Sailing Through the Equatorial Forest

The Fernan Vaz lagoon can be reached by plane from Port Gentil, landing at Ombue airport, but to savour all the charm of this region there is nothing better than travelling the whole river route starting from Port Gentil. A journey that can last from 5 to 10 hours depending on the type of boat, the power of the engine and the number of passengers. You leave Port Gentil behind and immediately enter the tangled labyrinth of rivers and channels with dangerous sandbanks. You really have to know these stretches of river well to avoid the risk of running aground. The landscape is simply fantastic: fish eagles, herons, kingfishers and then crocodiles, lots and lots of them. A forest flooded with water, and you don't even dare think what situation you could find yourself in if the engines broke down.

After 4 hours of sailing you emerge into the northern part of the Fernan Vaz lagoon, then another good hour to reach Ombue, where, after refuelling, you set off again for the Sainte Anne mission. All at once a surreal sight opens up: among the dense forest you glimpse the bell tower of a church. Incredible to think that the pieces for erecting this church, entirely of iron, were made in the late 1800s in France in the Eiffel workshops, more or less in the same period in which the pieces for the tower of the same name began to be prepared. All the pieces were then transported by sea to this piece of Africa, where an Alsatian priest decided to build this church. We are in one of the least-known regions of Gabon and among the most difficult to reach, but undoubtedly among the richest from a natural and cultural point of view.

In this area the dominant ethnic group is the Myene (the peoples of the coast), but there are also many Fang and Bapunu. The night in the forest is dark and every noise hides a potential danger. In the nearby village they are preparing for a Bwiti; the spirits of the waters welcome us in the village of Kongo. Then stories of gigantic pythons and leopards bring back thoughts of "Les memoires du fleuve". These are the nights in the black heart of the African forest.