Recommended Reading Environment Lying flush on the west coast of Africa and straddling the equator, Gabon is about half the size of France and a hundred times more fertile. This unfettered lushness and the deep river valleys that dissect the country makes getting around a challenge. At the mouth of the river is Port-Gentil, the heartbeat of Gabon's lucrative oil industry, which pans out into the filigreed coastline with its miles of breathtaking but almost inaccessible estuaries.
Vast wetlands stretch inland from the coast.
Gabon is principally known for its tropical rainforests but also has coastal woodland areas and open savannah grasslands where the coastal plains meet the forests. Within the rainforests there is an encyclopedic range of flora from the climbing palms, rubber vines, and swinging liana of cartoon jungles, to hardwood trees like purpleheart, ebony and mahogany. Despite the plethora of wildlife, actually getting a glimpse of them is another thing altogether. It's also extremely muggy most of the year. The dry season extends from May to September, with a short dry spell in mid-December.