Bonjour ! At last, we’re back to discovering Gabon, after a long forced break. Sanitary measures are still in place, but they have been applied in a lighter way throughout the country since we came back at the end of August from our European Covid summer retreat. So on this last weekend of September, we take on the Monts de Cristal national park, which name alone suggests Indiana Jones-level adventures.
We hit the road early in the morning, but very quickly it’s the road that hit us. The main national road, the very one that should be smooth and shiny enough to bring travellers and businessmen inside the country, and manganese and timber back to the capital, is nothing but a festival of potholes, gravel and dust from kilometre 30 to kilometre 80 after Libreville. It seems unbelievable, but the ocher mud and dirt road going to the national park is in a much better state and feels like a relief for both the car and our bodies. In the end, it takes us 4,5 hours to drive 110 km and reach our destination…
This dirt road to the park is actually maintained by the national electricity company. The reason for that is that the Monts de Cristal surround 2 of the country’s biggest dams, which provide electricity for Libreville. That also means that the electricity company is your point of contact if you want to visit the park: this weekend, we are staying in the workers’ shacks, and eating in their canteen. You cannot just come to the park unannounced: you have to contact well ahead the electricity company, and book and pay everything through them in Libreville. That’s how easy tourism in Gabon is. As usual, the good side of it is that the 7 of us – we came with 2 friends and our guide – are the only visitors around.
The Monts de Cristal offer an eerie backdrop: a very dense and lush equatorial forest set on endless hills, clouds hanging on the top of the trees. We take a first hike with two rangers from the ANPN (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux). They tell us the stories behind each plant and tree, and about their unique lifestyle, split between 1 or 2-week stays in the park, away from everything and everyone (forget about 3G here), and rest periods when they join their families in Libreville. We also learn that a lot of their job is about patrolling and making sure only authorised visitors stay in the park. And sometimes this can be a risky activity: a couple of nights before, the unarmed rangers arrested a group of 6 armed poachers in the middle of the forest, at around 3 o’clock in the morning. When we ask them how they did that, they simply respond that their training includes several techniques to face such situations. The poachers did not kill any elephant and were sent to jail immediately.
The hike is short but tough, and the weather is unsurprisingly hot and humid. We reach a beautiful cascade. The rangers tell us we should not linger on too long, as the guys up there may open the dam’s valves anytime – they are supposed to send a loud alarm warning throughout the area, but you never know. On our way back, we take a life-saving swim in a crystal-clear river.
In the evening, we initiate (with moderation, these guys are professionals) the rangers to the pleasures of transparent East European liquors, have a brilliant dinner at the electricity company’s canteen, then a peaceful night in our shack. The next day, we are fit for a longer hike, which takes us straight into the steps of elephants. Once you are in the forest, you see traces of them everywhere. On the photos below, elephants have been rubbing their backs to the trunk of this tree, and digging the earth underneath another tree, which roots they know feed on special minerals that they need. Milla and Flora are standing in the hole they made with their tusks. One of them has left fresh prints on the ground and an extremely strong urine smell in the air – we may look relaxed on this group photo, but in reality we are not. The rangers split in two – one of them stays with us, and the other walks ahead to check the surroundings are safe. At some point, he sees traces indicating that the animal has taken a turn. Good! We can walk further. No one wants to meet an elephant in such a thick forest, where you hardly have space to retreat if needed.
see this round footprint?
Kevin the ranger introduces us to the most famous tree species of Gabon: okoumé, okala, kevazingo… And like earlier this year in the Loango National Park, we drink pure water from the amazing water liana, which can save your life should you find yourself lost and without water in the forest – you just have to know how to identify this particular liana among the dozen of different types of liana.
All along the trail, we find wonders in the bigger and smaller details. And still, this special feeling of being surrounded by forest spirits.
The drive back to Libreville feels a bit shorter somehow – this time, we know exactly what we are in for, and this dreadful road is part of the experience after all. We really loved the Monts de Cristal, one weekend was a bit short, but if anything it made us want to come back!
the shacks are very nicely decorated 
our little team with Yannick, our guide
T-T
Tanad stories from Gabon 