Vacation by the Sea

When one is in the rainforests of Gabon, where does one go on vacation? There are not many options - no Holiday Inn's, no amusement parks, no outlet malls. But thanks to one of the missionary families here in Gabon, there is a place we can go - Panga guest house! A nice, secluded cabin within walking distance of the ocean. It takes a good chunk of the day to get there from the hospital, driving over bone-jarring roads, but it was well worth the journey.

Come along, and we'll show you what we saw. First, a few photos of our road along the way.

We drove on some pretty isolated roads...



But we also drove on some major Gabonese multi-lane highways...


And eventually, we made it to our final destination - Panga guest house. It may not look like much, but it was a huge step above camping. There was running water (which came from rain water that was captured in large containers), electricity (provided by solar panels), and our favorite - a large screened in porch. And we can't forget to mention - food!!


Here's the view from the guest house down to the ocean - pretty amazing, huh?


Every day, we would go down to the ocean. But first, we had to pass through the deep, dark forest. What do you think - is it safe to go in here???


We gathered up all of our courage and entered. Once we got in to the forest, we saw it wasn't all that bad after all. This could easily have been a trail in a Minnesota park. Although one day, we did see a large ape run across one of these paths - yikes!!!


Once we made it through the small patch of forest - a 2 minute walk - we came out to the beach. It was miles and miles of isolated, beautiful sandy beach. It was our own private get away. Every day, we came down to relax, watch the waves, read, look for shells, and nap. One day, we even had a camp fire and roasted hot dogs...


We tried our hand at boogie boarding. Bay Watch, look out! Here come the Hofmans!


And we did a lot of walking. About an hour's walk from our normal spot was this pretty river that fed into the ocean.


But we weren't the only ones that walked on this beach. Here are what we were told were walking trees. Apparently they actually move up to 5 feet every year! This brought back visions of Tree Beard and the walking trees in Lord of the Rings. Looking at this picture, you can almost imagine them walking across the sand.

But no trip to the beach would be complete without a beach babe. Isn't she cute??