Friday, 9
February 2007
The entry to Gabon goes very friendly and hassle free.
The road quality is outstanding and also the signs are as good as in Europe
again.
Only the entry stamp proves to be a little difficult
to get. That one may only be obtained in the next larger city, 30kms after the
border crossing.
That itself is not too much of a rarity in Africa.
Here however one needs copies of the passport and the entry visa.
Fortunately there is a Copyshop close to the police
station and then everything goes smooth.
We spend the night in the hotel of the city and the
motorcycles are simply parked at the dancefloor of the in house disco club.
My eye problems fortunately continue to improve.
Meanwhile I even developed my own examination method. With the 10 megapixel
camera a picture of the eye is taken once a day and then enlarged on the
laptop. When you compare the pictures of the different days the healing
progress can be observed well. Additionally I do an improvised vision test
twice a day with Windows Words and 2 meters of rope.
Strongly
decreased inflamation
Saturday, 10
February 07
Today we continues towards Libreville. The roads in
Gabon seem to become better from one
kilometer to the other and I can hardly imagine that I am in Central
Africa.
Sometimes quick driving around curves even permits a
slight scratching with the aluminum box. The road’s grip is beyond imagination.
After hundreds of kilometers on winding dream roads a
very special roadsign gets me back into reality.
I have just crossed the Equator and officially entered
the southern hemisphere. Surrounded by tropical rain forests and on a road that
good it makes you think you are in Italy!
Thus a long-desired dream for me comes true. I have
reached the Southern Hemisphere overland on the motorcycle. Already as a small
boy I often drove there with the finger on the map.
To be honest, not only as a small boy;)
Sunday, 11
February 2007
After a nice ride through beautiful and damp tropical
forests we meet the Gabon river. Powerfully the wide river extends through its
valley and the morning fog breaks in the sunlight.
In the afternoon we reach Libreville, the capital of
Gabon.
Libreville can be compared well to a European city. There is an
excellent infrastructure and the prices are actually alike as with us. Gabon
was and still is Africa’s model country for successful excolonial politics. By
the untiring assistance of France and the clever use of the raw materials the country
was highly booming at the end of the 80's.
Nowadays things naturally don’t go that well anymore,
the prices for raw materials sank at the world market and the state’s taxes for
businesses went up to 65%!
Further on, Libreville represents the base of the
armed French rapid intervention force for Africa and there is still a lot of
military.
Monday, 12
February 2007
In Libreville I need to sort out some things during
the next days. I will need to find new tires for the bike to manage the muddy
roads in the Congo!
The city is particulary impressing, with their broad
boulevards you believe to be on the Cote Azur. Most cars are upper class, and
some are registered in the Arab emirates.
I must say, I feel quite comfotable here. If the
prices would not likewise remind of the emirates, one could live here very
well.
And naturally train. As here at the beach, which looks
like a postcard.
Tuesday, 13
February 07
Today I spend visiting all motorcycle shops in
Libreville in order to find new tires for my bike. In the Congo, my next
country, the rainy season has already started and without sufficient profile on
the tires the pistes are a special pleasure. The notorious Ekok Mamfe road in
Cameroon, with their partial meter-deep ruts, proved that to me already
impressively.
Litteraly in the last shop I make a hit.
The font and back tires are not the same, however they
have the right dimension and sufficient profile. I now use a Michelin T63 on
the frontwheel and a Michelin Sirac enduro tire on the back. Even if it looks
funny, the combination will bring me to South Africa.
Wednesday,
14 February 2007
Today and for the last time on my African journey I
drive off to an embassy in order to get a visa. The Congo visa is still missing
in my collection and there are still a few fresh sides in the passport.
As I come to the embassy the door is opened for me
immediately. I enter the office and in the course of the following discussion
the secretary asks me for a letter of invitation letter for Austria! He would
like to come and live there and my assistance would be highly appreciated.
