A month of adventures in Gabon June 2016

After leaving Reunion island I had a quick 36 Hour stopover in Johannesburg before my next proper destination Gabon. 

Arriving in Libreville (The only international airport in Gabon) late on the evening of the 1St June. All the currency conversation places were closed so I withdrew some cash for a taxi and headed straight for my hotel, Le Patio. 

(The local currency the Franc (CFA) is very hard to aquire outside of the country's that actually use it otherwise I would have preferred to have at least a small supply before arriving) 

Le Patio is a nice centrally located clean and safe hotel reasonably priced hotel by Libreville standards and it's in the heart of the main food and drink area of the city so some great local dining options are easily available. The only point I would make is that the staff are unbelievably rude and seem to have very little people skills despite the fact that they mostly all appear to speak excellent English.

The next morning I got up early in an attempt to avoid the worst of the heat and try and get a run in. This would be my first proper run since running London marathon over a month ago now. Unfortunately my plan didn't work as planned and I still ended up running in 26 degree heat. Luckily as I ran along the sea front a cool breeze provided some welcome relief. I only managed a slow 10Km and it's when you see locals out running in full thermal gear whilst I mearly had shorts and vest and was looking as though I had just completed the swimming section of a triathlon that you realise that maybe it's time to return to the hotel. 

Later that day I meet up with Paul. He was leading the expedition and had also flown in the day before like me but from Heathrow via Istanbul using Turkish Airlines. He had flown in with the bulk of the kit that would be required for the expedition that I would be doing in the first half of the month. Unfortunately Turkish Airlines seemed to have lost one of the bags that he had flown in with. We set about checking all the bags and counting kit in order to work out what had actually been lost. After taking an inventory of all the kit it became apparent that the missing bag contained dehydrated rations & a PFD (Personal Flotation Device) not ideal but thankfully it could have been a lot worse as there were other bags that contained equipment that would be much harder to replace at such short notice. Luckily people were still due to leave the UK to come and join the expedition so it was going to be very easy to pack an emergency bag and add it to the remaining kit that they were already due to bring. 

That evening we went to the airport to check and see if they had anymore information about the lost bag and meet Dave who was flying in to join the team. Waiting at the airport it was now over an hour from when the plane had been scheduled to land and still no sign of it. Then eventually came the announcement that it had landed. Passengers slowly started filtering out of the customs hall after about 20 mins the flow of passengers seemed to end but still no sign of Dave. Hans our driver manged to talk us through in to the restricted area so we could check for the missing bag and see where Dave was. Paul went to check for his bag and I walked over to the only person left in baggage claim standing beside the now stopped carousel. At this point I should probably point out Dave had also just flown Turkish Airlines. 

Yeah you guessed it. Not only had Paul's missing bag not been located but Turkish Airlines had successfully managed to lose another one. So yet more paperwork to be filled in before we could go get some sleep. It was now just after midnight so we headed back to the hotels. Paul was first, then it seemed Dave had booked a hotel very near Le Patio so hans could drop him off on the way to dropping me back. 

Driving around the streets where the map indicated that the hotel should be located was not looking promising the indicated location of the hotel was a boarded up and fenced off building. Hans started asking around and found out that we were in the right location but the hotel had closed a long time ago. So it was now just after 1 in the morning and not only did Dave have no baggage he was also without a hotel. I suggested we simply head to Le Patio and he could sleep on the floor in my room for the night and we could start to sort his problems in the morning. 

The next morning we headed to the biggest supermarket in the area in an attempt to re stock Dave with some kit before the expedition as it was now to late to get anything else sent from the UK as the rest of the team were on there way and would arrive this evening.

The next morning it was a early start and the bus left Libreville at 05:00 for the 600Km 10-11 hour journey to our first stop in Ivindo national park. 

We stopped in the town of Ndjolé on route and sampled some of the amazing Street food available in the cool riverside market.

Awesome Street food in Ndjolé

We arrived in the town of Makokou just after 15:00 and grabbed a late lunch and had a quick explore of the town before heading to the research station that would be our accommodation for the night. In the morning we would take a dugout canoe down to Camp Kongou located next to Kongou falls on the Ivindo river. 

Camp Kongou (My Hut for the night)

Kongou falls (Right side)

The following morning we took the dugouts across to the other side of the river to enjoy the falls from the other side and section with the biggest drop.

