Nov 8, 2013 - Franceville

From Lambarnene we went NE to a place called Ndjole to get the train. That didn't work out since it wasn't working, so the next day, the 8th, we went in a shared pick-up to Franceville and spent the night there. From Bonnie: We were there (at bus stop - see previous day entry) at 7:35 a.m. We got yogurt and bananas, and settled in to wait - hopefully not too long. A man arrived who used the area in front of the food market where we were waiting, and opened up his little short order breakfast "cafe" - tea, coffee, bread, omelettes, and...

Nov 7, 2013 - Ndjole

From Lambarene we went NE to a place called Ndjole to get the train. That didn't work out since it wasn't working... From Bonnie: The next morning we took a taxi to Schweitzers hospital site and spent the morning looking around the grounds and through the museum that now occupies his house. We spent so much time in his house looking at the pictures and all there was to see that we ran out of time to go into the old hospital wards themselves, one of which functions as a guesthouse now, though we saw them from the outside. Edward had stayed...

Nov 6, 2013 - Lambarnene

From Mari Had to wait til Nov. 4 to apply for the Rep. of Congo visa and picked them up on Nov. 5. Then on the 6th we went south to Lambarnene, where Albert Schweitzer had his village hospital, and spent the night. From there we went NE to a place called Ndjole to get the train. That didn't work out since it wasn't working From Bonnie: We left the following day, Nov. 6, on a morning bus for Lambarene, where Albert Schweitzer's hospital was, and is still. It was evening, just past sundown when we arrived. We first looked at Bananas Hostel,...

Nov 1, 2013 - Libreville, Gabon

11/1 From Bonnie: The border town is Coco Beach, a very small village right on the waterway. It consists of a few shops around a roundabout that serves as the transport hub. Otherwise there are the very simple houses scattered around - the bare wood, totally simple houses typical of rural areas in EG, Gabon, and - as it turned out - Rep. of Congo as well. We went to the roundabout to find transport to Libreville, and had waited for an hour or so when Sally came and said she was going to Libreville as well, though Edward was going to stay...

Oct 31, 2013 - Cocobeach, Gabon

We crossed from Cogo, Eq. Guinea, to Cocobeach, Gabon, on Oct. 31, Halloween From Bonnie: The next morning (10/31) we walked around the town center - it didn't take very long. It served to confirm our first impression that Bata is not a place on the upswing. Other than one old colonial that had been renovated and was now a high end hotel (at least that's how they advertised it), a newer bank building for the SGSSG Bank (that had a working ATM thankfully), one or two other restored smaller buildings, and a few big building projects that...

Feb 1, 2005 - From Bongo To Congo........

Libreville,Gabon....claimed as the second most expensive city in the world after Tokyo. Not far wrong there!!! Due to the high number of epats or "whiteys" as we like to call them,working in the off shore oil industry and the logging industry Libreville resembles nothing like any other African city that I've been to so far.ie it's clean,pollution free and full of "whiteys". Angolan visa stop is the reason for the visit and unbelievably we are all now in the proud posession of one for the princely sum of $120 US.An expensive business this...