In the wake of contested presidential election results, Gabon faces a coup declared by senior military officers, forming the &#8220;Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions.&#8221; This marks the eighth coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.



In Gabon, a group of senior military officers has declared a coup following the presidential election results announced last weekend. The officers leading the coup, deeming their movement the “Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions”, appeared on national television today, alleging they represent all defense and security bodies in the country. They declared the election results null and void, closed all borders, and dissolved state institutions. This move comes after the incumbent president, Ali Bongo, won a third term in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, while the opposition claimed the election was fraudulent.



“After noting an irresponsible, unpredictable governance which results in continuous deterioration of social cohesion that risks leading the country to chaos… we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place,” said an unidentified military leader during the televized address announcing the takeover.



The coup, if successful, would mark the eighth coup in West and Central Africa since 2020. Recent coups in neighboring countries like Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger, have hampered democratic progress in the region.



Tensions were already high in Gabon due to concerns about the transparency of the electoral process, including the suspension of foreign broadcasts, the cutting of internet access, and the imposition of a nationwide curfew during the vote.



State institutions dissolved include the government, the senate, the national assembly, the constitutional court, and the election body. The coup attempt raises questions about the future political landscape in Gabon and the potential for further instability in the region. Gabon has a reported history of election-related violence, with clashes between government forces and protesters in past elections resulting in casualties. The opposition has also contested previous election results, accusing President Bongo, who has ruled for around 14 years, of fraud.



In the broader context, Gabon has faced challenges related to its political and economic landscape. The Bongo family has been in power for decades, with Ali Bongo succeeding his father, Omar Bongo, as president in 2009. This prolonged rule has raised concerns about democracy and transparency in the country.



Gabon is resource-rich, with substantial oil and cocoa reserves, but also faces high levels of poverty and inequality.



The military&#8217;s involvement in politics is not new in Gabon, having foiled a coup attempt in 2019, and its influence on the political landscape has been a subject of concern by observers.



As the situation unfolds, it remains uncertain how the international community will respond. Regional and international organizations have yet to issue statements condemning the coup and calling for a return to democratic governance, but are likely closely observing developments.



With the situation still developing and information scarce, reports of gunfire have been noted in the capital of Libreville, but information is scarce due to the internet blackout imposed.

Aerial View of Capital City Libreville & Coastline

Gabon’s Military Declares Coup Amid Election Dispute

This writer witnessed the alluring and ceremonial mukudji dance of the Punu women in a remote Gabon village, originally performed by men dressed as women.



Early this year while near Tchibanga, the de facto capital of the Punu people of Gabon which straddles the border with the Republic of Congo, I got word that there was going to be a small mukudji ceremony in a local village. As a contributor to this magazine, a ceremony that celebrates the female ancestors of a tribe was certainly a special one to witness and report.



So I hastened from my forest abode pillion-riding on a barely functioning motorcycle to reach the village of Loango, where the elders there have still maintained their traditions. To understand the significance of the mukudji dance, I had my NGO colleague and motorcyclist Antonio Anoro translate the answers to my questions to the village chief Jean-Louis Nzamba.



Much of the description is also available through a quick online search, that the Punu are matrilineal and trace their lines of descent through the women of the community. The female ancestors are honored with okuyi ‘white masks’ that harness their power.



There is little doubt in me that Africa is still the last frontier for ancient cultures. Despite rapid modernization, I have been fortunate to visit communities in many parts of West Africa where the effects of Islam and Christianity have had little effect on cultural practices that are both ancient and a record of human development. Having collected West African art for nearly four decades, I never seem to tire looking at their amazing forms. This passion has taken me this past decade into many parts of West Africa including frequent forays into Gabon, where I help in directing an NGO, Gabon Untouched, for sustainable tourism and gorilla habituation.&nbsp;



The next stage of my art collection I reckoned should be one where the collections of some of my masks should actually be seen coming to life. While Mali and Burkina Faso offered me amazing experiences in this aspect a decade ago, Gabon has been delivering me some amazing experiences I wish to share here.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47872" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/01-RAM_6007.jpg 1067w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure>



The art of the Punu and Fang peoples of Gabon are well-known to the West and served as an inspiration for Picasso and Matisse besides a host of other cubists in the early 20th century. Performances are appreciated as the most aesthetically appealing and exciting form of expression in Punu culture and consequently have become a national icon of Gabon. Such ceremonial dances were originally performed by initiated men who dressed as women; the practice has lately been on the wane.



