Some Gabon beauty

I’ve had the opportunity to see some places across the country as well as tremendously advance in my study work. Have a read.

Saturday, 01 June: As Joe, Sarah and Tatiana went on a trip, I had the rare situation of spending the whole weekend without them. This gave me the opportunity to prepare a meal with those who stayed at campus. We prepared riz tchep which took ages but was really delicious. This is a Senegalese meal if I remember correctly – containing the usual chicken and rice, but with lots of vegetables and nicely seasoned.

[See Térence, Gédéon, Sam, Charlène, Mahiné and I enjoy the meal]

Tuesday, 04 June: This Tuesday was off due to Ramadan. In Gabon, Christian as well as Muslim occasions can be a public holiday. Dearie, Joe and I had planned to just take a walk but didn’t get so far, as we invited ourselves at our colleague Malik’s.

Wednesday, 05 June: Finally, the day for the first patient in my study came! This meant a couple of extremely busy hours which everybody carefully watching that study procedures would work out, and we were really proud to finally actually commence. Also, as I was simultaneously preparing for a holiday, we realized that getting our train tickets would not go as easy as we thought it would. Or rather, our colleague gave us the counsel just in time.

[See the doctors and nurses working on our first participant inclusion]

Thursday, 06 June: This way was filled with adaptions and getting used to all the procedures with our first patient. This hardly gave me time to take care of our train tickets. When You can neither buy them online, nor in town, nor spontaneously upon departure, what do You do? Luckily, Yorrick helped us out, or rather made people help us out and so, this evening the day before our holidays, the tickets arrived. We’re really grateful!

Friday, 07 June: At (almost punctual) 7h30 in the morning we left Lambaréné for Libreville, just to do a bit of shopping, spent some moments on the beach and then leave in the evening to take the 18h50 train to Franceville. This might look like a detour on the map, but as the nearest train station to home first has to be reached by car and has its stop in the middle of the night, we were advised to take this option. The SETRAG trains are of German make, while the tracks are not.

[See us when we were still fresh]

Saturday, 08 June: Just before noon and after a night of freezing and hardly sleeping at all, we arrived in Franceville where we got picked up by our colleague Arnold who had invited us for this trip. After arriving at his family’s hotel, we first desperately needed to rest and freshen up. As it was the anniversary of a previous president, we tried to use public access to the family mausoleum which had been promised for this day. Due to the current president, his son’s, arrival (which we didn’t get to see even after some waiting), we couldn’t though and proceeded to go for dinner.

[See the main entrance to the site]

Sunday, 09 June: In the morning we left with Arnold, his brother Loic (and his official car) to Poubara, a dam of the Ogooué River outside the city with a famous bridge made of lianas and a nice mini hike to some small waterfalls. I even got to drive a bit on the way there! We came across a fisherman and this secured us a tasty dinner at our hosts’ family’s.

[See us with Loic at the dam and the bridge which we also crossed]

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Monday, 10 June: This Whit Monday we did the next nature trip to Léconi, an area of high plateaus with a completely different nature than the forest we already got used to. We got to get a glimpse on a few animals, to take a bath in a river spot known for its very clear water and to see the Canyon rose. Apparently, this area used to be covered by the sea, even if it’s at the most continental side, towards the Congo, of Gabon today. Back in town, another colleague who was on leave joined us and we explored the night life a bit. You can really see that it’s a big town, and a student town as well! (Having more choice than the once club of Lambaréné is not hard to beat however…)

[See the canyon from above and us at a club]

Tuesday, 11 June: To rest in between trips to the surrounding areas, we explored Franceville itself a bit today. We went to the market to get some bracelets with our names made, which lots of people here wear – Now including us.

