Crossing Central Africa by Train on the Transgabonaise

[John Ashworth]

Crossing Central Africa by Train on the Transgabonaise

Libreville is interesting, but the reason I've travelled all the way to Gabon isn't to relax on the beach - it is to ride one of Africa's most interesting trains - the Transgabonaise - from Libreville to inland to mineral rich Franceville. So, the next day I was excited to, in broken French, ask to be driven to "Gare Owendo". We drive out of the centre of Libreville, away from the villas of the oil rich and along the coast. Africa returns to the road with motorbikes and stores appearing with increasing frequency. My taxi continues driving along the Bord de Mer until the city fades into the new port area near the railway station - which is impossible to miss in its distinctive SETRAG (Société d'Exploitation du Transgabonais - the train operator) yellow and blue livery. The 669km Transgabonaise route is one I've always wanted to ride - it crosses the equator, runs through some of the dense equatorial jungle that covers three quarters of Gabon and stops remote villages as it makes its way from the coast to the vast Gabonese hinterland. I'll be venturing well off the beaten path disembarking in Lopé to experience Gabon's largest national park before continuing to Franceville. The Transgabonais has no Colonial history. A narrow gauge railway never snuck its way into the jungle to be left to decay. Instead, it was constructed in 1987 to transport ore from the vast inland deposits to the coast for export...