HAUT-OGOOUÉ PROVINCE

County town : Franceville

Population : 250 799 Hab

Density : 6,9 hab./km2

Area : 36 547 m2

Haut-Ogooué is one of the nine provinces of Gabon. Its county town is Franceville, which has more than 100,000 inhabitants. Key region of Gabon for its mineral resources is also one of the highlights of Gabonese history, its capital Franceville was developed in 1880 by Savorgnan de Brazza.

The second president of this country, Omar Bongo Ondimba, was born in this region in 1935 in Lewaï (now Bongoville).

History and Culture

The prehistoric deposits discovered in Haut-Ogooué attest a very ancient human presence dating back certainly to the Paleolithic. It is certain that for millennia, the region is a transit zone just because of its geographical location particularly favorable to the displacements between Moyen and Haut-Ogooué and Ogooué and Alima towards the Congo.

Brazza realized this as soon as he reached the savannahs of the ndoumou country and nadassa in 1880, during his second expedition. Franceville, whose name is originally Masoukou, was first called Francheville by Brazza.

The later was blocked by the falls of Poubara and decided to direct his research towards the north-east, on the one hand towards the Licone, on the other hand towards the Alima by the track of Batéké.

The people of the Ogooué valley are not from the regions where they are currently settled. A vast movement of migration, that begun centuries ago, was accentuated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in a North-South direction for the mass Kota and East-West for Teke to the edge of the forest.

The North Kota and the Southern Obamba went in direction of Haut-Ogooué from the Sangha from the 17th century. Some Obamba groups (the Mindassa and the Bahoumbou) descended very far towards the south to the sources of Ogooué. The North Kota people are patrilineal and South Obamba matrilineal.

Chef des Batékés - Gabon

Local ethnic groups

Geography

A region with varied landscapes

Haut-Ogooué is located in southeastern Gabon. As the name suggests, the main river which is the stop is the Ogooué whose upper course crosses a hilly area of ​​savannas, before entering the great forest, upstream of Lastoursville. The tributaries of the Ogooué coming from the north-east, the Sebé and the Leconi delimit the regions of the Batéké plateaus and the Okondja forest: the Mpassa waters Franceville. Not far from Franceville, the Ogooué rushes into a gutter that leads to the Poubara Falls. A creeper bridge, the longest in Gabon, enables to see, below the fall, impressive rapids. To the north and west, it is the domain of the equatorial forest: towards Koulamoutou they are the first foothills of the Chaillu Mountains; to Okondja, the hills of Kota country. In the center is the savannah, which remained for long the hideout of abundant game (buffaloes, elephants, antelopes, lions, etc ….), is today the area favored by resources (deposits of manganese and uranium) than by the ease of circulation in all seasons. Finally, in the east, the batéké plateaux, sandy and almost desert, offer landscapes with a grandiose panorama.

The wildlife

Rare and most prefered species in Gabon

The dominant trees in savannas are Annonasenegalensis, Hymenocardiaacida, Crossopteryxfebrifuga and Maprouneaafricana. The herbaceous cover is dominated by Hyparrheniadiplandra, Trachypogonthollonii, Cteniumnewtonii, Pobeguineaarrecta, Bulbostylislaniceps, Sporoboluscongoensis and Andropogon schirensis. The savannahs are interspersed with islands of forest or gallery forest rich in Milletialaurentii, Anthostemmaaubryanum, Pentaclethraeetveldeana, Vitex doniana, Uapacapaludosa, Xylopiaaethiopica, Dacryodesbuettneri, Ancistrophyllum sp., And in the center and in the west, it’s rich with Aucoumea klaineana. Flood areas and swamps are dominated by Mitragynaciliata and various herbaceous species such as Rynchospora corymbosa.

A new plant species has been discovered in the park buffer zone: it has been named Memecylon batekeanum. A second new species for science is being described.

Regarding mammals, it is in the savannas (east of the province) that we find some rare species in Gabon, including the duiker Grimm (Sylvicapragrimmia), famous in Gabon under the name of Ntsa (its meat is very popular) , Jackal on the flanks (Canisadustus), Mongoose ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon) and Aardvark (Orycteropus afer).

The Serval (Felis serval) is known in the Patéké plateaus and would have occupied the eastern part of the province. The lion (Panthera leo) had long lived in the Batéké Plateau, but seemed to have disappeared since 1994, until trap photos reported its presence in October 2015 in the western part of the Batéké Plateaux National Park.

The western part of the province is covered with forests, where we can find the mammals which more common in Gabon: elephants, buffaloes, bush pigs, 6 species of primates including the two anthropoids and the monastery of Brazza, 2 species of prosimians, 7 species of duikers (other than Ntsa) and 3 other species of “antelopes”, 3 species of Pangolins and finally 12 species of small and large carnivores (other than serval and the lion).

Another particularly interesting aspect of the province is the immediate proximity of the forest avifauna and the particular avifauna of the plateaus. There are probably very few places in Central Africa where, without moving anywhere, one can observe, for example, the red-headed kingfisher (typically forest) and the striated kingfisher (savannah), the crombec with spotted throat (forest) and crombec with red cap (savannah).

It should be mentioned here that it has been found, first near Léconi, then on almost all the plateaus, a cisticole whose very characteristic song indicates that it is a species not yet described scientifically: this species has been registered under the name of Cicyole teke.

Particularities

Important natural resources

Haut-Ogooué has important natural resources. The exploitation of the manganese deposits of Franceville and Okondja would make Gabon the first manganese producer in the world. In addition, the gradual increase in gold mining, uranium research will constitute the mineral potential of the province. The forest remains little exploited and is the first renewable wealth of Haut-Ogooué.

Tourisme dans le Haut-Ogooué

Varied tourism with true infrascrtures

Around Franceville:

  • The falls of Poubara and the famous creeper bridge
  • The falls of the Djoumou
  • Guided sightseeing of the city

Aound the Batéké plateaus:

  • Picnic at Lake Souba, then visit of the red canyon of Léconi and the factory Andza in Léconi
  • Car hike on the plateaus with visit of the white canyon and a musical night in the village of Ekouyi.
  • Private park of Comilog in the plateaus with its oryx, zebras and other animals imported from southern Africa.

Towards the forests:

  • Pedestrian Hiking to the elephant beaches (along the Mpassa) after a night in the village of Océlé.
  • Private park of the Lékédi (in Bakoumba).


NO TO MISS OUT

Poubara Creeper Bridge

One of the emblematic places of GABON: The Creeper Bridge of POUBARA, inaugurated in 1915 is 52 meters long and is composed of 2400 creepers. On all documentation, flyers and tourist posters, this site is in first place. It is the place that serves as the major representative symbol of the country. Made with creepers, this bridge very aged requires a regular reconstruction. For security reasons, it is rebuilt every year.

The work lasts about 2 months, and is organized into 2 phases: First of all the collection and the gathering of the creepers. Despite the impact of man on nature, we always find lianas, but we must go further and further into the forest to find them. This collection can last nearly 1 month. A little more than 1 month is needed for the workers to build the new bridge over the old one. For this operation more than 2000 creepers are needed. Barely a dozen is necessary for the apron. Then, all the other lianas are used for the lateral edges and for the external tensors.

At the end of the works an official ceremony allows to respect the ancestral tradition by making an offering of wine to the river, and thus allow beneficent spirits to watch over the bridge and avoid catastrophes (lightning, destruction, rupture ….). The end of the ceremony is marked by the cutting of the binding fasteners of the old creeper bridge, which falls into the river, and disappears very quickly.

The authorities then celebrate the birth of the Renovated Creeper Bridge.