J 1/Tuesday
Arrival date
Transfert to Sunset Beach hotel
J2 à J6/Wednesday to Sunday OMBOUE/LOANGO
You will be transferred to the airport around 6 am convocation time for your flight departing at 7.30 am. Upon your arrival, a reliable taxi man will drive you to the landing stage for your boat shuttle to Omboué departing at 9.30am. The trip to Omboué lasts about 4 hours during which you will be crossing amazing forest, river and mangroves sceneries. Once at Omboué, the Olako Hotel friendly staff will welcome you and will show you your bedroom.
Olako Hotel is located just by Fernand Vaz laguna within the small Omboue village. Quietness and tranquillity are guaranteed.
During your stay in Omboué, you will experience the following excursions :
L’île d’Evengue : This site is a small gorilla sanctuary island aimed at reintroducing orphaned young gorillas found in the wild in their natural environment once adult. Consequently, this site is not aimed at habituating gorillas to human and most of the gorillas living on the island are not accessible to public in order to preserve their future freedom and life. Indeed, habituated gorillas get killed too easily by poachers once reintroduced into the jungle. Then, only a small group of male gorillas already too much habituated to human presence is accessible to watching. You will be explained the gorillas preservation program and told the story of all the orphaned gorillas living on the island.
Saint-Anne Mission: Built in 1887, the Mission’s claim to fame is its association with architect Gustave Eiffel who designed the plans and arranged for the shipment of the necessary material to Gabon all the way from Paris.
A blend of colour and visual contrasts – the deep rusty red and simplistic frame of the church nestled amongst the greenery of palms and loosely tendered grounds makes a visit here worth it for the for the photo opportunity alone. Remotely situated on the edge of a lagoon, visitors approaching by water catch their first glimpse of the Mission’s steeple rising high alongside the canopy. One is immediately struck by the surrounding air of peace and tranquility attributable in part to its sheer isolation.
Sainte-Anne Panorame by David Harwood
Mpivie River: The Mpivié River meandering through the rainforest is amazingly green and luxuriant. During this excursion, you will try to spot crocodiles or more exactly the endangered false gavials.
Young crocodile on Mpivié river by David Harwood
Reflections on Mpivie river by David Harwood
Akaka in Loango National Park: From 5.00 am til late in the afternoon, you will go for a full day guided excursion to spot animals in the reputed Loango National Park. This park is considered by many like the most beautiful spot on Africa’s West coast. Akaka is situated in inhabited tropical rainforest and wetlands, on the Rembo Ngowe River. The dark waters of the river containing manatees and hippos are lined by thick forest, inhabited by elephants, red mangabeys, buffalos and smaller mammals such as sitatunga (swamp-dwelling antelopes) and red river hogs. During the wet season, wildlife can be difficult to spot in the rain-filled swamps but in the dry season from May until September the concentrations of particularly forest buffalo and forest elephant that migrate into the area are easily seen. You also have a good chance all year round of spotting some smaller mammals like sitatunga, red river hogs, forest duikers, five species of monkey, or great apes who inhabit the area. Crocodiles and manatees are found here too, but tend to keep their distance. Bird life along the rivers is prolific. In the dry season, thousands of water birds – herons, storks, jacanas, pelicans, ibis and the rarely seen Hartlaub’s duck – love crowding together here in the drying pools. The forests of Akaka are full of different butterflies, and home to several rare bird species.
On Sunday afternoon, you will take a boat shuttle back to Port-Gentil (arrival time around 5.30 pm) and your flight back to Libreville in the evening around 8pm.
Overnight Sunset Beach
J7/ Lundi SAO TOME
On Monday late morning, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Sao Tome departing at 1pm. Upon your arrival, you will be dropped at La Provence Hotel for having lunch. There you will meet the friendly Richard, his wife Christine and their two dogs Pepette et Pepere. They will be pleased to show the fruits and flowers growing in their garden, some of them being found only in Sao Tomé and nowhere else. In the afternoon, you will go for a Sao Tomé city tour which will end up in FILOMAR restaurant for having dinner.
Overnight Hôtel La Provence
J8/ Mardi ROLAS ISLAND
Very early morning (about 7h15-7h30), you will be transferred to Miramar Hotel to get into the Pestana bus shuttle which will drive you to Rolas Island. This trip will drive you all along the coast from the North to the South of Sao Tome Island until you reach Ponta Baleya from where you will embark the boat to Rolas Island where a luxury resort is located.
Once on Rolas Island, you will go for a short walk to touch the Equator line with your finger. You will also benefit from the 12 diving sites in the vicinity of the island or you will enjoy the numerous swimming places each more heavenly than the next.
Overnight Rolas Island
J9 Wednesday ROLAS Island
You will spent most of your day on Rolas Island. From 4pm, the return boat and bus shuttle will bring you back to Sao Tome where you should arrive around 6pm.
