OK, I have 3 seconds to impress you enough to not get bored with
another 'obscure African country video'.
This place has surfing hippos!
And...
# It's time to learn Geography #
# NOW!#
Hey everyone, I'm your host Barby.
OK, so here's the deal. I know a lot of you guys are kind of like,
dismissing all the other small obscure African countries and you're just waiting for the big guys, like Russia and India.
However, Africa is an incredibly crucial continent to learn about, because without it, humanity, kind of, wouldn't exist.
So shut your yap holes and cram this in your brain pipes!
Let's find out stuff about Gabon, shall we?
Ah, Gabon, Gabon, Gabon.
Where are you and what are you all about?
Well, Gabon is located in Central Africa, just off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean,
just a hop away from São Tomé and Príncipe.
Bordered by Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to the north,
and the Republic of the Congo to the east and south.
The country is divided into 9 provinces
with the capital Libreville located in the north
west coast off the Atlantic.
Gabon is also one of the 13 countries that are transected by the equator, passing just south of Libreville.
You can actually drive on a road that passes right through it.
By the way, the shape of Gabon kind of resembles a witch wearing a top hat.
Gabon also has a dispute with the Mbañe and lesser islands of Conga and Cocoteros off the Atlantic coast with Equatorial Guinea
The UN has urged them to kind of urged them to settle the dispute and set maritime boundaries.
But for now, they're just kind of like "Eh, whatever we'll do it later"
Fun sidenote, Gabon actually got its name from the Portuguese word "gabão" meaning cloak,
since the rivers by Libreville were said to kinda look like that.
Speaking of which,
Libreville was kinda started by 52 freed slaves
that were kinda just dropped off by the French in 1846.
Hence the name, Libreville or "free town".
And then about 20 years later,
the French came in and took the place back.
Speaking of which, again, the largest international airports are
Libreville Leon M'ba International and Port Gentil International.
Gabon is booming economically right now.
Despite the low population of the work force,
civil engineering projects have exploded in the past few decades.
The most impressive engineering project probably being
the Trans-Gabon Railway traversing about 670km
from Libreville to Masuku (or Franceville) with 23 stops in between.
This trainline is basically the backbone of the whole country
transporting not only just people but resources from the lush interior to the coast.
Other notable landmarks might include the Leon M'ba Memorial for Gabon's first president,
the highly acclaimed Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene
regarded as one of the top medical research units in Africa
and Franceville lies in the International center for medical research
one of the only two maximum bio-safety level for containing contaminant labs in Africa
on the same level as a smallpox holding CDC building in Atlanta, Georgia.
Not this Georgia - this Georgia.
This Georgia will be up in 2 episodes.
The famous Liana bridge in Ogooué lolo also sticks out.
The Flame of Peace,
the Omar Bongo statue,
the interesting Half man - Half woman slave breaking free from bondage statue
and of course the presidential palace which has been hotbed of controversy because
the president kinda spent way too many millions of dollars on it.
To make things simple, the area of what it is now Gabon
used to be a French protectorate under French Equatorial Africa
not West Africa - don't get those 2 mixed up.
Just like Equatorial Guinea, the major cities in Gabon are thriving with oil money.
This allows them to import luxury items and goods from all over the world.
Libreville is still considered one of the most expensive cities in Africa.
Each village in rural Gabon is considered to own about 5 kilometers of surrounding forest in every direction
which is like many other sub-Saharan African countries,
you get these small round villages connected by long single stretches of road like knots on a string.
In between these roads, you can find an abundance of something incredibly rare found
almost nowhere else on earth, which brings us to...
Gorillas. I was talking about gorillas.
Yeah...
Gabon has the highest concentration of gorillas out of any countries in the world
and holds about 80% of the entire world's wild population.
Despite that, the national animal is actually the black panther as it can be found on the coat of arms.
By the way bravo Marvel, I'm bringing him into the franchise,
Gabon is absolutely packed with raw, unspoiled, heavily concentrated jungles and rain forests
making it the second most forested African country after Seychelles
at about 85% of the entire land mass.
Over 700 species of birds are found here alone
and hundreds of mammal and reptile species as well.
Don't miss out on the Makokou and Kongou falls,
the Crystal mountains
and try to discover and document one of the hundreds if not thousands of unexplored caves hidden deep within the jungle brush.
Basically the country is split into 3 physical regions:
The coastal plain, the central highlands, and the thick jungle interior on the east side.
In 2003, the government decided to designate a minimum of 10% of the land towards protected national parks and wildlife areas.
The largest one being the Minkebe national park in the northeast.
Some of these places are pretty funky.
For example, you have the Loango national park along the coast
sometimes referred to as Africa's last Eden as it's one of the only few places in the world we can find inland savannah species
like elephants and hippos playing and surfing along the ocean.
So if there's one thing you're gonna take away from this video: Just remember,
Gabon has surfing hippos. DONE!
Just a skip away is the largest lake - Lake Onague and the Ogooué river
the largest one that's the most important body of water that flows across the entire country
and was historically used as a major source of transport
especially to the cities of Moanda and Masuku (or Franceville),
known for being the mining capitals of Gabon.
Now despite the lush heavy biodiverse regions, Gabon really isn't too much of an agrarian society.
Once again, just like Equatorial Guinea, this is because of, oil.
In the early 70s, offshore oil was discovered and they rode that pony into the sunset.