[See the view onto the city from the city hall and us before a statue of the explorer Brazza]

Wednesday, 12 June: As we didn’t have a vehicle available today, we went to Moanda by public transport – possible again due to our local host. We then got “breakfast” (if chicken freshly from the grill qualifies at such) before leaving to Bakoumba to see the park of Lékédi. This is a nature reserve previously recommended by several colleagues who used to study in the area and Sarah and Johannes got to experience their first safari where we got to see chimpanzees, gorillas, buffalos, gazelles… Some actually free, some in enclosures for tourists to see. All in all, a very liberating experience! In the afternoon, we got the chance to see even more monkeys, this time at the primatology unit of the CIRMF (Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville) which we kindly got shown around due to our affiliation to CERMEL, the Lambaréné counterpart of the institution.

[See us on the vehicle and a few monkeys we got to see]

Thursday, 13 June: Time flies when You’re having a good time, so this evening was already the time to take our train back to Libreville.

Friday, 14 June: Early in the morning (on time!) we arrived back in Libreville and headed to the hotel to spend a day on the beach. There we shortly met Dearie who was in town for some paperwork. We then treated ourselves to some French breakfast with the best hot chocolate I had in a while. The whole day ahead of us we spent recovering from the train ride and burning in the sun. Even at night we couldn’t separate from the beach, so we went out to a restaurant with Yorrick’s brother Van who had run the errands to get us our train tickets – gratitude everlasting.

[See us at the beach restaurant]

Saturday, 15 June: Our last fancy meal before returning to real life included ice cream, and we did some shopping at the biggest (and probably most expensive and crowded by expats) supermarket in town/the country before taking the car back home. Despite a blown tyre, that our driver easily fixed, we got home at a quite comfortable 7pm to good old Lambaréné.

[See actual ice cream! and us waiting for the tyre to be changed]

Sunday, 16 June: This served as rest day before diving back into work, I got to see some dear colleagues who were around and did some chores. Energy wasn’t sufficient to do grocery shopping though, so we went out one last time.

[See how I got more than expected when ordering a double cheese burger]

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Monday, 17 June: Or maybe second but last time, as this day we invited Yorrick and Arnold out for dinner to show our appreciation for their generosity and assistance with our holidays. If You can’t just look up or google stuff, these local connections become even more precious than they’d already be.

Tuesday, 18 June: Work got its grip on me again as with enrolling and treating patients now, even nights are not necessarily off anymore.

Wednesday, 19 June: Today was Joe’s birthday, all the best bro!

Friday, 21 June: Our colleague Ayo invited us to taste some Nigerian foods – Can’t name them, but they were super tasty!

Saturday, 22 June: I felt very loved today to be invited to go fishing with my microscopy colleagues Stéphane and Cyriel, and I actually caught my first fish! Small as my skills. To cross something off Joe’s bucket list, we went to the ancient Schweitzer hospital site to enjoy the view on the river and afterwards we enjoyed a campfire at home.

[See me proudly holding my mini fish and the view from where the first Albert Schweitzer Hospital was]

Sunday, 23 June: I spent the day eating and talking to Saskia, which was very nice as we don’t get to spend a lot of time even though we officially live and work together. I then baked a German bread for Dearie’s birthday – one less packet of proper flour left!

[See me at the church that I now regularly attend]

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Monday, 24 June: Today I trained my team in a study specific lab-procedure. We spent the evening at Ayo’s again for pancakes.

[See our team's clinical investigators]

Tuesday, 25 June: Congrats Dr. Ray for defending Your PhD thesis!

Wednesday, 26 June: The farewell actually begun – we went for dinner at Mangrove with Joe.

[See our team's ladies after a meeting]

Thursday, 27 June: And it gets very real – Joe as well as our (ex)housemate Maximin organized a nice dinner party at campus that even the institution’s president passed by (by accident).

Friday, 28 June: After a couple of weeks, we had a Scientific Meeting where I could finally present first results.

[See us enjoying our last moments with Joe]

Saturday, 29 June: My flatmate Gédéon and his brother took me to their village today, where we went to check the state of their family’s properties and to prepare a meal on wood fire to share at the tomb of some of their family members. I found it a bit surreal and very interesting to witness this way of interacting and honouring Your lost loved ones.

