Into the Heart of Madness - This is Gabon!

[SafariChick]

@Galago I am not sure about the reason/story behind it having been done by the psychiatric services but I took it that the date Avril 1993 means that the 'when' was April of 1993.  The hospital is now a modern working hospital. You can read about it here:

https://hekint.org/2017/02/23/the-albert-schweitzer-hospital-in-lambarene-gabon/

[Galago]

Ah right, it was the hospital, of course! I'd forgotten you'd said you were there. I put that down to my shredded nerves reading the posts on the boat trip! 

[Atravelynn]

Just read @Sangeeta's involvement.  Truly unbelievable on both sides of the ocean!

 

David took leave of us to go chase up some hippos very keen on taking up city life.   -  I found that very funny @Kitsafari.

 

Suspense movie is the perfect description @SafariChick

 

I am relieved you are on land once more!

Edited September 27, 2019 by Atravelynn

[GEORGE PALLADINO]

I am new to this format [and possibly to this centuries ways of communicating] so please keep that in mind haha.I call myself Doprah [the male Oprah] in Africa since we both were building schools and orphanages on that continent mine being in Uganda.You can see on UTube at Joan's Home Orphanage[a homage to my dead mom].That does it for the lead in since words are precious and not to be squandered by unnecessary drama.My experience of Gabon is quite a bit different than the ones being shared already.I am not trying to present one or the other as RIGHT but only offering another perspective on the insanity that ensues while trying to navigate a country that goes from obscenely opulent to insanely primitive in a matter of hours!This trip and country is not for those who want to check boxes simply,quickly and most importantly with NO effort on their part.No matter how professional your outfitter is[ours was right up there]or how many much effort is put into "insuring" that there will be a smoothness to the journey it's as futile as yelling at a rock! If your not willing to suspend your rigidity of time[or atleast question its importance] then a place that excepts 2hrs prior upto 3hrs after as "on time performance then stay away from  this one. If you dont see the humor in having a train platform of 20 yards to accept the once a day incoming train of 200 yds[leaving people scrambling in the dark to find their train car],this aint for you.Oh yeah once you reach your car the steps may be as low as 2ft or as high as 6ft just to add to the excitement of gettin on board a movin train haha.

So now that ive set the stage of some difficulties in travel you can fill in the blanks with boats and cars.So if by now your not shaking your head with a questioning smirk on your face then its also time to move on.

However if this makes you giggle with the possibilities of unfathomable obstacles being lobbed at you daily[sometimes hourly] then stay with this.All my prior trips all over the world were for wildlife encounters at any cost but having most major creature comforts.THIS AIN'T THAT haha.The comforts are a welcome surprise to be relished when provided but the soul of this type of journey is in the communal suffering and ability of us to pull together to make the challenges fun.Pessimists stay away but a healthy optomist will have a field day with this one.The six oddballs that were comprised by Sangeeta to be her companions werea recipe for disaster [looking from the outside]but turned out to be the perfect balance to each other in primitive conditions. I would like to go into more detail on the particulars of the personalities but this is becoming a short novel rather than a oversite of my encounter.

I started this rant by announcing that all prior trips were about the "ends",getting the pixs, seeing the sites,etc. This one was a primal meditation challenging everything i went in thinking i needed only to be confronted by how little is necessary thanks to the forest people.The bonds forged by sharing and enduring burdens with complete strangers was a massive surprise that awoke a passion in me for people that had practically disappeared from the beating of this world.

Dont get me wrong the wildlife is there but its a sideshow for your personal growth and mental challenges brought on by being thrown into a primitive state and back out again at will.There was NOTHING i've experienced that was more rewarding at the end of an epic romp thru a continent.

If there is any interest in more in depth analysis from this "my ass is on fire" group participant send word haha,peace.

 

[SafariChick]

@Atravelynn thanks, we were certainly glad to be on land again as well!