As in all such situations, my french suddenly becomes
worse and I understand nothing any more. What can be done there, so I get my
visa and say good-bye in a very friendly way. In the evening I go for a run and
watch the beautiful sunset from the beach. Unfortunately a little lonely, which
is the disadvantage if you travel alone.
Thursday, 15
February 07
Libreville more and more develops into a training camp for
me. I have never seen such a beautiful beach for running anywhere else. Not
even on Hawaii!
In the afternoon I work on the motorcycle, I change
the oil and prepare everything for the departure from this beautiful place.
In two days I will cross the border into the Congo.
The Congo will be no country that is easy to cross.
The rainy season has already started big time, the piste roads are full of mud
and the route national 1, the main road to Brazzaville leads through a rebel
area and may be destroyed and closed because of armed conficts.
I will have to cross into the Angolan Exklave Cabinda
via the mountains from the north. From there there are two options then, either
you drive on muddy and possibly nearly impassable roads over the sand banks of
the Congodelta to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and continue to travel
from there to Angola, or you take a ship from Cabinda directly to Angola.
In Angola 1500kms of possilby destroyed roads wait to
be done. That will presumably represent the most difficult part of the whole
journey. After nearly 30 years of civil war, which was only recently ended,
vast parts of the country are still full of landmines and mistakes in
navigation are to be avoided.
If everything goes well, I will cross the border to
Namibia in approximately 15-20 days where my next UNICEF project waits to be
visited.
Friday, 16
February 2007
Today we continue to Lambarene. Our small group of
overlanders meanwhile already became larger.
Sarah and Steve are on their way to Capetown with
their Toyota Landcruiser and we decide to travel together. Likewise Martin
joins the team, he is an Englishman and drives a BMW F650 Dakar.
After a winding ride through beautiful landscapes we
reach Lambarene in the afternoon.
We place our tents on the lawn in front of the
protestant mission, surrounded by oldfashioned brick buildings between which
the sisters go their ways in in the afternoon sun.
Saturday, 17
February 2007
Today we visit the famous Albert Schweitzer hospital.
Albert Schweitzer, a physician from the Alsas, came to Lambarene with his wife
in 1913 and based his first hospital on the land of the local protestant
mission. This first hospital consisted of simple bamboo huts and with the years
it got imroved step by step.
Among the most important stations of his work was the
theory of respecting the value of every form of life, the Nobel Prize of peace
1952 and naturally his engagement against the development and the use of
nuclear weapons.
Today the hospital still exists, and it represents one
of the best medical stations in Central Africa. Many of the buildings were
refurbished and a museum was opened, which gives an interesting idea of the
work of Albert Schweitzer.
The
treatment of leprosy patients
First
vaccinations for the people
Today, the hospital is mainly operated by European
physicians, who provide their service voluntarily.
It is great to see that the ideas of this famous man
still live on here.
Sunday, 18
February 2007
The piste road towards the Congo begins in Lambarene.
Endlessly far the narrow path of the laterit piste pulls itself towards the
horizon. The ground is still dry, but I could already see first lightnings on
the horizon tonight. Thunderstorms in the south, a safe indication that the
rainy season has already began.
Now it is only a question of hours until we hit the
first rains and the roads become really difficult.
We spend the evening in the small town of Mouila, in
the lodge of a French emigrant, who constantly speaks with himself and thereby
gladly stands beside you. From here it is still 100kms up to the border.
Monday, 20
February 2007
When we start in the morning, the sky colludes itself.
Black clouds pull over the horizon and heavy thunderstorms come up.
The roads are soaked by the rain and the timber
bridges brightly mirror the daylight. Here highest caution is demanded, too
much gas and the machine is gone.
Fortunately the rain stops in the afternoon and the
road gets better as we reach the border.
The last border post of Gabon is a concrete bunker.
The bored soldiers sit in the sun and smoke their cigarettes. Gradually one of
the men rises and comes over to open the barrier for us.
We leave Gabon and enter the Congo.