Navigating through the Equatorial forest. Gabon
The Fernan Vaz lagoon can be reached by plane from Port Gentil, landing at Ombu, but to enjoy the charm of this region, nothing better than to travel across the river route from Port Gentil.
A journey that can last from 5 to 10 hours depending on the type of boat, engine power and number of passengers. We leave behind Port Gentil and immediately enter nell'intricato maze of rivers and canals with the dangerous dry sand. We need to know really well these stretches of river to avoid the risk of run aground. The scenery is simply fantastic, fishing eagles, herons, kingfishers and crocodiles and many others. A forest submerged by water and even dares to think in that situation you might find in the event of a failure to engines.
After 4 hours of navigation comes out in the northern part of the Fernan Vaz lagoon, still a good hour to reach Ombu, where after filling it up again by the mission of Sainte Anne. Suddenly there is a surreal spectacle, between the dense forest you can see the steeple of a church. Incredible to think that pezi for this church built entirely of iron were produced at the end 800 yards in France in the Eiffel, more or less the same time as we began to prepare the pieces for the tower named. All pieces were then transported by sea up in this piece of Africa where an Alsatian father decided to build this church.
We are one of the least known of Gabon and among the most difficult to reach, but certainly among the most prosperous in terms of natural and cultural. in this area the dominant ethnic group are the Myené (the peoples of the coast), but there are also many fang and baponou. The night is dark in the forest and every noise masks a potential danger. At the nearby village are preparing for a Bwiti, the spirits of the water we receive in the village of Kongo. Then the stories of giant pythons and leopards we recall the thoughts of "Les memoires du fleuve." These are the nights in the heart of the black African forest.