Libreville – it is now three uneventful weeks of waiting and hanging around one of the most expensive city’s of the world !!!!
I have decided to film undercover the various bush-meat markets of Libreville and to interview one of Gabon’s most active and well known environmentalist who unlike the officially appointed guardians of this nations environment and parks is eager to express his views on what kind of a green future he and others are working towards.
Momboit Libreville – the down town city market is hot chaotic and crowded and within the many alleyways of this bustling city market one can find traders from across the W.African sub-region – Malians – Senegalese – Togolese – Beninior – Nigeriens – Burkinabe – Congolese – Cameroonian’s and Nigerians to name but only a few of the many inter-African nationalities that trade within this medium size open air market. I have spent the greater part of my time in Libreville paying sky high prices for accommodation and food and I have learnt that waiting on endless appointments and enduring the general cost of living here has curtailed whatever enthusiasm I may have initially arrived with.
Filming within the market has been somewhat tense as local traders have been previously raided by security officials from the wildlife department and as a result any attempt to film is viewed with not only hostility but also with intense suspicion.After a number of visits to the bush-meat traders I was eventually allowed to film their commercial operations but only the tables on which a variety of meats were on display for sale.
Inspite of being allowed to film there were still tense moments when various traders reacted with anger and suspicion and demanded money for allowing their trade to be openly filmed.The bush-meat consisted of various forest species for sale including antelopes – snakes – crocodiles – Kane rats – Forest rodents and an assortments of primates but unlike other occasions there were no gorillas or chimpanzees for sale at least not in public.I had come with the intention to film illegal ivory being traded within the market and inspite of being initially able to photograph tusks for sale the traders soon became suspicious of my motives in wanting to film their trade and as a net result I have now encountered a wall of silence even when offering money for local information on this illegal trade and commerce.
After three weeks of being in Gabon I now need to assess my daily expenditure and plans – should I continue to wait in Gabon for permission to visit the parks or continue onto Brazzaville and to Kinshasa.The DRC and it vast tracks of rain-forest offer perhaps the greatest challenge within the Congo basin and with the general insecurity and political uncertainty Congo Kinshasa represents the epicenter and the very heart of this forested region.Here in Gabon I still need to complete various interviews with certain conservationist and a last journey to visit a conservation project out in the field I will then plan my next journey to visit the other important nations here within central Africa’s Congo basin.I have received reliable information on the markets of Brazzaville and also information on the regions largest market which is located in the DRC capital Kinshasa.As for now I await to visit other contacts and plan my time accordingly – patience is a virtue that inspite of being in Africa for over the last 35 years I still in many ways lack and if I personally had a choice to make I would dearly like to be out in the parks filming and learning more about this regions forest elephants !!!
