Cycling through Equatorial Guinea and Gabon

Eric and Amaya are cycling through Africa and have recently pedaled through Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. June marks their one year anniversary since they set off from France and they've managed to cycle well almost 13,000 miles (20,849 kms) most of it on African soil.

Equatorial Guinea is not a country often visited by travelers and unless you're in the oil business (or a Chinese businessman apparently), few foreigners bother to visit. It's a very small country and unusually for Africa, the predominant language is Spanish. Eric and Amaya found the accounts of bribing officials were somewhat exaggerated although their 11th checkpoint in one day did prove the rumors to be correct:

In good time the boss stumbled in, obviously back from a drinking spree in the local bar. He was slurring his Spanish so badly we could hardly make out what he was trying to say, but it seemed to boil down to us paying 2,000 CFA each for the privilege of passing his checkpoint. We pointed out that no one else at the previous 10 roadblocks had asked for any money. Our resistance set him off on a tirade and he began ranting and raving for a good 15 minutes.

Gabon was Amaya and Eric's next port of call, and they found quite a different scene here to that in Equatorial Guinea. The rainforests are fast disappearing but the country is richer than its neighbors and quite cosmopolitan.

Mauritanians man most of the small supermarkets, Cameroonians have the bar and bakery businesses wrapped up, Senegalese run the restaurants and Malians tend the market stalls while the enterprising Togolese have opened up small hotels.

Gabon's roads (see photo) have proven to be almost impassable for the two cyclists and in some cases they've been forced to load their bikes up on trucks. But, they've made it to the town of Ndendé and their last blog entry had Eric sitting out a bout of malaria. Their next leg will be the Congo.

The locals tell us road conditions deteriorate on the other side of the border, so travel won't be easy. Another obstacle to steer clear of will be the so-called 'ninja rebels' who are running a low-level insurgency in the region near Brazzaville. Travelers before us have been strongly advised (and some forced) to take the train rather than risk a possible attack on the road. Both physically and mentally, this is a tough part of the continent to cycle through. Fortunately, the kindness of the locals and the beauty of the landscapes keep our spirits up

For Amaya and Eric's full account see their website and you can also donate to the charity they're doing it all for.

Image ©Amaya Andrea Williams and Eric Schambion