Travel Guide Gamboma

A sub-prefecture of the Plateaux region and a garrison town, Gamboma, also known as Gam City, is a transit point on the road to the north, over 270 km from Brazzaville. Located right in the center of the country, on the RN 2, it is a real crossroads between north and south. The ribbon of tarmac is almost perfect, and the journey between Ngo and Gamboma is short - less than an hour. The ever-present savannah becomes more wooded in places, and we begin to cross large groves, the first signs of the great forests of the north. The town is famous for its yam and potato production. Apart from the military and their barracks, which we won't venture to photograph, life in the town is punctuated by the arrival and departure of buses, the garrisons and the activity of the central market. When the latter closes in the early afternoon, another market, known as the "night market", begins to see the arrival of vendors, reaching its peak between 5 and 8 pm. Dried fish, vegetables and live eels form the bulk of its offering, but meat and various fruits are also available. Gamboma is a young town where young people wonder what to do with their youth. The nganda, with its crumbling straw huts and kerosene lamps, is an early destination for those who opt for the palm wine solution. For the others, there remain the improbable dreams of immigration to Europe, or petty trade with Brazzaville if a more or less distant relative lives there. In Gamboma, there's a particular sense of abandonment and neglect.