 

@GEORGE PALLADINO Hi George - who you calling six oddballs? Oh you mean YOUR six oddballs - because we are all perfectly normal ha ha! At first I was unsure who this was commenting but now I realize you're one of the group two participants that I met before leaving Gabon. Sounds like you are agreeing with some of the craziness we presented but perhaps you found it even more crazy than we did? Look forward to seeing Group 2's account of how things went on your trip - perhaps you all will do a joint report like this one!

[SafariChick]

a couple more photos to share from the boat - it was not all scary times, especially at the beginning! 

 

We all got much amusement from @Kitsafari's adorable face mask, pulled out at various times throughout the trip!

 

 

Also, this was yet another day where we never had a proper lunch. The boatman did have a large bunch of bananas and this bottle of peanuts - they certainly came in handy on the 10-hour boat ride!!

 

[Atravelynn]

1 hour ago, GEORGE PALLADINO said:

This one was a primal meditation

what an apt description to accompany this report!

 

That mask is a bizarre comic relief!

Edited September 27, 2019 by Atravelynn

[janzin]

hey I see at least you had life preservers !!

[Kitsafari]

5 hours ago, GEORGE PALLADINO said:

 This one was a primal meditation challenging everything i went in thinking i needed only to be confronted by how little is necessary thanks to the forest people.The bonds forged by sharing and enduring burdens with complete strangers was a massive surprise that awoke a passion in me for people that had practically disappeared from the beating of this world.

Dont get me wrong the wildlife is there but its a sideshow for your personal growth and mental challenges brought on by being thrown into a primitive state and back out again at will.There was NOTHING i've experienced that was more rewarding at the end of an epic romp thru a continent.

If there is any interest in more in depth analysis from this "my ass is on fire" group participant send word haha,peace.

 

 

 @GEORGE PALLADINO a virtual hello and yes you sound like you were from Group 2 of Sangeeta's/Chalo's Mad Romp Through Unexpected Gabon. So welcome to ST. 

when is your group TR starting? I so wanna hear all about it. 

I'm not sure what you meant about "people that had practically disappeared from the beating of this world", but I assure you will find some of them right here in the forum - Looking at you @inyathi - who is one of the leading intrepid adventurers in this forum that has opened new and exciting places for others like myself and my Gabon companions to explore . 

 

You provide such an interesting perspective to the trip - that it was all about personal growth amid mental challenges.

In a way the trip was indeed. As I had alluded earlier, this trip is not about creature comforts from the safari bubble world where you can sit with a gin and tonic and watch the elephants forage.

I had wanted to save this for the end of the report, but since you have raised it here, I may as well share some of my reflections. 

The trip was for me to see mandrills, gorillas, forest elephants and red river hogs, and to experience first-hand a location far off the beaten track of a safari-goer. after a dozen or so trips to the usual safari venues, I am keen to expand my safari horizons and explore more offbeat places. To do so, I would have needed to accept whatever is lobbed at me, and not get too frustrated or uptight that things do not go my way. As I said  - Go With the Flow.

The bumps along the way in this trip jolted my senses too used to  cushy safaris, and made me see what the real African world is.

 

For me personally, the entire journey strengthened my belief that I could mentally and physically survive hard travel, although that boat incident seriously undermined my appetite for too many misadventures.

 

But there is no other way but the hard way if I want to see treasures such as mandrills or forest elephants. one day in the near future, they may just be extinguished from the world, and I don't want to grow older knowing I could have seen them, but didn't even try too because I was too afraid of the unknowns or scared about hardships in going to a country that has little infrastructure and lives in the present rather than in the future.

 

I have no regrets going on this trip. maybe sitting on that boat, wondering if I will live to see the sun or if I'll survive the full bladder, I could have wondered if it was all worth it. Hindsight gives a better perspective, especially if you survive it with a positive perspective. But having experienced what it really was like, my expectations will be better managed for the next trip to an outlandish, offbeat place.

 

and with each trip, I hope I grow  with knowledge and experience, and true appreciation with what a pure safari adventure or expedition is all about. 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

4 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

That mask is a bizarre comic relief!