The mukudj mask of the Punu is especially renowned globally with representative masks found in the major museums of New York, Dakar, Paris, Berlin and London. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which I am a member of, describes the mask this way: “Among the Punu of southern Gabon, the visual focal point of a dance known as mukudj is a mask whose features are inspired by the most beautiful woman in a community. These marks are transformed into otherworldly spirits when empowered with white kaolin drawn from riverbeds associated with the ancestral realm, and are activated during spectacular acrobatic performances executed on stilts.”



While the average museum-goer reads these words and nods quite unremarkably, I had the opportunity to actually witness one of these ceremonies.



As we assembled around the small village quadrangle with a small group of locals to mourn the death of one of its members who passed away a few weeks ago, the arrival of the mukudji on stilts was quite an affair. To the heavy beating of drums and chants, the mukudji arrived waving a fly whisk.



The purpose of the whisk I understood was to request spiritual intervention in the hunt for malicious sorcerers and witches. By clearing such bad omens, the mukudji prepared the village for celebrations. Dancing on stilts up to two meters high, holding fly whisks, and dressed in costumes of plant fibers, the dancer was a sign of authority and inspired a mixture of admiration and fear in view of the amazing physical exploits of their performances.



Well into the dance, the locals thrusted whisks in my hands and allowed me to dance around the mukudji as a sign of appreciation and acceptance into their community.



The joy of cultural travel is one where you appreciate local traditions, their significance and enjoy the human bond such ceremonies create to strengthen. Africa may be called ‘the dark continent’ by the West, but it reveals to me each day the sophistication of its cultures and the originality of spiritual thinking. 



&#8211; By Ramdas Iyer

04-RAM_4590

The Power Behind The Mask: Up Close With The Dancers Of Gabon

Deep inside Gabon’s forests, under the harsh equatorial sun, the joy of seeing a mandrill in its habitat is a prize that cannot be missed. And one man is helping in the preservation of these vanishing primates.



IN SEARCH OF AFRICA’S LAST EDEN, my recent wildlife expedition to Gabon was organized under the auspices of Antonio Anoro of Gabon Untouched, an NGO dedicated to sustainable development through conservation and community tourism. While planning my foray into several national parks to observe wildlife prevalent in Gabon, the sighting of mandrills (the largest species of monkeys) was indeed a priority. Since the shy and reclusive mandrills are found only in tropical rain forest habitats, thick bush, and secondary forests, it is almost impossible to spot them with an untrained eye.



I therefore got in touch with Dr David Lehmann, a French-born ‘extreme’ field biologist and mandrill expert, who has been working in Gabon for over two years now. An expert in wildlife capture, he is also developing sustainable ecotourism projects, including providing specialized training for international and national trackers, guides, and researchers. He lives in a camp deep inside Lopé National Park, home to the largest ever recorded mandrill horde of over 1,000 in one location at a time.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="599" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-1024x599.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47643" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-1024x599.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-300x175.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-600x351.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-768x449.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-1536x898.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-20.13.27-2048x1197.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



&nbsp;When he indicated that he was available, I traveled by boat, road, and rail, in order to reach Lopé National Park from Ivindo National Park, home to the world-famous Langoue Baie, where elephants, gorillas, sitatunga and buffalo gather by the dozens at this salt lick. Since Lehmann had just returned from France after four weeks in Europe, he mentioned that his bearings on the mandrill troupe that he had GPS radio-collared were a bit tricky. In light of my arrival, despite jet lag and hard travel, he set out with his GPS-radio tracking antenna to get their relative position for easy access the following day.



Early the next morning, we drove in his battered Land Cruiser several miles into the park and up a small hillock with his assistant, Gabriel, to assess the location of a radio-collared group. As we were gearing up for the trek, the conversation suddenly turned serious when Lehmann turned to me and said, 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“You stay close between Gabe and me at all times. If a male gorilla attacks, look down and stay in a submissive posture close to the ground. If an elephant charges, run in a zigzag pattern and find a large bush or rock to avoid it. It will stop the chase after 30 meters. And lastly, if a buffalo charges, I will let you know what to do at that time.” </blockquote>



I realized that this was not playtime, but a serious foray into Gabon’s largest park at 4,900sqkm in size.



