them as they walked along. A short visit to the supermarket, and they were back at the mission to make tinned salmon sandwiches in the room. The kiddies had invaded the refectory by then.

The men phoned to say they were all right and making progress on the road. And they phoned again when they were leaving Libreville.

Land Cruiser parked at the church

Later they went for a walk to buy airtime and to check on the car. It was still very hot and they both went for cold showers afterwards. They walked off to the church where the car was parked for the day, when it was time to get it back to the Mission. In the meantime the men were back, exhausted and sweaty and also rather concerned about how Hans and Elismé were doing back there in Libreville.

Soon there were sms’ from them and the situation was discussed while they were having dinner at the Groupe DTH Traiteur that the sister recommended earlier. They ate copiously, the service was good too.

Lingering in Libreville

Jimmy was there to meet them and guide them in to his place. This is Mariana’s cousin who lives and works here. Even in this traffic, the police stopped them to ask for papers etc. but they made it to the apartment and were soon relaxing and Jimmy was getting lunch going.

He arranged for some of them to stay with him and one couple with his Dutch friends who live not far away. The men changed into town clothes and went to do the visa enquiries, dentist appointments and new glasses for driving.

When they got back, they started preparations for a braai that Jimmy organised that evening. The place was full of activities: cooking, grilling, making salad etc.. It was a very lively gathering.

The next day was her birthday and they got dropped at the apartment where the ever patient Jimmy was taking them on their rounds. Hans to the dentist, Coen to the optician and then the SA embassy again, and then move on.

The dentist was quick and efficient and he also spoke some English that Hans understood perfectly what he was doing. The optician was a bit more ‘folklorique’, a constant commentary on behalf of the man himself – comments about just anything and everything going on. And the glasses were ready, they did not have to leave a deposit or anything and he made them anyway. Coen was satisfied.

The embassy did not have much news for them at that stage, so they went to buy a pie for a snack while waiting for Jimmy. After that they moved into an area where they found all the embassies they were looking for to ask for visa forms and other information. In less than 20 minutes all this was done and they were on their way back to the apartment. They had a few requirements to get at the shops but it was between 12 and 15h and all the shops close for siesta in this place.

Birthday picture

Later, under the rain Jimmy took them to a little supermarket not far from his place. They got the requirements for that evening’s dinner. Back at the apartment, the prawns had to be cleaned, fish cut and Elismé was assembling the various paella ingredients. Finally, Marjolaine and Willem arrived and the assembly was complete for dinner.

It was excellent. There were prawns in there from Benin and Gabon, the rice was from the Songhai centre in Porto Novo, the lobsters were from the Gold coast and the soles from Accra. This hearty meal was followed by a ‘death by chocolate’ type of pudding and then every one, fat and happy, retired to their various beds.

Brake repair at Jimmy's apartment

While the men were sorting car issues and documents the next day, Marjolaine took them on the commercial rounds of Libreville. She was cooking dinner that evening and was getting the supplies needed for the event too. They also stopped at a nice café to have some real coffee and carried on with the purchases under a steady rain.

By noon, they were done and drove home to have a bit of lunch and a rest before starting the food. In the meantime papers were being done at great expense and time in town. In Gabon, if you do not have your passport on you at all times you need a certified copy of it at least and that has to be signed by the local police!

Dinner at Willem & Marjolaine

Dinner preparation was coconut chicken and she did that while Marjolaine went to walk her dog. Pitta bread served as rotis that evening and pudding was pancakes with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

This was hosted by Marjolaine and Willem and when the others arrived they discussed the cars and the places worth a visit in Gabon and they got to the table. It was a very animated dinner.

The men were again going out with Jimmy on the embassy rounds. The RoC visa seems to be rather straightforward but expensive and they needed guarantees for Angola. It was not reassuring not to know what was going on and what to expect but one has to be satisfied with what one got in these parts. The SA embassy was already finding some answers for the group and the rest they had to do.

Meanwhile, Marjolaine took them to Petit Paris, a place not far from the market where there are shops of all kinds. It was mainly fabric hunting there. It was not crowded but traffic was not flowing and it was getting a bit hot, in the end they parked in front of a bank and walked the rest of the way.

There were truly nice things in way of 100% cotton fabrics. They bargained, discussed, looked and enjoyed the whole process. After that they went to a bit of a more upmarket shop, the one that sells fabrics from the very advertised dutch company Vlisco. It was fascinating, there were other fabrics there too and everything was tempting.

