11 Days in Gabon – Africa’s “Off-the-Beaten-Track” Garden of Eden

Explore the home of “Africa’s Last Eden,” Gabon, where dense rainforests reach tropical coasts with golden beaches. One of the planets wildest places, watch hippos surfing in the ocean, trek for gorillas, watch leatherbacks lay their eggs and buffalos saunter on the beach. 

Visit Loango National Park  for Western lowland gorilla treks that are arranged through the Gabonese park service and may be accompanied by staff from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Limited to four people and two guides, the daily treks are a unique chance to glimpse gorillas’ social behavior and feeding habits. Support research in Lourie Camp with camera trapping and DNA sampling.

Pongara National Park  is singularly distinguished by a remarkable diversity of primates, plants and birds. Travel anywhere along its shimmering estuary which also cuts through mangrove swamps and flooded forest, you can view snapshots of arboreal monkeys peering down from lofty treetops, and forest elephants and hippos wading in slow-moving lagoons. And just further afield along tracts of savannah is another unspoilt sanctuary for small herds of forest buffalo and elephant, red river hog and the elusive leopard.