&nbsp;After a good hour’s walk up and down the undulating savannah, we almost reached the forest edge when we heard horrible, shrill sounds. Lehmann immediately checked the GPS tracker and realized that the mandrills we were following had scattered during a chimpanzee attack, one of their main predators during the day (and it is leopards at night). We walked back for nearly an hour to the vehicle after wasting a good four hours trying to find them.



&nbsp;The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is one of the most colorful animals in the world. This monkey species inhabits a very small portion of central Africa and ranges from south Cameroon to the north of Congo. The country of Gabon, therefore, represents 80% of its distribution range.



Wild mandrill males have a technicolor butt and face that glow in the shadows as if they carry their own light sources, while females are typically colorless. But the variation in color is not the only difference between male and female mandrills. Males are typically three times bigger than females (by around 10 kg).



&nbsp;While discussing his research, Lehmann added: “If they have such a difference in morphology, we can expect that they have different lifestyles. Indeed, you might need to feed on more nutritive food sources if you are all beefed up and need to constantly fight for females. Females are part of the troupe of more than several hundred monkeys that always move around the forest to find food, while males are more solitary and are only present in the group during the breeding season. Since the equatorial forest of Gabon is influenced by global warming, we are also investigating if the changes in the health of the forest will impact one sex more than another, and thus, the survival of the whole species.”



&nbsp;After a quick break, we drove through rutted tracks to an area where Lehmann believed these monkeys could have regrouped. Our GPS tracker indicated their presence was reachable by a solid walk through several hillocks and gallery forests about an hour or so away, in the blazing sun. We set about this task, finally reaching an amazing gallery forest with flowing water. Not only were we refreshed by the cool waters, the shade was a good few degrees below the equatorial sun. However, walking along streams in gallery forests can be fairly slow, and keeping up with the ever-moving and feeding mandrills became a foot race. Finally, the joy of seeing an unusual species in their habitat was a prize that could not be missed.



&nbsp;There has been a drastic decline in the mandrill population outside national parks in recent years due to habitat destruction. They are especially vulnerable to hunters because of their loud calls. Mandrills are hunted as a local food source in several areas. Currently, mandrills occupy forests at a very low density and are poorly protected, if at all. As a result, they may be threatened with complete extinction in the wild.



&nbsp;This brought me to the subject of Lehmann’s research.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="522" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-1024x522.png" alt="" class="wp-image-47654" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-1024x522.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-300x153.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-600x306.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-768x392.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-1536x783.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.51.45-2048x1044.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ramdas Iyer</figcaption></figure>



“We catch and release these animals after placing a GPS collar around their necks so that we can track the utilization of their natural habitat. Capturing wild primates is extremely challenging; we have thus pioneered new ways to immobilize them while guaranteeing their safety. We also collect biological samples to analyze their diet, correlate it with their movements and with the temporal changes in forest health,” he explained.



&nbsp;After nine hours of mandrill tracking, we arrived at the lodge to find a cold beer and talk about his conservation work and the impact it was having. Lehmann mentioned that the publicity arising from the ecotourism project also increases the frequentation of foreigners to Lopé National Park, providing socio-economic benefits to the local community.&nbsp;



“Our results have shown that our focal group of mandrills spends ninety-five percent of its time roaming within the buffer zone of the park. We provide the Gabonese national parks agency with recommendations in adjusting park boundaries. We will provide habitat management recommendations to the mandrill range state governments for inclusion in their forest national management guidelines. Our detailed analysis of how environmental parameters are influencing mandrill movements will enable us to make first predictions about the vulnerability of the species to oncoming climate-driven environmental change.”



Dr Joseph Okoye, Director of Parcs Gabon (ANPN) whom I met en route from Ivindo where he was on a forest patrol inspection, when asked about mandrill conservation, mentioned: “For a species with such a restricted global distribution, this is of importance for international assessments of the species which is in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List as a conservation priority.”



