Happy Birthday Peggy

Peggy turned 3 yesterday.  Birthday cake all round and G&T's for the humans, of course!

Overlanding Barbie

As space in Precious is mostly taken up by food, spares, tools and camping kit, the number of outfits in the overlander's wardrobe is determined solely by function. There's little room for mix-and-match ensembles and even if there was, the fact that it must all be tucked and squashed in the backpack means that there is no opportunity for standing in front of the cupboard trying to decide what to wear. As a result, we have a number of “Barbie” outfits that are used depending on the activity of the day.

Daily Barbie

We each have 2 Daily Barbie outfits, that are lightweight and sleeveless, don't show the dirt too much and can be worn for days on end without needing a wash. (Of course, the overlander's standards of cleanliness are severely limited along with space!) Daily Barbie outfits are usually only changed when the current one can be washed – all dependent on available water.

Border Control Barbie

The Border Control Barbie outfit is similar to the daily, but with covered shoulders and generally kept marginally cleaner so as to make a good impression when trying to enter a new country. Also used for visits to the embassies when applying for visas.

Malaria Barbie

Malaria Barbie outfits are long-sleeved and long-legged in thick fabric with socks and sandals to match – a fetching look! They are stiflingly hot to wear but are the only way to avoid being bitten, or at least reduce the chances. This outfit is teamed with lashings of insect repellent for us and Peggy.

Car Maintenance Barbie

For working on Precious, I have the Car Maintenance Barbie outfit, suitably scruffy and covered in grease. 

Exercise Barbie

In an effort to keep fit, “Jogging Barbie” is a baggy ensemble designed to permit free movement without offending the locals by showing too much leg or arm. For practising yoga, Jen has a “Yoga Barbie” outfit, while I generally make do with yesterday's vest and a kikoi. (Jen is definitely the better dressed on the Djin and Tonic tour.)

Beach Barbie

Of course there is Beach Barbie, with the inevitable cozzie and kikoi. These pics have been censored, due to the indecency of the exposure and the age of the models!

Going out Barbie

Even Overlanding Barbie loves to go out!  We might not get into the Hilton in these, but they're fine for the local bars.

 

News flash!

Djin and Tonic are now in the Northern Hemisphere

Safari in “Survivor” Territory

In need of a holiday from the stresses of city life, Djin and Tonic took themselves on Safari to Nyonié for one night – tight budget!

On Wednesday morning, we left our Precious at the Auberge in Libreville and caught a taxi to the Marina to get the boat to Nyonié. (It's only possible to get there by boat. Imagine!) Peggy was allowed to come too. Imagine that! And, the lodge at Nyonié played host to the Survivor Gabon team, which is the TV show that got Jen going on Gabon. More imagination! Luckily, we didn't have to eat any weird things – in fact, we ate more lettuce and butter than the rest of our 5 months away. Nor did we have to do any weird tricks, apart from donning our bikinis and frightening everyone else off the beach.

The boat ride there was pretty uneventful with good weather, so we could enjoy the scenery across the Gabon Estuary and through the mangrove swamps without worrying about falling out. It was a small boat with only one functioning engine and was stocked with supplies for the lodge: baguettes aplenty, a whole case of Famous Grouse (Jen was pleased), and loads of soda but no tonic water (we were worried). Peggy is turning out to be a real old sea dog.

 

The boat pitched us out at a village, where we were collected by the lodge's safari bakkie. Not quite the safari vehicles we have at home and a lot more bumpy, but still fun. At the lodge, we were met by the charming Bernard and owner, Betsy (a Frenchman) who invited us to make ourselves at home. We didn't need much encouragement and climbed right in. Jen assessed the bar stock and reported the dirth of tonic. O-la-la! She did find several varieties of pastis and tried a few out in her coke. Bel refused to adulterate her rare coke treat and drank one quickly so she had time for the next. (We're a bit cheap and scaly on the Djin and Tonic tour!) Peggy instantly made friends with the resident dogs and dashed off to hunt the licorice allsorts agamas (lizards).

Just as we'd devoured the bowl of olives (French imports), the lunch gong went. We were thrilled to find MANY bottles of chilled Bordeaux Rouge to accompany the delicious onion quiche and salad shared at the communal dinner table with a French family on a military posting to Gabon and a Spanish couple visiting Gabon for a cultural event. After lunch, the Europeans retired for a siesta while the scruffy overlanders explored the beach. On such a splurge, it seemed a waste to sleep.

At 4pm, everyone piled into the safari bakkie and we shot off on a “game rally”. I say “rally”, because the speed at which we travelled was rarely less than 40km/h with no stops, not even for sundowners. Bernard sped up to forest elephants and goaded them into charging.

The Europeans loved it. We were horrified. Back home in the dark, dinner was waiting. More lettuce, buttery vegetables and le Bordeaux Rouge froid to fuel discussions on “the state of Africa” until the wee hours, which put paid to Bel's hope of an early morning walk in the forest.

The following morning we did a bit of birding before breakfast. (What? No eggs?) Then we played on the beach before lunch. (Yes! More Bordeaux!) And then it was time to throw our stuff in our bags and get the boat back to Libreville. We found a huge fish thrashing around the deck of the boat when we climbed in – the driver had fished it out of a sandbank on his way to fetch us. Peggy was terrified. Then the driver couldn't get the second motor started, so Jen took the helm and added to her travel CV.

Crossing the estuary, we were bashed by huge waves and got completely soaked, so were in a need of a stiff gin on arrival back at the marina where we managed to change into dry clothes before heading back to the auberge to dry out after a fab Gabonese safari.

 

We've had a fantastic time in Gabon and would recommend this place to everyone. Next stop Cameroon, where we'll be running our programme in Belo in the North-West region for 6 weeks. Allons y!