Travel Guide Libreville

At first glance, for those who know other African capitals, Libreville surprises. Facing the sea, bordered by a succession of wide, clean and well-maintained boulevards, tame by imposing buildings, bypassing itself by an expressway that encircles the city from one end to the other, the Gabonese capital has the appearance of a modern Mediterranean city. Very quickly, however, leaving the main roads, the visitor finds African flavours: street vendors, schoolchildren in uniform, tied businessmen, women in boubou or perched on high heels strolling along the markets, scrubland and shops of all kinds, noise of horns, taxi lines.... the working class districts are never far away, easily recognizable with their maze of busted streets, half tar, half laterite and their patchwork of sheet metal, plywood and cement, where men and women, on foot or by taxi, participate in an unceasing movement from morning to evening.Few roads allow traffic to move from one point to another without going back by the expressway or the seaside, which accentuates the impression that all people in Libreville hurry towards the centre between 7am and 8am, leaving around 3.30pm to return to their outlying districts since the law passed on the continuous day. And since very few two-wheelers travel in Gabon (lack of safety...), beware of traffic jams!