Blogs from Gabon, Africa - page 2

Day 1 Flight leaves 9:35 pm Destination: Gabon After two stops and three flights in a stuffy coach cabin, I could not wait to step out into the humidity and heat of Libreville, Gabon's capital, situated on the northwest coast. I had suffered through the long flight at high dollar for one reason: to see the gorgeous place that is Gabon. From the wildlife forests, exotic animals and the Komo River to the escarpments that cause gorgeous waterfalls, this country has everything you wouldn't expect to see in a relitively untraveled country. Today i checked into the Le Méridien Mandji hotel in Port Gentil. The hotel was gorgeous. Perched at the edge of the Atlantic coast in Port Gentil, Le Méridien Mandji offers spectacular views of rippling waters and the fronds of tall trees silhouetted against ... read more

Last time I crossed the equator I got robbed, threatened, tricked, fooled and deceived (all in the town of Muarabungo, Indonesia ), so I felt a bit reluctant to leave the safe homely northern hemisphere for the southern one. The road from the Cameroonian border post heading south was an impressive showpiece in advanced engineering. Through the dense, sticky and humid rainforest, along raging rivers and over jungle strewn mountains - the European funded road snaked. Well maintained. Empty. Along the roadsides the few dwellings sold petrol, alcohol and bush-meat. Snakes and monkeys hang next to the road and are seen almost as often as all the military check points one encounter on the road. As soon as we’d crossed the equator and stopped for dinner in Ndjole we got ripped off. The southern hemisphere, I ... read more