2020 Travel the World - Week 16

I started a Travel the World Series last year. (It should be noted that I did a similar thing in 2018, only it was the 50 states.) For 50 weeks in 2019, I visited a different country (virtually) and shared facts about that country. I then selected one tidbit of information about that week's country as inspiration for a card. Fifty weeks; fifty countries... BUT there are 195 countries in the world so that was just a little over 25% of them. Of course I couldn't stop, so this year I'm continuing with fifty more countries, one per week.

This week's country is...

Gabon

Gabon is a country located on the west coast of Central Africa. The official name of the country is the Gabonese Republic.

It is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

The entire country of Gabon is slightly smaller than the state of Colorado in the US.

Because it lies directly on the equator, Gabon enjoys a tropical climate with year round hot and humid weather.

Gabon can be divided into three distinct regions: a narrow coastal plain, a hilly mountainous interior, and a savanna in the far-east and south.

About 85 percent of the country is covered by tropical humid forest.

Mont Iboundji at 5,167 feet above sea level is the highest mountain in Gabon.

Gabon has 550 miles of coastline.

About 75% of the Gabonese population is Christians.

Gabon has important populations of many mammals including about 35,000 gorillas, 50,000 forest elephants and 64,000 chimpanzees. About a quarter of Africa’s gorillas live in Gabon. Other animals include hippos, forest buffalos, various antelope and monkey species, leopards, three species of crocodiles and several sea turtle species which nest along the coast.

Gabon is home to around 80% of Africa’s Gorilla population.

The rainforests of Gabon are home to 777 species of birds.

From November to April, as many as 550 female leather back turtles could come up to Mayumba National Park’s shores in a single night to nest.

Kongu Falls is a massive cataract about 3.2 kilometers, or 2 miles, wide and up to 56 meters, or 184 feet, tall. It’s located in Ivindo National Park in eastern Gabon. It’s located on the Ivindo River and is one of the strongest-flowing waterfalls in the world, with an average flow of 900 cubic meters per second.Gabon’s economy is dominated by oil. The country depended on timber and manganese until oil was discovered offshore in the early 1970s.

A country with a primarily oral tradition up until the spread of literacy in the 21st century, Gabon is rich in folklore and mythology.

They grow cacao, coffee, okoume (tropical softwood) and sugar, rear cattle, catch fish and produce palm oil here.

Mask making and ritual face paint are important parts of Gabonese culture, and styles vary dramatically between groups. The Gabonese people use masks to praise the ancestors and to mark important life events by signifying transformation. They are part of funeral and agrarian rites, and Gabonese people use them to promote fertility, provide spiritual protection and express cultural identity.

Dolomite and limestone are a common part of Gabon’s underground soil structure. It is characteristically natural to find caves in such soil structure. There are so many such caves in Gabon that people continue to stumble upon them. With a big part of the landmass remaining under natural forest cover, many of these caves remain unknown.

Loango National Park has more than 110 miles of uninhabited shoreline. It’s regarded as one of Africa’s last great coastal wildernesses.

The best time to travel to Gabon is during the June to August dry season. At this time, the weather is better, the roads are more navigable and there are fewer mosquitoes (therefore reducing your chances of contracting mosquito-borne diseases). The dry season is also a good time for going on safari as animals tend to congregate around water sources, making them easier to spot. 

I decided to let this Gabon fact be the inspiration for this week's card... Gabon’s first-ever railway system began operations only in 1983.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: Taylored Expressions Love Train stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: FSJ Summer Days and Recollections Black and 110# White CS and DP from my scrap file

Die: MFT Starburst Sentiment Strips

Embellishments: Paper Studio Mini Brads