Oil makes up about 80% of the country's exports and about 45% of the overall GDP
and 60% of the state budget revenues.
Despite the reduced roles of other industries,
forestry has a sizeable labor force.
Cassavas, plantains, butterfruit, and palm nuts are growing wherever farm lands exist.
Palm nuts are actually a key ingredient to most national dishes.
Few restaurants will serve it but if you can find the low key venue, you might even find the Gabonese delicacy
porcupine served in a stew.
If you find yourself in the right neighborhood, you might even witness people drinking
a drink made of the iboga root
a hallucinogenic substance that's typically used in rituals like in the Bweti faith where people claim to see their ancestors.
And that's just the tip of the social iceberg.
Let's see what else these Gabonese people are like.
Ok so half of you people are probably thinking: "Okay, Gabon is just another French speaking African country
so what? There's like 20 of those. What's so special about them?"
Boy, sit your fat cheeks down and learn yourself some ethnic groups!
First of all, almost the entire population of Gabon is made up of Bantu origins.
For those of you who don't know,
the Bantus are the largest classification of ethno-linguistic Africans that stretch far across west and south and East Africa
with over 600 tribes and about 500 languages spoken.
Probably should have mentioned that in an earlier African episode like Angola...
The country has about 1.5 million people and is the 5th most sparsely populated country in Africa.
The population is divided into 3 main people groups:
The largest one being the Fang - at about a third,
the Punu at 10%, the Nazebi at 9%
and surprisingly a sizable 7% white French minority.
And the rest is made up of other tribes like the Myene, Pygmies and other ethnic groups.
They also use the Central African Franc as the currency,
they use the type C plug outlet and they drive on the right side of the road.
Fun little side note: All of the countries that were part of the former French Equatorial Africa region
use the Central African Franc as their currency.
However, the countries that were part of west Africa use the west African Franc except for Mauritania.
Now you know.
Gabon is often touted as Central Africa's most travel friendly destination.
There are also virtually no tensions between the ethnic groups and intermarriages are very common.
French of course is the official language used by all ethnic groups for cross communication
however, each group also speaks their own language as well
typically at home or with friends and family.
Although little was known before Europeans engagements, we do know that pygmies inhabited the area of where the countries are located now
but in the 14th century, the great Bantu migration occured
and soon they were either taken over or absorbed into dominating tribes.
When it comes to culture though you have to understand Gabon is a nation burgeoning with incredibly vibrant customs, rituals, and mannerisms.
Let's talk about the largest group - the Fang.
The Fang is a sizeable family of about 20 clans spread across Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Rep. of Congo, and Gabon.
Now people all over Africa make masks.
However, it's disputed that genuine Fang masks are the most acclaimed and valued in the African art scene.
Masks played a huge role in Fang society and they were used for everthing
from initiations to celebrations and funerals.
Some people argue that other African groups took
the inspiration from the Fang and imitated the elongated droopy jawline format to exploit for themselves.
Otherwise the Myene tribe is known for being masters of Rumba.
The Punu and Vili are partakers in the Ikon rituals.
The Mitsogo are known for taking part in the Bweti or the ceremony with the hallucinogenic root that we just talked about.
About 60% of the population is under 25
and women have an average of 4 kids each.
The weird thing is almost everyone in the country gets married. However, many women are almost expected
to have children before wedlock.
This is partially because of a tradition that states that in case of the man and woman split after marriage,
all premarital offspring will belong to the woman but children born after the marriage belongs to the man.
This ensures that the woman will have something just in case.
It's kinda like a genetic prenup.
Daddy, can I live with you?
Well see, son. You were born before we got married so I'll see ya later, okay?
Keep in mind, this custom also applies to other African countries too.
About 3/4 of the Gabonese are Christians with 3 times more Catholics than Protestants.
Otherwise, small communities of indigenous beliefs also exists too.
The country is run by president Ali Bongo Ondimba,
son of Omar Bongo Ondimba
one of the longest serving heads of state in the world who ran from 1967 to 2009.
We go on and on talking about another president passing down the reign of his rule to his son or family member
but I'm sure you can figure it all out.
We gotta move on.
Okay, let me put it this way - Gabon is kinda like the little sister of the Congo that got rich
and changed her last name.
France and Gabon have been getting along very well even after independence in 1960.
They are the largest importer as the Gabonese love their cheese and foie gras
and the 6th marine infantry battalion of the French military is also stationed in Gabon.
Former president Bongo is even quote for saying:
Africa without France is like a car without a driver, but France without Africa is like a car with no petrol.
Surprisingly though, a lot of Gabonese people say that Morocco and Trinidad and Tobago are good friends.
President Bongo is good friends with King Mohammed the VI and a large number of Gabonese students
study abroad in Morocco.
Trinidad and Tobago may be small but they do big business with Gabon
as about 6% of all their imports come from Gabon
making it their closest African economic ally.
In terms of their best friends however, since childhood, Gabon has always kinda had a little crush on Cameroon.
Sing it with me: Everybody loves Cameroon but especially Gabon.
They share similar ethnic groups, cultures, languages.
They love visiting each other even though Equatorial Guinea kinda gets in the way and interrupts their conversations.
In conclusion, to the untrained eye, all the small obscure African nations
are hard to distinguish from each other.
However, I encourage you to look a little closer because then, and only then,
will you find surfing hippos.
Stay tuned and even smaller and more obscure African country but with a higher population,
The Gambia is coming up next!