 

 

I used the mask to keep dust out while on the roads to/from Ivindo park, and i think i used during the boat trip to keep the strong wind out of my nose/mouth. it came in very useful but i must have dropped it in the boat as I couldn;t find it when we landed at Omboue. Josep and safarichick were hugely amused by it.

[SafariChick]

post #125 was well said, @Kitsafari . And although a couple of times I let frustration get to me on this trip, in looking back I too very much appreciated having done it and felt it was well worthwhile. Definitely was a growing experience to realize what I was capable of, even though it was difficult, even though I fell down several times (literally!) and a great bonding experience with all my fellow safarigoers.

 

That's a shame about the mask. I hope you can get another. My double-walled steel water bottle that I've had for years went missing in the boat ordeal as well. 

[Atravelynn]

10 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

 

 

I used the mask to keep dust out while on the roads to/from Ivindo park, and i think i used during the boat trip to keep the strong wind out of my nose/mouth. it came in very useful but i must have dropped it in the boat as I couldn;t find it when we landed at Omboue. Josep and safarichick were hugely amused by it.

I figured the mask was for health reasons, but comical nonetheless.  If losing the toothy mask and @SafariChick's water bottle are the worst things that happens on this trip, you are lucky!

I'll confess here that I cannot find a pair of capris and a sports bra.  They have been gone for months, and I believe they never left home.  It can happen.

[Anomalure]

@gatoratlarge Thanks for the mention. Just caught up with this and wow, you guys really had it rough out there. Looking forward to seeing how Loango is, as I wish I had gone there too!

 

In retrospect, I think it was a good thing I only went to Lope/Mikongo and Lambarene, because long-distance travel in Gabon seems really fraught! Your report brings back a lot of memories. Running through the forest from rumbling elephants, unexpected encounters with large mammals (e.g. unhabituated chimps, gorillas, leopards), and following glowing Mandrill butts through the forest... But also lowlights like having our bags (with passports) disappear for hours in an undisclosed location on the trip to Mikongo, setting up tents in an abandoned research station at 11PM (having arrived 10 hours late), waiting 2 hours for spaghetti at Lope Hotel, and a 6-hour delay on the train leaving only 30 min of sleep before our first morning excursion at Lope. Gabon is an amazing country, but like anywhere else in remote Africa NOTHING goes to plan... Everything is done last minute, if at all.

 

And yes, we had the first Giant Pangolin at Mikongo, 2+ hours' drive into the heart of Lope NP. Very basic camping, grubby mattresses, eating food out of cans (half the group got sick from some meat), bathing in the river and a bare, flat pit for a toilet. Those four days we spent in Mikongo were the best of my mammal watching "career" though I guess you have to be a bit nuts to fully appreciate it all  Happy to see you guys took it all in stride too.

 

Funny enough, I had a bit of foreshadowing before my Gabon trip began as well. Arriving at the Radisson in Libreville, we met a friendly French lady at the dinner buffet. When asked why we were here, we replied tourism, and she said, rather incredulously, "Who the hell comes here as tourists!" A couple weeks later I knew why...

[solpics]

Wow! I'm only on page 4 and I am really enjoying this trip report.  This is Joseph Conrad stuff.  You all had quite an adventure, and some great sightings at the Bai.

[pault]

 Enjoying so much. 

[michael-ibk]

Well hello @GEORGE PALLADINO, nice to see you on these pages.

 

Nothing to add really on the boat disaster. Fortunately all ended well but I´m sure we all had some very dark thoughts back then that it very possibly might not. But let´s get past that now. Good news and bad news:

 

Bad news first: The report will be much more boring from now on.

Good news: Boring because once we had reached Loango everything worked - almost.

