Saturday, April 12, 2025

Gabon

The fishing village of Otangani, less than half an hour by pirogue from the Gabonese capital Libreville, has neither running water nor electricity, but hopes to attract tourists, who are still very rare on the Pointe-Denis peninsula despite its white sandy beaches and wildlife parks.

On this Sunday morning, the bar-restaurant in Vieux Kossi, a stone’s throw from Otangani, is completely deserted.

Wealthy Gabonese and expatriates from Libreville prefer the peninsula’s few upmarket hotels when they want to treat themselves to lazy days, quad bike raids, jet-ski tours or 4×4 safaris to see monkeys, buffalo or elephants.

“The park doesn’t bring us tourists, and we want to develop community tourism,” explains guide Gérard Adande Avili, 47, who himself has set up guest rooms in his wooden house on the edge of the mangrove. His target: “ordinary Gabonese who don’t have a lot of money but want to get away from the capital, have a good time, go back to their roots”.

For the time being, few visitors are attracted by the “royal trek” offered by this descendant of King Rapontchombo, to the tombs of his ancestors and to a small museum in the shape of a round hut built with the help of the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, at a time when he dreamed of himself as “King of Africa”. It tells the story of the Mpongwe chief who allowed the French colonists to settle here in the 18th century.
To reach the site from Libreville, you have to leave from a jetty that looks like a shipyard, cross the Komo estuary by pirogue, then the Denis River, and then walk through the dense forest, a total journey time of an hour and a quarter.

– “Not very accessible” –
Foreign tourists are rare here and elsewhere, even though this Central African country bills itself as “the last eden” on the planet, boasting that almost 90% of its territory is covered by forests that are home to incredible biodiversity.
“Whether it’s the leaders or the population, we don’t have a tourist culture because we’ve focused on oil. And we’ve forgotten our country’s tourism potential, even though, quite frankly, Gabon can make a living from tourism,” explains the energetic Minister of Tourism, Pascal Ogowet Siffon.
He hopes to double the number of foreign tourists in the country, currently 350,000 a year.
“The main obstacle is the price of the plane ticket, which is very expensive (and therefore) not very accessible, and the laborious visa formalities”, warns Pascal Ogowet Siffon.

He hopes to double the number of foreign tourists in the country, currently 350,000 a year.
“The main obstacle is the price of the plane ticket, which is very expensive (and therefore) not very accessible, and the laborious visa formalities,” warns Amelia Da Costa Soares, 40, co-owner of the River Lodge, an upmarket hotel-restaurant in La Pointe, which despite its idyllic setting, only opens at weekends, apart from for seminars.
“There are lots of beautiful places where you can’t go because there’s no access, even by 4×4. It’s a problem that bothers us all, especially as Gabon is such an expensive destination,” adds Guichely Ngoma, a young operator based in Libreville who works hard to offer organized trips and tailor-made tours in the depths of the country.
“When a tourist wants to go somewhere, he puts up the money: those who want to satisfy their curiosity (get there), whatever the conditions,” qualifies the Minister of Tourism, recounting how visitors who had come to observe gorillas in the famous Loango Park preferred to swim across a river rather than give up the final goal of their excursion.

– Living in harmony –
Wealthy sport-fishing enthusiasts, on the other hand, take a helicopter from Libreville to reach the Sette Cama Adventure lodge, a world-famous spot between lagoon and ocean south of Loango, with “exclusive” stays at around 10,000 euros a week, not including airfare to Gabon.
“Demand outstrips supply,” enthuses the Minister of Tourism, who is counting on Gabon’s “enormous potential, its virgin forest, its 950 km of coastline” to develop “selective tourism” while enabling Gabonese to discover their country at affordable prices.
Guide Gérard Adande, for his part, is banking on ecotourism to bring life back to the villages of the Pointe, which young people are deserting for the capital, leaving the forest to swallow up abandoned houses and plantations devastated by elephants.
According to Juste Loubangoye Ozavino, his 42-year-old forestry nephew, the challenge is to “open up to other communities while preserving the mystique” of the peninsula. “We have the keys” to living in harmony, he says: “It’s a system that’s both visible and invisible, and we have to respect certain conditions” to avoid irritating the water and forest genies.

Humaniterre with AFP