Chris Schalkx
With their colossal bodies and ponderous feet, elephants have never struck me as masters of hide-and-seek.
Signs that we were hot on the trail of the creatures we had come to find were everywhere.
Giant footprints pockmarked the path, and a musky tang laced the air.
Strolling the Atlantic Ocean shore near Pongara Lodge.Credit:Chris Schalkx
Mavoungou paused to hover his hand over a brown lump of dung: it was still warm.
We slowed down, tiptoeing through an obstacle course of fallen trees and corkscrew liana vines.
I recalled Mavoungous safety instructions.
From left: River views from Akaka Forest Camp, inside Loango National Park, in Gabon; a forest elephant in the park.Chris Schalkx
Forest elephants are critically endangered, and decades of poaching has left them skittishsometimes dangerously so.
Its important to walk slowly and listen, he warned.
it’s crucial that you see the animal before it sees you.
From left: Anne-Marie Makaya, who runs a restaurant in the village of Ezango; fried cassava in a village near Loango.Chris Schalkx
But in this dense jungle, that was easier said than done.
Every rock resembled an elephants hindquarters, and every noise seemed plausibly pachyderm.
Suddenly, Mavoungou froze.
From left: Coralie Mboumba, a lodge manager for Luxury Green Resorts, near Ndola Luxury Tented Camp; rosy bee-eaters in Loango.Chris Schalkx
Some 30 feet ahead, a dark silhouette materialized between the vines and tangled undergrowth.
It was grabbing trunkfuls of leaves and scraping the soil with its long, slender tusks.
The elephants peek-a-boo prowess wasnt entirely surprising, given that Gabon has a lot of jungle to vanish into.
From left: Martha Robbins, a gorilla researcher; a western lowland silverback gorilla lounging in Loango.Chris Schalkx
But despite these wild wonders, tourists are also rare.
Trying to determine exactly how rare is something of a puzzle, since nobody seems to be keeping track.
The most reliable estimate I could get from travel-industry sources was that 377,000 visitors arrived in 2019.
From left: Arriving at Ndola Lodge; coco plums near Ndola.Chris Schalkx
Contrast that withKenya, which saw more than 2 million that same year.
Lodgings, even at the highest end, lean rustic.
Gabon offers a truly wild experience, untouched by mass tourism, she told me.
From left: A Pongara Lodge guest room; a guest bungalow at Pongara Lodge.Chris Schalkx
That new-frontier feel was exactly what had drawn me.
Gabon promised something different: unvarnished, unfiltered, unpredictable.
And it delivered, though not always in the ways I had envisioned.
From left: the confluence of the Ngowe and Echira rivers, as seen from Akaka Forest Camp; Coralie Mboumba, second from left, toasting a successful day of trekking at Ndola.Chris Schalkx
By the time I arrived at Loango National Park, Libreville couldnt have felt farther away.
Hippos slid under the waters surface; a lone sitatunga antelope darted across the shore.
Africas last Eden, American conservationist Mike Fay once called it, and the moniker felt apt.
From left: On the Ngowe River near Akaka; driving along the beach in Loango National Park.Chris Schalkx
Theres so much potential.
Tourism could be a huge economic boost for Gabon, Robbins said.
But whats most important is that its done responsibly.
From left: Guide Dimitri Mavoungou in Loango National Park; binoculars at the ready in Pongara.Chris Schalkx
When theres money involved, a whole other realm of issues opens up.
For me, the gorillas always come first.
An hour into our trek, an apish grunt pierced the silence and a silverback emerged from a thicket.
From left: Kayaking in Pongara; a break from wildlife-watching at Ndola.Chris Schalkx
Aloof but unalarmed, it resumed snacking on uapaca fruits before dozing off on a log.
Nearby, a mother cradled a newborn with eerie humanity.
On the boat trip back to camp, Mavoungou suddenly cut the motor.
From left: A guest room at Pongara Lodge; the common area at Pongara.Chris Schalkx
Look, he whispered, pointing at a quivering stand of papyrus a few yards away.
I drifted off to sleep in a jungle symphony of sonorous hippo grunts and singing cicadas.
These days, Ndolas team only manages to sweep the sandy stretch where its guests gather for champagne sundowners.
From left: A hippo swimming in Loango; a forest hinge-back tortoise in Pongara National Park.Chris Schalkx
Keeping the coast clean requires a big investment, but nobody wants to take responsibility, he admitted.
It needs to change.
If it stays dirty, tourists will stay away.
From left: Francois Motendi, a gorilla tracker; flora in Loango.Chris Schalkx
A placard warned guests of the dangers beneath the surface: hippos, Nile crocodiles, and bull sharks.
Right below it, another sign offered a cheerful reminder: swim at your own risk.
Koumangoye Moto told me about the gorillas, elephants, and chimpanzees that inhabit Pongaras riverine forests and savannas.
Between November and March, he said, leatherback turtles crawl ashore to lay eggs.
Nature gives us everything we need, he said, gesturing broadly around us.
Fish, fruit, even medicine.
Then his tone sharpened.
Weve been protecting these lands long before the conservationists showed up.
(Since 2000, Gabon has significantly reduced deforestation, according to the United Nations.)
The latest, a coup detat in 2023, put the brakes on growth.
While the situation on the ground has stabilized, visitors have largely stayed away since.
(The U.S. Department of State recommends that travelers exercise increased caution when visiting.)
Our economy is still dependent on oil and timber, he said.
We need to use our natural resources in better ways.
Like Shepherd, who planned my trip, Mbina stressed the importance of setting the right expectations.
Gabon is not a zoo.
The next morning, I found a parade of elephant tracks circling my bungalow.
The prints were so fresh that I could almost hear the animals rustling retreat.
It felt like a blessing, but also like a trunk-long nose-thumb from Mother Nature.
In all her raw, intoxicating beauty, she doesnt surrender her secrets on demand.
And maybe thats why visiting Gabon is such a thrill.
Its landscapes dont offer guarantees, but rather the tantalizing tease of possibility.
Hippos and elephants often show up near the communal terrace.
The 11 bungalows are eclectic affairs, built from reclaimed wood and furnished with African art.
Shepherd and her local contacts help navigate everything from transportation to entry visas.