&nbsp;In choosing to write this article, I wanted to expose the amount of basic research conducted to protect our biodiversity on earth. Lehmann works in a remote outpost with minimal comforts, constantly searching for funding and often interacting with officials like Okoye who provide Parcs Gabon support for his work. Thanks to European Union funding, he is helping in the preservation of one of the planet’s vanishing species.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="555" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-1024x555.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47648" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-scaled-300x163.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-scaled-600x325.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-768x416.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-1536x832.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-18-at-19.53.03-2048x1109.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Photo by Ramdas Iyer</figcaption></figure>



By Ramdas Iyer

Screen Shot 2020-01-18 at 20.14.22

Thrills, Perils, And Mandrills

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Gabon has the potential to pilot real innovation and redefine how governments and the private sector collaborate to create sustainable growth. We want to create the long-term potential for our people to innovate, to allow them to compete, not just with each other or with their neighbours on the African continent, but globally. I firmly believe that these ideas are the bedrock of a development model for the third millennium, a model that the entire world recognises as necessary.” His Excellency President Ali Bongo Ondimba</blockquote>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FA-2020-GABON-Online.pdf"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42796" width="225" height="225" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2.jpg 591w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Gabon-2-80x80.jpg 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a><figcaption>DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE </figcaption></figure></div>



Gabon is one of
the top ten oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa. With current production rates
hovering around 200,000 bpd, the hydrocarbon sector has been a pillar of the
country’s economy for over five decades, and remains an unparalleled driver of
growth. However, since 2009, Gabon has been diligently focused upon
modernising, transforming and diversifying its economy through its implementation
of its Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon (PSGE), which, powered by
significant public and private investments, has seen strategic infrastructure
put into place. Recently, a US$350 million debt finance from the Emerging
Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) was secured to develop new deep-sea
facilities at the Owendo port in the outskirts of Libreville. This will boost
the terminal’s general cargo capacity, doubling the port’s current capacity. Furthermore,
works are underway for the construction of a new international airport in
Libreville, with completion scheduled for 2022 and aims at serving as a major
regional hub, connecting Gabon and surrounding countries with the whole
continent, as well as UAE, China, India and the Americas. 



The PSGE relies
upon three major pillars to enhance diversification: Industrial Gabon, Green
Gabon, and Services Gabon.“We have embarked on a significant effort to
modernise and diversify the economy through the PSGE,” states Prime Minister
Julien NkogheBekale. “We intend to put Gabon on a sustainable path with the
establishment of these foundations for sustainable development.”



Industrial Gabon



Industrial
Gabon strives to diversify through local processing of the country’s resources
such as wood, mining and agriculture. Gabon has also established an open
investment climate for investors through the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) that
have been established in the country, such as the one in Nkok. The zone’s main
function is to develop various industries, most notably the wood processing
industry, to promote investment. SEZs offer a unique fiscal status providing a
stable and competitive economic climate for foreign investors and prospective
companies.“We have a one-stop shop here,” says Gabriel Ntougou, CEO of ANPI. “It
is the right time, the grounds are there. Gabon is a land of opportunity.” The
expansive acreage, modern port and tax breaks are attractive to foreign investors
and create favourable circumstances across all sectors. 



In terms of
mining, Gabon is seeing impressive growth as well. As the country focuses on
the plentiful resources of manganese and other minerals, there are
opportunities for mining support companies to provide heavy equipment to aid in
mining processes. Firms have also obtained exploration licenses for iron ore,
copper, gold and even diamonds. Gabon has also invested in the construction of
a hydroelectric barrier designed for supplying energy in two transformation
factories of manganese which generate 10% of the annual production. Moreover,
Gabon has reinforced the governance of its mining sectors, namely by the
revision of the Mining Code in order to change the business sector to attract
more investors. 



The forestry
industry especially is seeing huge industrial growth. Minister of Forests, Oceans, Environment and Climate
Change, Hon. Prof. Lee
White, says, “The fact that we banned the export of raw wood means that all
timber has to be transformed. We shifted from an exporting industry to a
transformation industry.” As a result, new opportunities are born for timber
processing companies. 



Green Gabon



With forests
covering &nbsp;87% of Gabon’s area, placing
conservation efforts is also at the forefront of the PSGE’s goals. The country
is attempting to increase the revenue of the forestry sector while keeping
practices environmentally sustainable and avoiding species destruction. The
sector creates 17,000 jobs and more than 60% of output&#8211;excluding oil. Hon. Prof.
Lee White says, “The vision is to increase the contribution of the forestry
sector to the Gabonese economy, yet preserving the forests. We have made a
commitment with the Paris agreement to reduce our CO2 emissions, and forests
play a critical role as an absorber of CO2. To achieve that ambition, we have
to give value to the forests.”