 

Getting from Ivindo to Loango is really quite difficult and exhausting, and in hindsight I do accept that our route was probably the best option. You could possibly also go back with the train all the way to Libreville, then fly down to Port Gentil and drive the rest - this is what we did on the way back (in reverse order of course). But actually I really enjoyed the boat ride, we had one of the nicest days weatherwise and there was always something to see. It was a bit of a pity that we almost never had the time to stop, for a birder the Ogoué River is a very productive place. And even though I´m really not sure how, Chalo´s group 2 actually made it from Lambarene to Omboue in less than six hours, so the five hours stated in our itinerary were not unrealistic.

 

The main flaw, however, was that there was no back-up plan at all, and that simply did not do. After all, our boat could have died anywhere along the route, far away from any human settlements, and what then? I have no idea, and it´s pretty clear our captain wouldn´t have had one as well. For God´s sake, they didn´t even have lights on board, so even if someone had tried to find us out on the lagoon they wouldn´t have seen us.

 

Bits and pieces from our two travel days:

 

 

A Western Bluebill, a really cool-looking little bird. Seen while waiting for the ferry in Ivindo.

 

 

At the same place. I´ve labelled this as Red-Leged Sun Squirrel but am probably totally wrong. Any thoughts on this one, @inyathi or @Anomalure?

 

 

Green-Throated Sunbird in Lambarene. Very numerous, but hard to get - restless and high up.

 

 

The hospital seen from the river. Note the blue sky - probably our best day weatherwise in Gabon.

 

 

Whereever one travels around the world this bird will be there - Cattle Egret.

 

 

 

 

White-Crowned Lapwing

 

 

 

 

 

Great White Pelicans were delightfully common on the river.

 

 

 

 

 

The fishing boat we almost crashed into. I´m pretty sure the net we destroyed was responsible for our problems afterwards, it probably entangled around something.

 

 

 

Grey Pratincole

 

 

Although the Ogoué River seems to be a fantastic habitat for Hippos they are rather uncommon there. I can only assume that´s because of poaching. And they are shy - we saw one on shore but as soon as it realized it was watched it jumped it to get out of sight. That´s all I got.

 

 

 

A Caspian Tern

 

 

And a Common Tern flying over.

 

 

 

Rosy Bee-Eater - we´d see many more of them later in Akanda.

 

 

Another iconic bird I was delighted to see - African Grey Parrot. Again, we´d get much better opportunities for them at Loango.

 

 

 

If Palm-Nut Vultures are your thing Gabon is the place to go - we saw hundreds along the river.

 

 

A far-off African Skimmer - I love this bird.

 

Onwards and upwards now - let´s move to Loango.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

No, still not Loango - two short videos to show the Ogoué river a bit:

 

 

 

 

[inyathi]

I think I spoke too soon when I said I hope people don’t think you need to be stark staring mad to visit Gabon, being stranded in the boat somewhere out in the middle of Nkomi Lagoon in the dark not fun at all, I don’t need to imagine how scary it was you’ve all described it very well. Now that you are all home safe, I think can mention that there must be Nile crocs in the lagoon, maybe not large numbers of them, but I certainly wouldn’t want to fall in to Nkomi Lagoon. Getting around is certainly one of the complications of visiting Gabon, particularly getting to Loango or getting from there to somewhere else. We were very lucky that we were able to fly from Loango to Ivindo, I don’t know what the situation is now with charter flights.

 

I’m very glad particularly with what happened afterwards on the boat, that you had a successful time at Langooue Bai seeing gorillas, there is something very special about seeing completely wild unhabituated gorillas without them even knowing that you are there. Obviously, the way into Rock Camp has changed somewhat with the quad/ATV I had read before that people are now taken by quad but I wasn’t quite sure what’s involved. On my trip I never got involved with the ferry, I can only assume this means the route in is different or part of it is. Looking at the photos of those falls on the Ivindo River I saw and photographed them from the air. The camp does look almost unchanged, @gatoratlarge I was going say looking at the background trees that that cabin could have been the one I was in, except that I was in a tent under the roof, I assume perhaps they have taken the tents out and put cabins in instead. Although I’d read that it’s possible to sleep at the Bai this option wasn’t offered was, I was there, so I’m interested to have read about your experience of this.

