Loango National Park, Gabon

2019-09-27/30: "Red river hogs" and elephants on the lagoon.

On the track to Loango.

It is from Yombi, on the N1, that the 200 km track starts towards Loango Park on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. We immediately find a corrugated track there, fortunately not very aggressive. The track is not difficult but as usual rather uncomfortable.
We stop after 2 km to buy cucumbers at a small stand installed on the edge of the track (1500 CFA). The men explain to Christine that there are a lot of elephants around and that they (the men) sleep badly at night because the elephants take the opportunity to come and steal bananas from the plantation.

On the track towards Loango.

Termites mound "fungi" of cubitermal termites.

We cross some nice little villages before stopping for the night after a little less than 50 km in a quarry slightly above the track in the middle of the savannah. 

The view from our bivouac at sunset.

Gandalf at the bivouac in the early morning.

The next day is a day on the road. The track is similar to what we experienced yesterday. After half an hour and 10 km we arrive in Sangala, the main locality on our way. We find the tar there for the crossing, which of course we will not fail to appreciate.
After Sangala the track is very good because very recently flattened. We can drive there at 40 or 50 km / h, with small peaks at 60. If it remains of this quality until the end we could reach our destination in four or five hours instead of the seven or eight hours that I had. calculated. According to our map we have about 160 km to go to the Lodge in Loango National Park.
 

The track is still quite good.

We still very naively hope to have the chance to meet elephants along the way. The small piles of excrement that we regularly discover on the edge of the track keep this hope alive as well as the footprints that we will discover a little further on. But elephants don't do us the favor of showing off.
After 75 km of good track we come across a barrier before a wooden bridge.
We are not allowed to pass because the road is private, it belongs to the oil company which operates the oil fields in the area. We would need a laissez-passer that we should have requested from the administrative base in Coucal. It doesn't amuse us much because we don't really understand why we were allowed to arrive here without warning. We know where the base is because we spotted it by passing by earlier. It’s not far away and we have no choice but to go back and get a laissez-passer.
We represent ourselves at the barrier with the document. We have to negotiate again. Because we are asked for a copy of the pass which we obviously do not have and since the pass is also valid for the return scheduled for Monday, we refuse to leave the original. They end up agreeing to take a photo of it with one of their cell phones, and we'll give the original back to them if they want when we get back.
The track is still as good as ever, even if it is already quite deteriorated in places by the trucks from the pipeline site. We come across a pick-up driven by a Frenchman with whom we will discuss for two minutes. He quickly explains the route to the national park. He gives us a few details which will help us over the next few kilometers because the orientation is not always obvious due to the many deviations on the track.

The trail is still good despite the rain.

The most deceptive crossroads is where the track we have to take starts on the right quite unexpectedly. There is a sign indicating the direction of Loango National Park but it is completely invisible from the direction we are coming from. The Frenchman we met on the track earlier warned us of such a crossroads. That does not prevent us from missing the fork at first and it is only when the track we are following takes off again in the wrong direction, after a kilometer or two, that we realize it. A U-turn will get us back on track.
We had been warned, from there, the track becomes much worse and the average speed drops. It is 3:20 p.m. We drove 136 km, in fact only 116 km if you factor in the 20 km for nothing for the pass.

Although the track, as already mentioned, is no longer as good and as smooth as it gets, we continue to advance at a good average of around 30 km / h. It will get more complicated after a crossroads of tracks where we have to continue straight, while the tracks that go left and right seem much better. The one that continues straight ahead becomes even narrower and in even worse condition, so much so that we doubt we are on the right track. But a villager confirms us that the Loango National Park is there, always straight.

The Loango trail. More and more narrow, more and more humid, more and more slippery!

The track is made even more difficult by increasingly heavy rain which makes it very slippery and which fills every little hole or small basin. We are going to scare ourselves in a very tricky section with deep ruts filled with water. As always in these cases I try not to ride in the ruts as they are usually filled with a very liquid mud where the chances of getting stuck are considerably higher. I therefore choose to go over the raised parts between the ruts which are generally firmer. But it is not without risk either as the slippery ground can drag us sideways into a rut. And that's exactly what happens, first the left rear wheel soon followed by the front wheel while the right wheels remain on the embankment. As much to say to you that the sudden overhang that Gandalf takes during this slide makes us fear the worst for 1/10 of a second. We believe Gandalf is going to lie on his side. But it is not, God be praised!
Now I will have to get out of this bad patch, it is in slow reverse gear with the two differentials locked that I will gradually manage to get out of the rut. But a second big fright awaits us because as I continue to back up I get too close to the right rut of the track and of course we slip into it. The step must be about forty centimeters in height and the list Gandalf takes in the maneuver is even more impressive than the previous one. In the dynamics of the slide I feel the left front wheel lift a little. We were very scared !
I give up the idea of ​​going over the embankments between the ruts. I choose the right lane which seems a little more practicable to me. We have water and mud up to three quarters of the wheels but it goes without too much problem.
The following muddy passages make us less afraid but we must still be very careful.

