Ever wondered what it is like to be in the jungle? A real African jungle, the true Heart of Darkness? Or rather a Garden of Eden?
It is up to you how you perceive the jungle, but these days in Africa it also depends on the political situation of the county.
Yet there is one country that remains stable and friendly, and hardly anyone has heard of it.
Covered in dense rain forest and interspersed with rich savannah, Gabon (on the east coast of central Africa) is a true eco-tourist destination and is home to the largest population of lowland gorillas. Jungle elephants, a smaller and shyer version of the African elephant, also make the rain forest their home, along with vipers, buffalos, monkeys and a host of bird, reptile and amphibian species.
Jungle trekking should not be done by the unfit, and is not worth the attempt without a guide. The humidity seemed to claw out at me whilst branches and wisps of creepers clasped at my hair as I walked by. My boots stuck to the muddy paths and slowed my progress. Stopping often to listen to the sounds made me realize how heavily I was breathing.
We came to a pond in a clearing and watched as tiny crocodiles bobbed to the surface for air. Our guide told us not to worry, there was no large mother nearby, as these crocodiles are a species of that size. It was difficult to find a place to sit, as everything was wet, muddy and usually had something crawling on it. Along a path I saw what looked like a fat yellow ribbon which turned out to be a baby viper.
As we came to the top of a hill the shrubbery cleared. The view stretched over hills covered in savannah and down to dense rain forests in the dips. Suddenly we saw a grey mass moving slowly below us. Our first jungle elephants! Not just one, but several, and with a calf. It did not take them long to melt back into the forest once they realized that we were there. They were invisible within seconds, although we could still hear them moving slowly through the undergrowth. The occassional trumpet meant that the calf was being called to keep up.
We did not see gorillas that day, but rather a troop of up to 700 mandrill monkeys which passed us by in a matter of seconds. And yet even without a gorilla sighting Gabon will always remain to me a true Jungle Book adventure.
