Arboretum Raponda Walker (Foret de Mondah)

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Die letzten Tage unserer Gabun-Reise verbrachten wir in Libreville. Wir hatten uns allerdings noch einen Ausflug vorgenommen, nämlich in den Foret de Mondah, ein Waldgebiet am nördlichen Ende der Halbinsel, auf der auch Libreville liegt. Jenseits dieser Halbinsel beginnt bereits Äquatorialguinea. Teile des Mondah-Waldes waren in der Vergangenheit gerodet und landwirtschaftlich genutzt worden, bevor das Gebiet unter Schutz gestellt und wieder aufgeforstet worden war.

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Mayumba – The most beautiful beach in the world – Der schönste Strand der Welt

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From Mouila, we took a shared taxi via Ndendé to Tchibanga in the south. There were three women and a man with us, and the youngest of the women was a shy adolescent without a decent passport. All she had was a permit to go from Mouila to her village. There was a direct way, a bad dirt road without any public transport, so she took the common route which meant to go to Tchibanga and then change transport directly to her village. That should turn out to be one of the problems on that special day. Another one was the colour of our skin that seemed to be shouting “We have money to spare”. The third problem was the fact that our driver was only a part time driver during vacation time, and that meant that he didn´t know all the police and the Gendarmerie officers by name. Naturally, he bribed them, but they sensed that they could get more than the common angel´s share. Already at the first checkpoint, they started arguing with the girl about her not having an ID card, and at the second checkpoint, they wanted to check our yellow fever vaccination certification. After we had passed the junction with the dirt road to the girl’s village, it got worse.

Old Port – Am alten Hafen

Port Gentil, Gabon/Gabun

Strandhaus – Beach house

Libreville, Gabun/Gabon

On the beach – Am Strand

Libreville, Gabon/Gabun

Libreville – No way out

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When you get off the plane as a northern or middle European in Libreville, it is like walking against a wall. It is the extreme humidity that hits you like a weight packed upon your chest. At least I felt so when we arrived at Libreville at half past seven in the evening, after a long day with flights from Frankfurt to Paris and Paris to Libreville with Air France. After having watched former Rugby players throwing around our luggage on the airfield of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Just before we discovered all the holes in the rain covers of our backpacks as well as in my backpack itself.

Treibholz – Driftwood, Pt. II

Gabun / Gabon

Treibholz – Driftwood, Pt. I

Gabun / Gabon

Buggala Island, a place of retreat I – Buggala, ein Rückzugsort I

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From Kalinzu Forest, we caught a minibus to the east, to Mbarara where we had to change transport and took a big bus eastward on to Masaka near the shore of Lake Victoria. After the delicious Friday night BBQ buffet at the Frikadellen, a Danish-run eatery linked to the NGO Childcare Denmark, and a night at the Vienna Golden Hotel in Masaka (we couldn´t figure out why the hell this is called Vienna), we tried to take a minibus to Buggala Island, the largest island of the Ssese Archipelago which comprises 84 islands just off shore on Lake Victoria. There is a free ferry service commuting all day between the mainland east of Masaka and the western tip of Buggala Island, covering the three or four kilometres in around 40 minutes.

Lake Kariba

Siavonga, Zambia