Mud ! a lot of mud!

We are moving slowly, too slowly for our liking as time goes by and the sun does not have long before setting. Night is falling and it is in the light of our headlights and fog lights that we cover the last 15 km in about 50 minutes. We are approaching the lagoon and the terrain is getting more and more sandy, so we have to be careful not to get bogged down.
The Lodge is very poorly signposted, not to say not signposted at all. We are getting close enough thanks to the GPS and the map, but the last 300 or 400 m of track leading to it are not shown on any map. As it is now pitch dark, the orientation is very difficult on this completely unknown terrain. We have to ask several times and turn around as many times to finally get there at 7.15pm.
We stop at a large round hut which could well be the reception, it is apparently deserted by now. We don't wait long before Mathieu, the general manager of the resort, shows up. He welcomes us. He allows us to camp in the Lodge for free. We can even stay where we are, it doesn't bother anyone.
Once ready, we go to the bar to drink a very comforting beer after this long and trying day.

 

Camping  at the Loango Lodge

 

Gandalf at the bivouac at the Loango Lodge.

Result of yesterday's rains and mud.

Safari in Loango Park

We are ready on time for the safari and we are waiting for the vehicle which is late to arrive. And for good reason, Mathieu forgot to tell us that the 4x4 is waiting for us on the other side of the lagoon and that we must first cross by boat. It is therefore at the pier that the excursion begins. Loïc, our guide has been waiting for us there for a quarter of an hour.

We cross the lagoon with Loïc.

View of the lodge from the opposite bank.

 

The crossing is about 750 m. We disembark on the island where two 4x4s from the lodge are waiting for customers. We are now in the national park, the lodge is outside, on the other side of the lagoon.

The entrance to Loango National Park.

 

Loango Park covers 1550 km². We are in its northernmost part. It was created in 2002. Previously it was a hunting reserve.
We descend south for about 4 or 5 km. The track is extremely sandy and uncomfortable. As usual, the first animals we will see are the buffaloes. They don't really interest us anymore because we've seen so many! As in Lopé, they are relatively small in size compared to that of West African buffaloes (Senegal, Togo etc ...).
Birds are rather rare. We can observe a woolly-necked stork and an African sacred ibis.

African sacred ibis

Woolly-necked stork

A first for us: a herd of bush pigs (Red River hogs), a fairly common animal in Central Africa that we had never heard of before. The German name "Pinselohrschwein" describes him much more realistically with his whiskers and hairy ears (the pig with the brush ears). It is a very fearful animal and difficult to approach. They live in herds of up to 120 individuals (at least here in the park), ours has about 30. 

A herd of bush pigs.

 

We take advantage of the fact that we are against the wind to try to get as close as possible to it, away from small thickets. Unlike warthogs, they are friendly-looking animals. The color of their brown coat is also much more aesthetic than the dirty gray of warthogs.
When the two buffaloes seen earlier arrive, the bush pigs scurry in panic. They are really very fearful animals!
We return to the Land Cruiser to continue on the track. We only stop very briefly at a large herd of buffaloes. As already explained they do not really interest us. What we want are elephants! 

A herd of buffaloes.

From what Mathieu told us (end of September with the onset of the rainy season is the worst time of year to hope to meet big animals) and with our luck, I highly doubt that we will find any. But that's without counting on Loïc's experience, who won't take long to find one. Or rather one with her cub on the edge of a small wood. 

We approach an elephant and her cub in a jeep.

We get as close as possible with the Toyota and continue on foot when, alerted, they start to pull away. Elephants have very poor eyesight, but have a very good sense of smell and hearing. They also have another impressive ability to pick up the slightest vibrations in the ground with their feet. For this they raise one of the front legs to concentrate on the one placed on the ground.

The elephant "listens" to the vibrations of the ground.

So we follow them on foot at good distance until they disappear behind a thicket. We approach, hidden by the trees, to carefully skirt around the grove. They are there at a good fifty meters, seeming to hesitate to enter the wood.

Loïc asks us to stay where we are. He continues on his own to go and stand right in front of the elephants about thirty meters away from them. It does not please the mother who after a loud trumpeting launches the charge of our guide. Although Loïc apparently knows what he is doing, we find this game quite risky. He will repeat it four or five times before taking enough distance so that the mother is no longer worried.

Loïc facing the elephant

 

 

Loïc explains to us that in fact these were only charges of intimidation. The real attack charges can be recognized by the position of the proboscis between the legs. They are very rare because an elephant mother never charges very far or for very long because of the cub she leaves helpless behind.

 

 

We observe this impressive spectacle from the place where Loïc abandoned us, about fifty meters to the side. We wonder how we should react if the mother elephant changes her mind to charge the poor tourists that we are. But Loïc explains to us that there is no risk because for the mother the danger is not on the side but right in front of her, we are too far away and too quiet for her to consider us dangerous.

We return with the 4 × 4 by the same track as to come. Along the way we will distinguish another elephant in the distance entering a forest.

Return to the lodge.