…I believed in superstitions. Wait. I’m sorry. That’s a Jack Johnson song. I get carried away sometimes, what can I say?
Back in Bamako, we tried to plot our course. Want to go to Guinea? Sure, why not. Oh, wait – borders are closed due to civil unrest. Hey, let’s go to Cote d’Ivoire instead! Wait – can’t do that either, because the country is on the brink of civil war due to recent elections. Alright, land borders are out, so we’ll fly somewhere. Seems easy enough, right? Wrong.
After doing a little research, we had our sights set on Gabon. Getting in requires a prearranged visa, which means we’d have to make a pit-stop in Togo, and by pit-stop, I mean fly into Liberville, take a ferry deemed ‘dangerous’ to the mainland, cross our fingers that the embassy officials grant us more than a week, take the same ferry back, and then fly out. All of this without any guarantees or a price tag… but it was a risk we were willing to take.
Gabon is home to a large population of unhabituated lowland gorillas – gorillas that we desperately wanted to see. Sadly, after all of the planning, our hopes were dashed. It turns out that the research camps were forced to close due to government issues. Bye-bye Gabon and neighboring Equatorial Guinea; maybe next time.
Feeling slightly discouraged, we moved onto the Congo. That idea didn’t last long, though. In order to see the lowland gorillas on that side, we’d have to fly into the capital and attempt to piece something together on our own. It could take days, maybe even weeks, with the possibility of hiring charter planes, boats and a whole slew of other things. I could literally feel my bank account dwindling, just talking about it.
We contacted a few organizations on the ground with little success. So, what do you do when you can’t do anything in West Africa? You get out! South Africa, here we come!
We purchased tickets on New Year’s Eve for New Year’s Day. With less than 24-hours to go, we made last minute preparations, packed our bags, and said goodbye to twenty-ten while knocking back a few gin & tonics.
Another year, come and gone…
