Gabon

	Whenever we move from one country to another on our adventure, we try to make note of any differences in the geography or culture. Sometimes its subtle changes in housing styles and other times, more striking changes in the whole landscape. In moving from Cameroon to Gabon it was the people. I’m not sure why, but the Gabonese people were far more jolly than the Cameroonians. Nothing yet has touched the level of Nigerians for pure euphoria, but in refection the Cameroonians were just a little miserable.

Once over the border with the usual slow-motion form filling we followed the pristine tarmac for 120km before risking a little ‘short cut’ down 300km of dirt road.

Initially fearing a big mistake as the route deteriorated somewhat we were ensured that it did indeed improve after 10km. Round one bend we almost ran over a pair of ‘tied’ dogs, both with a look of sheer panic mixed with a little embarrassment as each tried to bolt to an opposite side of the road.

We next reached a border town with Equatorial Guinea, which also was a major logging station, after which the road was in perfect condition. In fact it was the best non-tarmac road in Africa. Wide smooth shale with beautifully cambered bends, a little bit of six wheel drifting is a beautiful thing.

Mark spotted a fantastic rough camp spot hidden off the road and so we stopped for the night. Jools had been reading websites from other travellers and started jabbering on about ‘invisible flies’ that bite you and leave red itchy red marks. I did lots of lambasting until I got paranoid and covered up.

The next morning much to my surprise and Karina’s misfortune the invisible flies had left their mark.

The last 100km of road degenerated a little but we made good time and drove into Libreville that afternoon on the potholed tarmac.

At one particular bad section of road it looked as if some of the drivers were attempting to perform ‘strip the willow’ from celidh dancing.

	After picking up various bits and pieces for the truck we went looking for a new tyre to replace the ruptured Goodrich (which got damaged in Campo National Park, Cameroon), thankfully we pulled up at ‘Gabon Pneus’ [south of Libreville, in Glass N00˚22.361’, E009˚27.462’] and met the nicest chap. Instead of flogging us a new tyre, he fixed the old one, swapped the front tires around so that the repaired tyre was on the drivers side and not under Jools (I’m doing the majority of driving now) and to top it all off adjusted the tracking, all for free.



	It was late when all was finished so he offered a recommendation for a good restaurant ‘Le Sinbad’, and we stuffed ourselves with Lebanese Meza.

	Heading south on great tarmac we made good time and so stopped in at ‘The Albert Schweitzer Hospital and Museum’. This was a fantastic insight into the life of an amazing man and the ‘Dark Continent’ over the last hundred years.

The preservation in the museum was first class and you really got a feel for what it was like to work here, in fact, some of the operating tables and equipment were reminiscent of some vet practices I’ve worked at in the UK.

After another night in a catholic mission, my Granny might start thinking there’s hope for me yet but we headed south towards the Congo and I started reading Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, little knowing it was all about to get a lot harder….. ‘the horror, the horror’.