 

Gabon and São Tomé & Principe 10th Feb to the 2nd March 2008

 

@michael-ibk I have just consulted my copy of Squirrels of the World, a book I happen to have because it has a photo I took of a fire-footed rope squirrel in Lope in it, I wondered about forest giant squirrel but the description of the subspecies found in Gabon doesn’t sound right and the head is not big enough. I’m confident having ruled that species out, that you are right it is a red-legged sun squirrel Heliosciurus rufobrachiam aubryi it has a pale ring around the eye and the description of this race says the dorsal pelage is very dark and it has reddish colouration on the flanks. Unless it’s my imagination I can see a bit of a reddish tinge, the lower-legs do look reddish to me. Its tail is long and trailing behind it, it’s not held up over the back, this is typical of sun squirrels.  

   

Great to see photos of grey pratincoles a very beautiful bird, I think.

 

@offshorebirder

 

On 9/23/2019 at 7:35 PM, offshorebirder said:

Too late @inyathi - at this point I wouldn't dream of spending time and money to go to Gabon!

 

I was going to say I don’t believe a word of it, because I know you must have seen Michael's photos of all those fabulous greenbuls and if that doesn’t tempt you to visit Gabon nothing will  but now I can I forgive anyone for questioning the wisdom of visiting Gabon.

 

Even if everything goes to plan, Gabon is certainly an adventurous destination, definitely for the experienced traveller, I sure hope the boatmen learned a lesson from what happened and that in future they will have a plan if something like that happens again, so that what should be a great experience doesn't turn into a nightmare. I’m glad to hear that the rest of the trip went okay. I'm so glad you all went and returned safely but I wish you had a slightly less adventurous time, I look forward to reading the rest and hearing about Loango etc and no further mishaps.

[michael-ibk]

So, Loango Lodge! Actually we didn´t stay here long after our first night. The first of our two Gorilla treks was scheduled, and like in Lope we had to split because four visitors is the maximum. Joe, Andreas and me volunteered to do the first one, and afterwards we´d head straight to Akaka, the satellite camp deeper inside Loango NP where we´d stay two nights. It felt fantastic having slept in a proper bed, to enjoy a shower, have a proper toilet - luxury.

 

We were a bit nervous about the trek. Matthieu, the manager had told us that it´s more difficult to see the Gorillas in the dry season. They move around much more and prefer the (inaccessible) swamp areas, so - although not very often - it does happen that a trek fails.

 

A bit of a downer but I was optimistic. After all that had happened we´d surely deserve a win, I thought. And surprisingly none of us minded going into a boat again.

 

We went to a little island where the Gorilla Project has established a kind of welcoming office for tourists. The actual research camp (Yatouga) is about a km away. We were welcomed by Lauren, a very friendly young British researcher who explained how the trek might go, the rules of conduct and the history of the family.

 

 

 

The Atananga group - our target. Lauren told us they were "in the swamp", and of course that was not a good thing. So would we see them? "I certainly hope so", was Lauren´s kinda vague answer, but it was pretty clear that she was worried about our prospects. But I refused to even consider the chance of a failed trek - we would see them, I was convinced.

 

 

A Black Bee-Eater was sitting outside, and I took that as a good omen. A bit distant, but I was delighted to see this wonderfully beautiful bird.

 

 

We moved over to the research camp where we started our trek. I think 10 to 20 young researchers are living and working here. Not too many comforts in camp but I envied them. What a cool job to have, and what a wonderful place work in, in the middle of the jungle. And they must have a lot of laughs at dinner.

 

 

So, mammal nerds, can you name each animal by the skull?

 

 

Finally it was time to go. "Lauren, are they out of the swamp? Will we see them?" - "I hope so. They are still inside, but let´s see, they might come out. We can only try." We would try, and we would be successfull. I had no doubts.