After a brief visit to the supermarket, they got to the apartment where they prepared lunch and took a rest while waiting for the men to get back from their errands.

Coen got back exhausted but luckily they had eaten something on the way and were not weak with hunger as well. He went for a nap while she went with Jimmy to his office to do some blogging.

At dinner they discussed the proposed visit to some park south of the country, Omboué, where an authorisation from the Shell company was needed for access.

There was still a letter of authorisation for the car that had to be fetched at the RoC embassy and Coen still had to do the rear brakes on the car. Jimmy took her to the embassy for the letter, which was ready while Coen worked on the car.

Sunset at beach

They spent the afternoon resting and reading until it was time to leave to watch the sunset at a hotel in the suburb of Sabliere. They were lucky, as they got closer to the place the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. There has barely been any sun all these days they were in Gabon – rainy season has started.

It is a fairly clean beach where loads of tree trunks have beached (from the logging activities) and serve as wave breakers.

Soon, they were joined by two other couples and it was 11 people for dinner at the Sunset Hotel. She had grilled fish, Coen had lamb chops and the others an assortment of brochettes, pizza, salad etc. This was also a very animated affair.

New Stadium

The following day was an outing to Cap Estérias and Cap des Pères. They had breakfast with Willem and Marjolaine and then went to meet the others for the outing. They passed by the newly built stadium – built by the Chinese and supposed to be finished for the CAN, which starts in January 2012.

Forest project just out of town

It is all more or less a stone throw from Libreville but the state of the road being what it is makes for a rather bumpy ride most of the way. On the way they stopped and walked a little in a forest project. The original idea was a good one but that slowly went into neglect. Now they mention the various circuits one can do in the forest but they are not marked and getting lost is a risk.

Cap des Pères

Cap Estérias

Cap Estérias is a small coastal town with a lighthouse. The beach is also littered with tree trunks and other thrash that the sea brings in. It was very calm when they were there and the sea was cleaner than she was told it is. They took pictures and walked on the rocks for a bit and then went on to Cap des Pères.

The place seems to be ‘owned’ by the military that have access to the nice beaches there. But they just pushed the boom open and drove up to the one kiosk where they had some drinks and chips while taking in the view.

They shopped for the road and had dinner of seafood bisque and pancakes. They all shacked up at Jimmy’s that night.

Getting into Gabon

Slash and burn

It was cool that morning when they started off from Ambam. It was Sunday and hence the town was more quiet except for the loud thundering music coming from a car in the parking lot. It seems rather unnatural for people to listen to music at a low volume in these parts. Which is also why she thinks that they do not hear when one talks to them in a reasonable tone.

Road works

There is a bit of a downhill to the border and there are very apparent signs of the logging/slash and burn that has taken place across the years.

The Moroccans made a feeble attempt at it, there were some signs in the Western Sahara and Mauritania but it was more apparent in Senegal, Gambia and even Mali – planting of trees along the towns/villages. It was more systematic in Burkina Faso. In these countries there is a programme of stopping desert advancement and reforestation.

Then in Ghana where things would just grow on their own, this town embellishment or whatever it is stops. Very few towns and villages in Togo and Benin have planted trees except for the actual cultivation/plantation. And in Cameroon one sees no sign of this whatsoever. What is it with these countries then? At one look, it is a big forest, so they do not replace when they take out? There is such wealth in these places but one just cannot go on taking without replacing.

Road from the north

Northern Gabon looks much like Cameroon, a bit less ‘rain forest’, more open space between the trees and villages. Here, however, the officials seem a bit more educated, more aware of what they have to do, what procedures are – even if it was a Sunday morning when they passed. They are both more articulate in writing and reading too.

Procedures on this border is rather lengthy, customs here at one village, immigration in the next town, Bitam, gendarmerie in the next and so on. But the road is nice and the place quiet.

Ah! At this immigration post, they need photocopies of passports and stamps and such. Of course, there was a cabin just opposite the office where they could do the necessary.

Then it was back to the customs where the officer was a bit more awake and signed off the ‘carnets’. They were then on their way further south. The road was good, newly cut into the escarpment through the forests where there were signs of logging and other road works. There were little signs of much else than logging, very little pineapples, one active rubber and oil palm plantation but otherwise a rather neatly kept environment with not much agricultural activities.