Overnight La Provence
J10 Thursday BOMBAIM
After your breakfast, a driver will pick you up from your hotel for a visit of the island centre. At the head of the Rio Abade, you will be surrounded by mountains covered with primary forest. You will visit the waterfalls of the Rio Abade or hike to the abandoned ruins of the Tras-os-Montes and Zampalma plantations. Birdwatching opportunities abound, allowing you to see many of the country’s unique endemic species, especially the São Tomé’s unique giant begonias, orchids and ferns.
Overnight La Provence
J11 Friday
Richard will drive to the airport at 12h00 and will assist you in paying airport taxes and other airport formalities. Upon your arrival around 3.30pm, the Ngondetour shuttle will bring you back to your hotel.
Overnight Akewa Hotel
J12 et J13/Saturday and Sunday Pointe-Denis
On Saturday morning, you will be transferred to Michel Marine harbour for your boat shuttle to Pointe-Denis. Just few minutes far from Libreville, Pointe-Denis offers the most exquisite beaches of the Estuary and a well preserved wild environment for a place located near by a capital. The alternatives in Pointe Denis are numerous and the one we will serve you will depend on the season.
From December to February: leatherback turtles season
Morning boat transfer to Maringa Lodge in Pointe Denis .
Visit of the turtle museum where you will be explained the sea turtles species, their nesting calendar, their life cycle and what can be done to preserve them.
In the night, from 10 pm til late, you will go with an experienced guide and appropriate lighting to visit the nesting beaches where the turtles are used to lay their eggs. Standard torches cannot be used as they disturb too much the turtles and disorientate them.
Overnight Maringa Lodge
From March to July and from September to December: Best months for savannah excursions
Morning boat transfer to Nyonié. Three hours trip through beautiful sceneries crossing the Estuary and mangroves, you will land at the small village of Matek Mavie from which you will finish the trip in a 4×4 vehicle. Nyonié Camp is situated south of Pointe Denis, very close to Wonga-Wongué Reserve. You will be welcome by Beti who has created a very familial atmosphere in this forest camp. Nyonié is between forest and ocean and people live there in an almost complete autarkic way, the boat you will come with being their only link with the rest of the world. The camp offers two excursions. The first excursion is the savannah excursion in the afternoon by 4×4 vehicle where people can watch forest elephants, buffaloes and monkeys in the canopy. Pair of binoculars and zooms are highly recommended as animals are in the distance. The second excursion is a forest hike early in the morning.
From July to September: Whales season
From July to September, hundreds of humpback whales come to mate off the coast of Gabon and offer an extraordinary show for nature observers. Come to attend this unforgettable ballet with our half day whales watching excursion. You will be steered by a professional skipper, specially trained to approach whales at close quarter. Overnight in the picturesque Wingombe village.
Sunday overnight in Sunset Beach
J14 à J16 :Monday to Wednesday LEKEDI PARK
You will be transferred to Libreville’s airport at 9am for your flight departing to Franceville at 10.30. Upon your arrival at Franceville, the Lekedi Park driver will pick you up from the airport to bring you to the park (2 hours drive) in Bakumba. Situated south of Moanda and Franceville, Lekedi Park is the successful result of an astonishing conversion project. Bakoumba, the place with the longest mono-cable way in the world (76km), became in some years a “nature” town. On 14.000ha has been set up: fish culture, breading of wild animals, ecotourism, mushroom production, roof tiles, pottery, weaving of raffia. Platforms for observation of the animals (especially mandrills and chimps), the ties of the railway used as fence posts, and most spectacular, a 30m high bridge of 360m long overlooking the canopy where a group of chimps is living. As well, a program to reinsert chimpanzees has been set up on a small island in the middle of Lekedi river and can be visited. The Mandrill’s tracking excursion enables visitors to approach those primates at very close quarter.
Since September 2010, a gorillas’ island is open to public. A group a few male orphaned gorillas have been gathered onto an island located in the park. They arrived in the park at a very early age and are now between two and four years old. Lekedi Park is one of the few parks in Gabon where animal watching is guaranteed.
The following excursions are available in Lekedi Park :
- Mandrills excursion (radio tracking)
- Chimps excursion chimpanzés
- Gorillas excursion
- Sail on Lekedi Lake (Chimps, varans, birds, antilops…)
- Forest hike til the Lekedi cascades
- Safari by 4×4 (river hogs, antilops, impalas, buffaloes…)
On Wednesday morning, the driver will bring you back to the airport for your flight back to Libreville departing at 11.30am (convocation time=10am). Upon your arrival at Libreville around noon, you will be transferred to Sunset beach hotel for spending the rest of your afternoon waiting for your return flight.