Services Gabon



Gabon is
building on the digital revolution as it becomes a high value-added services
centre. In the realm of the digital financial economy, Gabon utilises
technology to maintain one of the best rankings of financial inclusion in the
region. Nicholas Achiri Asangwe, Managing Director of Ecobank Gabon, explains,
“The widespread use of mobile phones means that Ecobank is empowering the
Gabonese to conduct their banking transactions from their mobiles wherever and
whenever they want. We are making banking accessible, convenient and affordable
to everyone in Gabon.” 



The success of
the PSGE and the diversification of the economy is a time of exciting transformation
and transition for the country. “Few countries match so many favourable assets
to investment,” claims Fabrice Bonatti, Director General of SOBRAGA.“We have a
stable legal and fiscal framework, an efficient banking system, and a growing
population with one of the highest GDP per capita on the continent.” These
advantages, coupled with the PSGE initiatives, provide Gabon with the promise
and the prospect of a prosperous and paradisiacal future.

Gabon

FOCUS ON GABON: The Emerging Eden of Africa

Scientists have discovered in 2.1-billion-year-old black shale from a quarry in Gabon the earliest evidence of a revolutionary development in the history of life on Earth, the ability of organisms to move from one place to another on their own. 



The researchers on Monday described exquisitely preserved fossils of small tubular structures created when unknown organisms moved through soft mud in search of food in a calm and shallow marine ecosystem. The fossils dated back to a time when Earth was oxygen-rich and boasted conditions conducive to simple cellular life evolving more complexity, they said.



Life emerged in Earth’s seas as single-celled bacterial organisms perhaps 4 billion years ago, but the earliest life forms lacked the ability to move independently, called motility. The Gabon fossils are roughly 1.5 billion years older than the previous earliest evidence of motility and appearance of animal life.



The Gabonese shale deposits have been a treasure trove, also containing fossils of the oldest-known multicellular organisms.



“What matters here is their astonishing complexity and diversity in shape and size, and likely in terms of metabolic, developmental and behavioral patterns, including the just-discovered earliest evidence of motility, at least for certain among them,” said paleobiogeochemist and sedimentologist Abderrazak El Albani of the University of Poitiers in France.



The identity of these pioneering mobile organisms remains mysterious. The fossils did not include the organisms themselves.



The tubular structures, up to 6.7 inches (170 mm long), originally were made of organic matter, perhaps mucus strands left by organisms moving through mud. 



The researchers said the structures may have been created by a multicellular organism or an aggregation of single-celled organisms akin to the slug-like organism formed when certain amoebas cluster together in lean times to move collectively to find a more hospitable environment.



“Life during the so-called Paleoproterozoic Era, 2.5 to 1.6 billion years ago, was not only bacterial, but more complex organisms had emerged at some point, likely only during some phases and under certain environmental circumstances,” El Albani said.



In comparison, the first vertebrates appeared about 525 million years ago, dinosaurs about 230 million years ago and Homo sapiens about 300,000 years ago.



The evolutionary experimentation with motility may have encountered a setback relatively soon after the Gabon organisms lived because of a dramatic drop in atmospheric oxygen 2.08 billion years ago.



