Here are a collection of snaps taken with my iPhone whilst in Libreville. I'm leaving on a jet plane out of here tomorrow night and then onto Mauritius for a few weeks. JB will still be in Gabon until the end of August

We crossed the equator often but thought I had better snap it...

Gorgeous coloured raffia they sell on the main highway... Made from raffia palms

My gorgeous Gabonese footsteps...

Couldn't resist this gorgeous African fabric from Cote de Voir

Sunset at the grubby industrial port 

I could live in Libreville! What amazing restaraunts...

I love these roasted peanuts and fried plantains sold in used jars and spirit bottles! Recycling at its best... You can buy these tasty snacks everywhere...

Now on my 2nd last day on the Ranch, I head for a walk below the house, at the bottom of a hill and discovered a beautiful little peaceful place....

And it looks as if someone else has found it before me! 

All taken with my IPhone....

Huge trees make loooong dugouts! A fisherman in the lagoon of Myumba, Gabon

And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems

Life in the fishing villages of Myumba, Gabon. Apparently most of the fishermen are from neighboring countries, not the Gabonese.

I have never had clarity. I have only ever had trust, Mother Teresa. Gabon, land of the hiding sun...

We spent the weekend at a place called Myumba, on the southern coast of Gabon! It's so beautiful and so basic, with no hotels etc and very bad roads! But the beauty makes up for a lot....

Yes JB caught. Barracuda! 

The local fish shop.... It's basically a room with a Large deepfreeze filled with the weeks catch! 

It's in the dry, difficult times that makes us send our "roots" down deeper to search for "the water of life" to sustain us, "His peace" to calm us and the "joy unspeakable" to uplift us. Gigi

There isn't much to do on a Sunday on the Ranch. I don't have access to any vehicles during the week. So Sunday's are when I drag JB out to try and do a spot of photography. Today we went checking on the firebreaks...

Gabon........ The land of the hiding sun........

Whilst driving up from the beach in Myumba this weekend, I was so excited to spot 3 baobabs! If you had been following my blog whilst in Moz, you would have known about my addiction to these trees! It just made me feel "more at home" in a very alien country.... I googled to find out more about baobabs in Gabon, and there is hardly any information. Gabon is really not the ideal climate for baobabs, and there are not many recorded. Some say seeds were brought from Senegal to plant in gardens, others that they were carried by different tribes. I think the sea or rivers carried the fruit and with the ideal temperatures, they sprouted. The 3 trees we found are close to the beach. We have driven past these trees twice before and never noticed them as they were covered in leaves, now as their leaves are falling, we noticed them. Here is one of the many traditional stories about the famous Baobab. The Creator is said to have initially planted the Baobab in the rainforests of the Congo Basin (Gabon isn't too far away) , but the tree complained that the dampness made his trunk swell. So the Creator moves it to the higher slopes of the Ruwenzori Range, the "mountains of the moon", but the Baobab continued to grumble about the humidity. Angered by the incessant wailing, the Creator took the swollen trunk and tossed it into the dryer parts of Africa (Tete!) and the tree landed upside down with its roots in the air......

Check the little birds, only noticed these once I had downloaded the pics onto the computer...

A little far away, but it was in an army camp, so was denied permission...

Gabonese art on the walls of a building in the town closest to the Ranch.

We will always find hope in reaching upwards.......for light, for growth, for help, for praise.....

Branded....

Branded to say I belong to Him,

Branded to wear the scar,

Branded for identity and for all eternity!

Cattle branding on the Ranch...

Another gorgeous flowering shrub you see in the bush around here!

My very eager English student! Ready and waiting one hour before class starts!

The beautiful Cameroonian Zebu cattle of Nyanga Ranch. So much better in black and white to see their gorgeous hides...

"Prince Panther Teeth"

Whilst passing this chap on the road, I noticed his choker of teeth, so stopped to him ask him which animal were they from.  He said the Panther Madam. I know we have them on the Ranch, as when I go for my daily walk, I see their fresh faeces in the same vicinity every day.....Here is a write up about them, The African Golden Cat....  They are quite shy, and illusive, so I doubt I will be able to see them....

Push through....

Mountaintops inspire us, but valleys mature us.

Are we willing to go through the resistance, the discomfort the uncomfortable to push though to the dream? 

It's not just our dream, it's perfecting us to pass it onto the next generation and then the next, we better get it right....John Piper

If you break down on the roads in Gabon, beware about leaving your vehicle as you will battle to find it on your return, the forest vegetation would have taken its hold....