 

 

 

A Crowned Monkey in the canopy. We saw several monkey species but did not linger much - we wanted the Gorillas. The trek in the forest was easy, a good clear path, sometimes a tree to step over and some roots to mind but all in all easy as pie - no comparison to our Mandrill quest, and also decidedly less exhausting than our Mountain Gorilla trek in Rwanda.

 

We reached the swamp. And saw it was really quite impossible to go in there. No Gorillas around.

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

34 minutes ago, inyathi said:

Now that you are all home safe, I think can mention that there must be Nile crocs in the lagoon,

 

No worries, @inyathi, I wouldn´t have minded knowing that at all. Because I was very much aware there are Sharks in the lagoon. Teeth are teeth.

 

35 minutes ago, inyathi said:

We were very lucky that we were able to fly from Loango to Ivindo, I don’t know what the situation is now with charter flights.

 

I think we discussed this, and were told all flights in and out of Ivindo have stopped years ago.

 

35 minutes ago, inyathi said:

you are right it is a red-legged sun squirrel Heliosciurus rufobrachiam aubryi

 

Hooray! Could I bother you to take a look at the Squirrel from Lope? See here, almost at the end of the post.

[Galago]

@michael-ibk loved the Western Bluebill and the Grey Pratincole is beautiful.  The Black Bee-eater is stunning. But now you've left me on the edge of my seat again, wondering if you will see the gorillas! 

[michael-ibk]

No worries @Galago, I should stop teasing - the very first post of this report makes it very clear we did see the Gorillas after all. Lauren signalled us to follow her, and after a few minutes along the swamp edge there they were.

 

Masks on, the Guerilla Gorilla Gang ready to go!

 

 

 

We were very, very lucky - they had indeed come to the edge, and we could watch them still standing in the forest. I once made the mistake of taking one step too far - I sank into the mud to my knee. It was a good thing I had decided to wear sandals for this, since we had been warned it could get very muddy. The researcher and trekkers all wear Crocs by the way.

 

 

We had to work out how to get a good line of sight for all three of us, since it was not easy with all the vegetation but ultimately all found suitable spots.

 

 

Unfortunately the silverback stubbornly refused to give me a good view, he either made sure to hide behind leaves or stubbornly looked the other way. This is Kamaya ("The Voice"), estimated to be born around 1990.  Between 2009 and 2017, the group contained a maximum of 16 family members. They are down to ten now, four females transferred to other groups, two infants died. I think we saw all of them but it was kinda hard to say.

 

 

The Western Gorilla is a separate species from the more familiar Eastern (Mountain) Gorilla one can see in Rwanda, Uganda or Congo. It is the most numerous Gorilla, with population estimates often cited at 100,000-200,000. However, due to their dense, remote habitat, no one knows for sure how many exist. The least numerous is the Cross River Gorilla, which is confined to scattered areas of forest in Nigeria and Cameroon, and is thought to number no more than 300 individuals.

 

 

The Mountain Gorilla is larger, with longer hair and shorter arms than their Lowland cousins and can only survive in high altitudes of about 2,200–4,300 metres (7,200–14,100 ft). Lowland gorillas are much more likely to be seen in the trees, and prefer a more heavily forested, flatter habitat than the mountain gorilla.

 

 

The range of all the species. I was surprised that there are almost no Lowlands (range marked green) in the DRC, had not really been aware of that. But of course the Congo is a mighty barrier.

 

 

 

The silverback of the Silverback.

 

 

 

The Loango Gorilla Project was started in 2005 by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. After a few failed starts with some other groups the project shifted into the area we were in, and in 2009 they started to habituate the Atananga group. This is a slow process, it takes time for Gorillas to lose their natural fear of humans, and Gorilla tourism only started in 2016. 500 bucks by the way - so substantially cheaper than Uganda and only a third of Rwanda´s current prices. They have started to habituate a second group in 2018 but it will take years until they are ready for visitors.

 

 

It was absolutely awesome watching our kin so closely. When a Gorilla looks at you you can´t help but feel how close these "animals" are to us.