The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. -Reuters



-Will Dunham

b30360f1d71e478e9465c64f8a54e694

Earth’s Earliest Mobile Organisms Lived 2.1 Billion Years Ago

With great rainforest comes great water. Rivers, lagoons, streams, rivulets. Lakes, ponds. Estuaries.
Venturing to Gabon’s interior, I saw more Giant Kingfishers in an hour than I had seen in my 64-year-old life. Africa’s biggest rainforest is awesome, getting there is worth the considerable effort, as you discover so much about the country, its people, its potential.
The birdlife is prolific: on the estuary in Loango National Park hundreds of Darters flew with our small boat, on the mighty Ongoue River, deep into Gabon’s famed forest.
It takes six hours by small speedboat from Port Gentil, a small harbor town 45 minutes by air from Libreville, to get to the tiny five-hut camp of Akaka. Here you are alone in the middle of the rainforest. Although the only guest in the park, I was provided with three helpers: a chef/fire maker, a boatman/bird guide and a house/bar maid. But I run ahead.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-2042" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/121810967-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
This was my first visit to Gabon. The country is green, humid, has a musty smell, is very French and fascinating.
New and expensive cars, in slow traffic along a lengthy boulevard next to the sea, take you from the small airport to beachfront hotels in Libreville. The country looks rich but when you leave the city you become aware of the chasm between the haves and have-nots. You discover that the fancy SUVs are owned by the rich, but mainly by NGOs, oil companies and government employees.
With 1.5 million people, a lot of oil and the biggest rainforest in Africa, Gabon has great potential. Tourism. Technology. Transport. Telecoms. All need work.
I woke up on my first morning to a grey and greasy ocean: the eastern Atlantic. A lukewarm humid wind was blowing across the beachfront.
People are warm and cheerful, yet seem reluctant to do anything. Trying to organize a tour to the fabled reserves in the rainforest was trying, to say the least. Tour companies are thin on the ground.
Prices can be high, at $415 a night in Loango and $130 for dinner, bed and breakfast at the only hotel in Olako, a small town where most residents live in shacks. The hotel would struggle to earn three stars. But you can bargain everything in Gabon, from the price of accommodation to the price of a cold drink.
That said, the rainforest is certainly that overused word: awesome. It inspires awe and defies description—talk about one huge, tall, straight tree and it is immediately out of its jungle context. You can’t describe the wood for the trees. The extent, too, is vast.
In 2002, President Ali Bongo declared 11% of the oil-rich country a protected area, a decision with enormous consequences.
A decade later the decision is creating work for many, from bureaucrats to conservationists, forest police to scientists. All agree that Gabon is not yet ready for ‘real’ tourism, but it does have a detailed plan, which is to be ready by 2015.
It includes addressing the lack of qualified personnel in all hospitality sectors; providing tour packages in languages other than English; improving marketing and the establishment of accredited tourism companies. Patience, money, effort and professionalism are absent. The chain of command is weak; economic viability is precarious and service needs improvement. Gabon needs close links between government, community, industry and scientific and conservation partners.
Heading up Gabon’s parks is Professor Lee White—a strong supporter of the president and a realist about the state of the country. White says Gabon is not set up for tourism&#8230; yet.
“There is a big vision for industrial Gabon to help the economy, but we need to take account that Gabon is also 88% rainforest, and 20% protected areas. Other countries create parks in their cities, we have created cities in a park. Our challenge is to plan to expand Libreville with an emerald necklace around it of those gems of protected areas. I’m lucky, I probably work for the greenest president on the planet. Some of our neighbors are less green so we do have cross border problems.”
