Twice I’ve had the privilege to visit Gabon, a country on the West coast of Central-Africa. It is still astonishingly pristine in the sense that it’s about six times as big as the Netherlands, but only has a population of 1,5 million. About 85% of the land is covered in dense rainforest. There are few roads, especially in the area I visited (The Gamba Complex) where there are no cities, only villages. Transportation is mostly done by water or by plane, which is expensive and renders many people relatively immobile. Travelling to the capital Libreville through the forest is no option.

The jungle is very rich in biodiversity, beautiful, but also dangerous. Forest elephants roam the forests, many species of snakes, crocodiles and other reptiles, gorillas and chimpanzees, hippo’s, leopards, buffalo’s, jackals, sittatunga’s, many birds and insects, monkeys and other animals still live there in great numbers. Because Gabon has relied so much on it’s oil industry, a great deal of the forest has been preserved. In the Eastern and Northern part of the country, spilling over into Congo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, pygmies still inhabit the forest. 

Walking alone in the savanna surrounded by miles of dense jungle gives an eerie sense of being lost in a prehistoric scene or such. Only instead of dinosaurs, elephants could emerge from behind the shadowy tree line. Big and small footprints in the sand, of every mentioned creature, confirm their presence and your powerlessness. They rule this land, and you’re just a visitor.

A couple of times I was able to see elephants up close. They show no fear whatsoever. Hiking through the forest with the local guide Ghislain Buass makes it feel somewhat safer, but when a group of approximately twenty red river hogs emerge all around us, scanning the forest floor for food, you realize there is no way to go and no place to hide. These creatures are amazing and for some reason very ghost-like, or alien. As one of them stands still and stares at me, both of us realize we are from two totally different worlds. The hog runs off to join the others. Only a while later noises from the trees reveal a group of monkeys. They’re throwing fruit at us, to let us know, they know we’re here, and we’re not welcome. The scent of an elephant nearby reminds us to be cautious. The hours we spent in the jungle, were spent in silence. We don’t understand the language of the forest, but silence can get her to sing, and her song is soulstirring. Big hornbills flap their wings, which produces the sound of a helicopter. When we come across gorilla tracks I realize what an honor it is to be here. As we exit the forest and step onto the beach, in the far distance we see a whale jump out of the water. It’s quite an emotional experience, to be surrounded by so much wild life. It's truly as if you've stepped into the past, when there were no cities yet. It's exciting and yet the calmness felt in the jungle, I have not yet felt anywhere else.

Many nights were spent on the beach, which is not to be compared to touristic beaches, but should be viewed in the context of the surrounding area. It is part of nature in it's wildest form. The ocean is filled with bull sharks, and barracuda. Occasionally crocodiles and hippo’s use the ocean to get from one river to another. As we light a fire, with dry wood collected from the beach, darkness sets in. And no where does it get darker, than in Central Africa. Stars and even milky way’s loom over us, as we prepare our food, and contemplate. You never stray too far from the fire, because even though the animals tend to stay away from the fire, they find us rather interesting.