 

 

This is Moutchi, the young blackback of the family. A very bold fellow, at one point he walked us by only a few metres away. Not all of them are so relaxed, especially one female is still afraid from all human intruders, including the researchers.

 

 

Moutchi will inevitably leave in some time. Both males and femals disperse around the age of 13 to 15. Males may be solitary several years before they try to form a group of their own. Obviously, not all of them succeed. Moutchi is around 10 years old now so he still has some time left with his family.

 

 

 

 

 

The females and the young ones were not as generous, they kept a bit farther off.

 

 

The best opportunity Big Boss gave me. I like to think his expression while facing me was friendly.

 

 

 

After fourty minutes they again retreated deeper into the swamp, and we could not see them anymore. Panic among the staff - we were still entitled to 20 minutes more. So ... theoretically we could try to cross to the other side ... but it would be difficult ... and very unlikely we would manage to get to them at all ... would we like to? But we were absolutely, absolutely happy with what we had and told them we were fine with our fourty minutes. No need to do more. The relief was palpable.

 

 

And anyway, one should never irk a man with a machete.

 

Well, I told you we deserved a win - and hooray, we got it!

 

Were we happy? I will let Joe´s face answer that:

 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by michael-ibk

[TonyQ]

Fantastic sighting of the Gorillas, and they do look different to their Mountain relatives. You deserved this after your earlier “adventures “

[SafariChick]

Good lord! It never even occurred to me that were crocs in the water, though of course why wouldn't there be? But SHARKS? If we discussed that, I had repressed it by the time this was all happening! Ah well, on to better things!

 

@michael-ibk and @AndMic and @gatoratlarge you were so lucky with the gorillas, and fantastic photos of course, Michael!  @Kitsafari and I will share our gorilla experience later as the first day we did not go there.  

 

I will share a few photos of Loango Lodge - the main one - to start. Although we were only there for one night at first, we came back later, and it really was a very comfortable and welcoming place.  When I saw my room (really a suite) I breathed a sign knowing I could relax for a night in comfort!

 

A blurry photo (from my bleary-eyed self at 10 pm after arriving from the boat fiasco) of the room I walked into from the door of my suite 

 

 

and the bedroom:

 

 

Those of us not going to see the gorillas that morning slept in a bit.  We needed it! Some photos of the outside of my suite:

 

 

I think all the suites or rooms we had been assigned were on the lagoon - nice to have a view of the water

 

 

 

The dining area:

 

 

One "sighting" we missed, sadly: there was a big celebrity who'd been to Gabon just before us and he stayed at the Loango Lodge a week or two before and even signed the guest book!

 

 

Yes, Samuel L. Jackson, the actor! He'd discovered his ancestry came from this area and had made a visit to get in touch with his roots. He'd also been in Libreville for about a week, we heard. It was the talk of the country - everywhere we went people were talking about it. As you can imagine! I don't think too many big American movie stars visit Gabon!

 

[SafariChick]

So @Kitsafari and Josep and I and left the lodge around 10 or 10:30 I believe, with our guide Dmitri who would be our main guide for the duration of the 5 days we'd be at Loango Lodge and Akaka Camp, the sort of "bush camp" to Loango Lodge where we were now heading for two nights. We took a slow and relaxing river trip (much more pleasant than the last one to me!) to get there. We saw many birds and a couple of monkeys!

 

Not sure why but the lighting was bad here - this was about 11:00 a.m.:

 

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This might be the best photo I got of a palm nut vulture, though as @michael-ibk mentioned, we saw them EVERYWHERE!

 

 

Bad photos but best I could manage of a moustached monkey

 

 

 

back to birds:

 

 

 

and we also saw reptiles:

 

 

but the most spectacular sightings at Akaka were the elephants! We had several very close up sightings of magnificent ele bulls with incredible tusks!

 

 

This guy had already been in the water clearly, but he decided to cross again, making for a lovely sighting

 

 

 

 

 

not long after that, we pulled up at Akaka Camp. 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by SafariChick