Getting to my first park was certainly an experience. To give readers an idea of what it means to travel in this water world of rainforest: I left the hotel in Libreville at 5:30AM in a taxi to the airport, took a 40 minute flight to Port Gentil, then a taxi to the fish market, waited for an hour or two, took a speedboat for three hours, changed to a long boat, traveled by car for two hours, only to arrive at 3:30PM—10 hours later. And then you are only at the park’s entrance. And I was lucky, as I had run into a concession owner at the fish market, who happened to be going to the park.
The 9AM boat up the river to Omboué left 90 minutes late at 10:30AM.
Both my Gabonese fellow travelers inquired politely, and independently, before we embarked whether I knew that Jesus was my savior. I considered myself fortunate to know the answer.
Wide-eyed at my first look at the forest, I vocally enjoyed the boat trip, which was merely a commute for them. Everyone travels on water in that area, roads are few and far between.
The next morning my carefully arranged 7AM boat was only ready at 9:30AM, to take me from the outskirts of the rainforest to its heart of Akaka. There is no electricity at Akaka, it is wild, a tiny camp built facing one of the innumerable rivers, estuaries, lagoons. The tented huts are sparse and clean, each with a shower and toilet.
It took another three-hour boat ride to get there, it was a fascinating boat trip on a lagoon, into floodplains and flanked on all sides by massive trees, papyrus, palms and undergrowth. Deep in the rainforest, wild animals emerge and the birdlife becomes more prolific.
Two forest elephants lifted their trunks to sniff us as we arrived. And I ticked a Hartlaub’s Duck, then a beautiful Shining Blue Kingfisher, and a Slender-snouted crocodile, looking very unthreatening with his long, thin jaw.
My three-person team cooked French food that was superb, rather anachronistically given the jungle setting. A communal kitchen-cum-dining room overlooks the water.
En route to Akaka common birds on the river included scores of Palm-nut Vultures, Green-backed Herons, Hamerkops, as well as Pied, Giant and Shining Blue Kingfishers. We counted 76 Jacanas in an hour, and over two days saw eight African Finfoots, a bird rarely seen in South Africa; it looks like a duck, swims like a duck but it ain’t a duck.
By night, in the dark of the forest I tried to tell frogs’ calls from birds, or were those weird sounds perhaps insects, monkeys or bush babies?
Wonderful and exciting. Truly, Africa’s Eden.
The forest elephants of Loango, unlike many African parks, are solitary or in twos. No herds. It was curious to see one, great long tusks colored brown, struggle through the muddy bank, each foot audibly sucked by mud as it was withdrawn with difficulty, before the beast plunged ever onward, through even more mud.
A buffalo also tried running from us, quite comically, its legs in mud up to its tummy.
As you drift quietly along the estuary, dense forest keeps opening up to large plains, still with water everywhere and brilliant green ground cover. In one single view at such an opening I saw a flock of 31 Pelicans, a pair of elephants, Great and Cattle Egrets, a hovering Pied Kingfisher, three African Darters, a flock of about 40 White-faced Whistling ducks, and a Nile Crocodile who was observing it all from the bank, while two buffaloes struggled through the mud.
We stopped floating down the estuary soon after, tied up the boat and took a walk through the forest for an hour, believing mistakenly that we were going “to the sea” whereas we were just going “to see”. English is a problem in Gabon; the president is committed to changing the national language from French to English. Good luck!
We saw three different kinds of monkeys and two species of buck, a duiker and the Sitatunga, a large and striking antelope rather like a Kudu.
Some very special Hornbills haunt the trees, including the big Black-casqued Wattled Hornbill and the Piping Hornbill—“Peeping Hornbill”, my guide kept chanting—we saw a huge Great Blue Turaco, and around 40 African Skimmers on a sandbank with a dozen Royal Terns plus a few White-Fronted Plovers.
Near Loango Lodge two hippos in the lagoon eyed us warily, around 200 meters from where they surf in the sea.
But it’s not just about the birds or the trees, elephants, crocodiles, buffaloes or the like. It is the whole magnificent rainforest that inspires wonder.
Ecotourism will always be a tough battle but at least Gabon has a plan and a very good place to start. President Bongo and the good professor White deserve the conservation world’s support in their admirable endeavors.