Kongou falls (Left Side) 

Fun at the top of the falls 

Sensible pics also available 

As it was only just the end of wet season the falls were in full flow 

At the bottom of the falls. Great views although a little wet 

Team shot 

Natural shower 

Returning to the other side of the river we enjoyed the views of the beautiful stars from a natural clearing a short 5 minute walk from our camp huts. 

Beautiful stars 

The next morning we again crossed the river ready to begin the trekking phase of the expedition. We were due to spend 3 days trekking across the national park in order to reach the Djidji river approximately 25-30 Km away. The Djidji was to provide the best possibility of good animal sightings on the packrafting stage of the expedition.

Crossing the river with the Park rangers 

Throughout the expedition we were to be accompanied by 2 FIGET personal (Foundation Internationale Gabon Eco Tourisme) they were to guide us through the trek phase and ensure we didn't have any dangerous encounters with the wild animals.

Large trees and heavy vegetation made for slow progress 

The trek phase went largely without incident although the lack of actual established paths, thick mud and heavy vegetation did slow progress and it took slightly longer than anticipated. We didn't really encounter any animals whilst walking other than the occasional monkey but they are very quick and didn't hang around for long once they heard or smelt us. We heard lots during the night and on one particular evening a elephant came in very close proximity to the camp before the FIGET guys scared it off. Dave also had a close encounter with a Civet whilst relieving himself one evening. 

Packrafting down the Djidji 

When we made it to the Djidji. We set about inflating the rafts and ensuring all essential gear was suitably waterproofed and drybagged. We were using Alpacka packrafts for this next phase of expedition and they are a great piece of kit. They weigh just over 2 Kg and fold down unbelievably small with a bit of effort. You inflate them by catching air and squeezeing it in to the raft with an inflation bag before topping up the last bit using the additional mouth valve.

We set off paddling down the river. There was a good flow and even without to much effort paddling we were able to make good progress and quickly traveled 10Km down the river. We decided to make camp with plenty of time before it was dark so set about looking for a good safe spot to set up.

We spent the next week paddling down the river. Some days were easy some very tough. One minute we could be paddling on peacefuly flat water enjoying the wildlife the next we would be dragging our rafts over banks or around rapid sections that were just not suitable or to dangerous to run. Several times we even needed to deflate the rafts and pack them away so we could trek around a section that we just couldn't run. This also included the section on the approach and section after the Djidji falls.

We encountered lots of wildlife whilst on the river Crocodiles, Otters, Birds, Monkeys, Snakes, Elephants, Gorillas, Antelope

The highlight for me was definitely coming round a corner and seeing 5 lowland forest Gorillas happily munching away on some lunch. Sadly they are not as accustomed to human contact as say the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda & DRC so they quickly moved back in to the cover of the forest once they heard us. We were only able to witness these truly magnificent creatures for a few minutes but it was amazing and I felt truly luckily to have the opportunity to witness such things. Another highlight was a Elephant encounter we had a few days previous. Either we were quieter on this occasion or he just wasn't bothered by our presence as we were lucky to be able to get very close before he headed back in to the cover of the forest.

Elephant encounter on the Djidji river 

Elephant 

Some of the fun rapid sections 

Boats stacked up by camp one morning 

Another highlight was crossing the Equator in a pack raft. Very few people are able to say they have done that. We were definitely the first people to do it on this river and maybe even the first to do it in all of Africa.

Crossing the Equator 

Finally reaching the end of the expedition in Booue it's was due to be a nice simple 7-8 Hour drive back to Libreville were we could have a much needed well deserved hot shower before food and celebratory beers. 

Should have known that this is Africa and things are never that simple. Our wonderful driver manged to break the bus by driving like a complete idiot and what should have been a simple journey ended up being a 39 hour disaster. During which time I think almost everyone on-board the bus which I might add we had to sleep on for a night was about ready to dump our driver out on the side of the road and make our own way back to Libreville.

Bus repairs 

Bus repairs 

Amazing Libreville Street food 

Yum yum 

So sad that so many people just dump there rubbish causing sights like this 

Gabon is a beautiful amazing country and I really believe more people should visit this little explored African gem. It's just such a shame that some of the people who live here don't appreciate what they have. Almost every day out in Libreville I would witness people simply dumping or throwing their rubbish in the streets, streams, ocean. That combined with the amount of people who would simply feel the need to go toilet wherever they happened to be at that exact moment is just so sad. Imagine simply going toilet in London streets whenever you felt the need.

TIA as they say. This is Africa

That's all for now. Currently in Kigali Rwanda getting ready to cross the boarder into DRC and visit virunga national park and the Rwenzori mountains.