This was of those strange days when I woke up not really knowing what I would be doing for the day. The reason for the uncertainty was the terrible weather forecast – terrible both for its prediction of heavy rain all day, and terrible because of the many variations I was getting from different sources. Some sources said rain all day, another said rain in the morning only, another predicted rain only for the afternoon, one just said periodic thunderstorms through the day. This was a good example of more information giving less and less certainty.
There had been heavy rain overnight, and the sky was covered with dark, grey, threatening clouds as I went to breakfast. Returning to my room after breakfast, I was on a video call to home when the threatening clouds delivered on their threats – heavy rain with thunder and lightning seemed to be telling me that today would be spent staying dry in my hotel room.
However, at a little after 11:00am, the clouds moved out to sea, the sky brightened, and the sun began to shine more clearly than I had seen since the afternoon I arrived in Gabon. I was feeling the attraction of going out to get some exercise and explore more of Libreville despite the intense heat and humidity that is only possible when the sun comes out after a heavy rainstorm in an equatorial location.
There actually weren’t many areas left to explore in Libreville, but I found enough of interest to fill what became a walk of seven kilometres. I hailed a taxi on the main road outside my hotel and negotiated a fare to take me to the western end of Boulevarde Triomphal near the Cathédrale Sainte Marie that I had visited on Wednesday. Boulevarde Triomphal is a very wide, straight roadway that runs from the coast to the north-east where it meets the orbital expressway at Rond-point de la Démocratie. Lining the boulevard are several grand buildings that should be photographed such as government ministries, the National Assembly, the City Hall, the Senate, and the Chinese Embassy, as well as some grand but less interesting buildings such as Gabon Télévision and the Géant Casino.
I was interested to explore Libreville’s streets and laneways more intimately than had been possible on Wednesday when driving through them in a car. Therefore, I planned a route that took me along Boulevarde Triomphal and then through narrow streets past three places I had seen on Wednesday but was keen to re-visit with less pressure of time to soak up the atmosphere and get some better photographs in what had become bright, sunny conditions.
I really enjoyed my walk along Libreville’s ‘typical’ streets that also allowed me to re-visit the Church of Saint Michael Nkembo, Notre Dame de Lourdes and the Marché Mont Bouët (street market).
The walk lasted until 2:45pm, by which time I had walked seven kilometres in heat and humidity that was starting to become tiresome. I hailed a taxi, negotiated a fare, and returned to my hotel to cool down and re-hydrate.