Africa’s Eden  By Boat

As I’m sure you can imagine, right now I am a very proud man. To see the Zambian players lift the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in Gabon was a truly incredible moment for me, as I’m sure it was for every Zambian.
There are no short cuts when it comes to winning a major tournament like this. If you’re an underdog, sooner or later you will come up against the big teams and if you want to succeed, you have to be able to beat anyone. And that is exactly what we did.
This success has been the result of many years of planning, going back to Zambia’s failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. It was then that we went back to the drawing board and set out four points for the next five years:
<ul>
<li>To take Zambian football into a new dawn, both on and off the field; nationally, continentally and globally.</li>
<li>To galvanise the nation by re-igniting the passion of each and every Zambian for their national teams and clubs.</li>
<li>To strive to attain the highest standard of football through sustained development, key partnerships and international exposure.</li>
<li>For Zambian football to become a continental powerhouse and reclaim its rightful place in African football once again.</li>
</ul>
<div id="attachment_697" style="width: 520px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-697" class="size-full wp-image-697" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/RTR2XK1S.jpg" alt="" width="510" height="322" />Zambia&#8217;s soccer team players pay homage to victims of the Zambian Air Force Buffalo DHC-5D plane crash, along the Atlantic Ocean in Gabon&#8217;s capital Libreville, February 9, 2012. The specially arranged Air Force Buffalo carrying Zambia&#8217;s national football team ditched into the Atlantic Ocean about 500 metres offshore from Libreville on April 27, 1993, killing all 25 passengers and five crew members. Zambia will play Ivory Coast in the final match of the African Cup of Nations football tournament at the Stade De L&#8217;Amitie Stadium on February 12. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya (GABON &#8211; Tags: SPORT SOCCER DISASTER)</div>
This dream was well documented and one that we followed for six years. We put various structures in place, we stuck to our beliefs and I am so happy to look back now and see all that hard work has paid off. Our vision has been achieved; now we have to work even harder to maintain and to improve.
Our biggest asset is our team spirit. The Cup of Nations winning squad isn’t full of superstars playing for top European clubs; it is a predominantly African-based group of players. Five of the squad are based at home in Zambia; eight in South Africa; and five with the DR Congo giants, TP Mazembe, while midfielder Jonas Sakuwaha is with Al-Merreikh in Sudan. Captain Chris Katongo and James Chamanga play in China and the young midfielder, Chisamba Lungu, is in the Russian second flight with Ural Sverdlovsk. Only the centre-forward, Emmanuel Mayuka, plays for a top-flight European club, Swiss side Young Boys.
But they are a very tight-knit team. The players all know one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and that comes from having been developed as a unit over the past few years. We have generated a new crop of players, who are young and determined. As I said, we may not have big names, but we have a team unit, and teamwork is vital for success. You can list all the superstar players you like but if they can’t play together as a team, they won’t win anything. Our togetherness has been our defining strength at the Cup of Nations.
We are also blessed with a fantastic coach in Hervé Renard. He is very popular and respected among the players, but he is also not afraid to impose discipline. And perhaps most importantly, the players believed in and embraced his philosophy and tactics.
Hervé ensured the players were prepared for everything and anything. We rode our luck at times, but slowly the boys started to believe in themselves. We believed in the system we played, we believed in the tactical approach, we believed in the substitutions that were made at key points in games.
Before the competition, we told the players that we had one opportunity and that all we could do was give it our best shot. And as the competition progressed, the more they believed in themselves, the better they played.
Of course, it is particularly poignant that we were crowned champions just a few kilometres away from the exact location where my team-mates perished after their plane went down some 19 years ago. I thought it was important, before the tournament started, to tell the players that if we got to Libreville, it would be emotional because not a day goes past without us thinking about what happened in 1993. When we went to the Sabelir Beach in Libreville to lay wreaths in remembrance of the team that perished there, something truly magical happened. The loud single clap of thunder when we arrived, the curiously warm Atlantic Ocean water and the way in which the waves came up and took the wreaths straight back into the sea were all small, unexplained and enchanting signs that something special was happening.
Since that fateful day in 1993, there have been many highs and lows. But to finally be crowned champions of Africa is the ultimate tribute to those we lost that day. If they were still with us, they would be very proud of this team. Their dreams are our dreams, and the dream to become African champions has come true. For me personally, after reaching the AFCON final in 1994 as captain, with a brand new squad, and narrowly losing to Nigeria, to finally raise the trophy in Libreville at this year’s final is nothing short of the stuff dreams are made of.
We went to the Cup of Nations with humility and soulful inspiration; our boys were incredibly motivated and had great aspirations. Before the competition started, no one would have given us a chance. Now Chipolopolo have made history. Never underestimate the heart of a champion.

Enchanting Signs That  Something Special Is Happening

Gabon has a population of about 1.5 million people and is an upper middle-income country with a $13.1 billion economy. It may be one of the wealthiest nations on the continent, but it suffers from gaping inequality. The richest 20% of the population accounts for 90% of income; a third live in poverty.
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According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), growth in 2010 was 5.7%, following a contraction of 1.4% in 2009 due to the global recession. The IMF expects growth to remain relatively flat in 2011 at 5.6%. It also expects public investment and a rebound in mining to underpin growth this year.  On the other hand, the IMF sees a slowing global economy and the associated downward pressure on commodity prices as a downside risk to growth.
Gabon’s wealth relies on oil, which makes up over 70% of exports, with estimated proven oil reserves of two billion barrels at the beginning of 2010. With faltering oil prices and production constraints, Gabonese authorities are set on diversifying the economy away from this reliance on oil. The government plans to transform by creating a business-friendly environment. To achieve this goal, it is embarking on a public investment drive.
Manganese mining and logging are the economy’s other two key sectors. Gabon also has the world’s largest iron ore deposit, which is likely to attract further investment in the mining sector. Agriculture and tourism remain small sectors in the economy due to a lack of infrastructure.
Industry makes up nearly two-thirds of the economy, while services make up nearly a third. Agriculture is a mere 4.5% of the economy.
Gabon has a benign political environment. The incumbent president is Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba from the long-ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). He was elected in 2009 following the death of his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba. Despite the opposition crying foul that the vote was flawed, Gabon has remained stable.
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The country is due to hold legislative elections in November. The current legislature’s mandate ends in January.  In May, the president asked the country’s constitutional court to delay the election for a year so that the country can focus on hosting the African Cup of Nations in January. Gabon is a co-host with Equatorial Guinea. The delay is also to allow for the introduction of a biometric voter system to avoid election fraud. With both the ruling party and opposition essentially in agreement for a postponement, the constitutional court is likely to grant the request.

Tag: Gabon

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