[See me discovering a fruit that I can't name anymore and the place where we spent the afternoon]

Sunday, 30 June: We had a chilled Sunday at the pool, our colleague Paulin joined us spontaneously and we even met some other colleagues.

[See us once more at refuge]

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Thursday, 04 July: I got a new fabric – Wait to see what I got from this!

[And wonder why I got so much of this]

Friday, 05 July: Our team organised the party for the end of a big study today – And it was just marvellous. The day started with a symposium on the past experiences. The afternoon was filled by an inter-CERMEL soccer tournament where I dared to play for the first time since middle school. It was great to share a fun activity with everyone and even though my team didn’t win, I wished we did this more often. In the evening, we shared a meal and music with all employees, and I was amazed by all the talent we have in the team.

[See us giving everything on the soccer field and the stage]

Saturday 06 July: Despite the party having lasted past midnight, we left early to Libreville today to spend some time with our colleague/friend Doria. We enjoyed (and exhausted) ourselves on the market before going for supper and waffles with fruits with a friend’s friends.

[See me at night with colleague Scarlin before the party ended]

Sunday, 07 July: After a morning on the beach and a stay that was far too short, we headed back to arrive in Lambaréné. As it’s still the beginning of the month, and to our joy, we spontaneously joined some colleagues at a bar and even ended up going to the club. Why not on a Sunday night? Living while we’re young and stuff…

[See one more time the beach, can never get enough...]

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Monday, 08 July: …and being insanely tired today. But well. Another colleague, who recently came back from Germany, bumped into us in the evening. Thanks for spontaneously sharing dinner with us, Mirabeau.

Friday, 12 July: And again (a lot this month) we left for Libreville, this time with a car full of colleagues. In the evening Frédérique showed us to a bar where we even got some really good tapas. Where they really that good or was I just craving them?

Saturday, 13 July: Today, Ayo, Sarah, Frédérique and her friend Loic and I went to the Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay) on a holiday special, that Frédérique had found. The setting was just stunning, the food great and the company even more so. And as if this day wouldn’t have been pleasant enough, just before leaving we even got to see a forest elephant.

[See the view from one of the places we relaxed at and us before taking the boat back to town]

Sunday, 14 July: Again, our Libreville Sunday activity was to be at the beach, just this time around we had Doria’s son and daughter with us which made it a very joyful time.

[See us making sure the children don't drown and stuff]

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Monday, 15 July: After (unconsciously) fasting it for a while, I was back at the tailor today. You’ll see the pictures at some point!

Thursday, 18 July: My study officially concluded it’s first step and I was glad to be able to celebrate his with the team with a couple of drinks and some food first at the office, then the few meters down the hill at campus.

[See me opening the evening]

Friday, 19 July: The party couldn’t even have taken place today, as the Africa Cup of Nation’s final match between Algeria and Senegal took everybody’s attention. We watched it with housemates and to celebrate the evening properly I even spontaneously learned how to make popcorn from scratch. Pretty easy as most of You probably knew before me.

[See us having a very comfortable soccer evening]

Saturday, 20 July: Saturdays on campus mean cooking with Sam – It was so tasty! But grinding peanuts to make Your sauce is really a lot of effort… Frédérique’s brother and daughter are with us this week, so I used the opportunity to have the five-year old help me make some banana ice cream.

[See this manufactory]

Sunday, 21 July: Frédérique we love You – We were again spontaneously invited to share a barbecue with friends at the Regional Hospital. While waiting for food, we also got the chance to look around the facilities of the hospital, even the neonatal ward. Maybe I should do an internship at some stage…

Wednesday, 24 July: Nothing but the very best my princess Sarah! You are my star and my rock, what would I have done here without You here, my sister.

Thanks for holding on with the long wait in-between posts. This is just the essentials – I’d love to hear from You, too.

[See the birthday girl with colleagues and housemates]

See You, take care,

Doro

168 days in Gabon