It is certain that this place has less population density than Cameroon but it is better kept, the houses are better built and the road side towns and villages cleaner. Even the wooden houses were better built in general.

Logging truck on the road

The road being like it was, they thought they’d push to Njole and spend the night there. That was without reckoning that 60km before Njole the road got bad to very bad. They are still working on this road but these last kilometres to Njole when everyone was tired was gruelling.

The bad road went through wonderful canopies of giant bamboo. Parts of the road side were being cleared to make space for the new road and there were signs of burning in many places. They crossed the Equator for the first time that day at around 16h00

When they reached Njole they had to hunt for some accommodation. It is a crowded and noisy town on the edge of a nice river with white sand. It could have been so much nicer with just a bit of planning but there it is, just another chaotic African town.

River beach

They booked into Hotel Papaye where the lady in charge started by being rather blunt and unhelpful. The other option was Auberge St Jean, a European Inn style place that is steadily falling apart.

Since the Papaye ‘Chinese’ lady was not there to open the restaurant/bar, Elismé cooked and even shared a bowl of food with the grumpy lady.

Roadside picnic

Starting off from Njole on a reasonable tar road it was again through roads cut out of the escarpment, lots of bends, uphills and downhills, progress was slow. Then the land evened out a bit and they could make more speed. They stopped at the equator to have some ‘breakfast’. At this point it was not marked, they worked on GPS 


coordinates.  There were numerous police check points and they were stopped many times.

Then 80km away from Libreville, the road goes bad, broken, similar to Nigeria. They are not working on this part. The only redeeming factor is the lack of heavy traffic and people walking just everywhere. On the approach to the city the roads got a bit better, to get worse as you enter the city.

Down to Kribi

Douala traffic

Doula from the river

The next morning they woke up too early for breakfast, so they packed and then the guy on duty made an effort to have some breakfast for them and they were on the road. There they were met by the G4S people who guided they through Douala on the way to Kribi.

Cameroon can seem a bit like a huge rain forest but you certainly see signs of big plantations. On this leg we saw bananas and oil palm, a little cassava and maize. Even though they seem to have offshore oil, they have so far maintained their agriculture but there is still great poverty in the place, lack of food security and lots of banditry.

View from Tara Plage

They were told that the place where they wanted to camp is close to the presidential week-end home and that the man himself was there that week-end. So they were advised to go to the Tara Plage, a small, simple inn at the end of a beach overlooking some oil rigs and the Gulf of Cameroon.

Tara Plage

Beach view

They chose a room seeing that the rains were threatening. The others settled under some trees outside. The room was simple enough, with cold water, a shower and fan, rather flattened mattress but the bed has a mosquito net! Of course there is electricity but this is an oil producing country and the power cut later on.

Settling camp at Tara Plage

They had shrimp fritters with tartare sauce for lunch and then went for a nap. It started pouring rain when they thought they should start dinner. Since there was not wind, she settled to cook some couscous and meatballs under the veranda. She tried the dish with red palm oil this time and it came out nicely.

Sunset on the Gulf

It was nice to settle for sleep with the sounds of waves crashing and night insects. Later it started to rain in earnest.

Waterfall into the sea

The morning activities had to do with vehicle maintenance while enjoying the sounds and view of the sea. Quick shopping, tyre repair etc in a rather slow, 


sleepy town where internet was not working and then a visit to the Lobe falls, rapids that come down into the sea, a quite spectacular and rare sight.

Beach kitchen

Fisherman's resto

Later, they went to a small fishermen’s cove to eat at a place set up on the beach: basic benches and table and the guy is cooking the fish right there at the beach. It was delicious fresh baby barracuda with bread fruit accompanied with a hand crushed chilli sauce of local invention.

A good nap, vehicle management and then dinner of braai bread and steak on the veranda of the Tara plage auberge followed by sleep in the dry comfort of the room. It poured that evening again and it was very pleasant and peaceful.

Bridge on the logging route

Activity along the logging route

In the morning they were up with a cup of coffee and biscuits and were on the road south and then east. It is a logging road and it is in the state it is because of the loggers. They managed to do only about 30km/hour on this road and they got to the tar only after noon.

They took the decision to find some place to stay in Ambam town, not far from the border instead of crossing that same day. They found Résidence Hotelliere du Monde, a small place that allowed the camping cars to park provided they took a room to shower etc and ate at the restaurant. This small unpretentious place is clean, serves good generous food that they had prepared for them from scratch.