Travel Guide Gamba

With commercial flights to Gamba having ceased, the small town of about 10,000 inhabitants is now isolated from the country. To get there, it is necessary to count around 13 hours by car from Libreville, on roads that are not always in very good condition. In the past, Gamba was a simple fishermen's camp built on the shores of the lagoon. The structure of the city was considerably modified following Shell's establishment in 1963 and the population it drained. Today, the agglomeration is divided into six major neighbourhoods called Bienvenue, Plaine 1, Plaine 2, Plaine 3, Plaine 4 and Plaine 5, the heart of the city corresponding to Plaine 3. Outside the centre, two expatriate cities have been built by Shell, one on the shores of Lake Yenzi, near the airport, the other near Lake Vembo. All services are offered, from school to food shops, accessible only to residents. The economic activity created by Shell's arrival has had a very strong demographic and economic impact on Gamba and its region. Gamba has also taken away Sette Cama's status as the capital of the department of Ndougou. In 2017, following the oil crisis, Shell sold its assets to Assala Energy, a company owned by the American group Carlyle. Even if the 400 employees of the Anglo-Dutch company are taken over by the new company, many traders are closing down. Since then, Gamba has looked more like a large abandoned village. The city itself does not have any particular architectural appeal, but it is not without charm. Its heterogeneous population, welcoming and warm, leads a peaceful rhythm of life on the edge of the lagoon. Its market and "ambienced" streets on "death row" side, in Plaine 3, on evenings from Monday to Saturday, create a dynamic of a large village. Here, everyone knows each other and rubs shoulders with each other, regardless of status or nationality. On a purely tourist level, Gamba is above all the point of passage to go back north to Sette Cama, by the lagoon or by the track, or to discover the Vera plains and their majestic cliffs to the south-east. It belongs to all the protected areas of Gamba, which constitutes an exceptional natural heritage where many species live in the midst of magnificent landscapes.