The Lineup · Issue Nº1
Where the hippos surf
In Loango National Park, on the coast of Gabon, the rainforest comes right down to the beach, and hippos have been photographed wading into the shorebreak. The first issue of The Lineup is about this coast and the surf further south.
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Loango, Gabon (Central Africa)
Loango is on Gabon's Atlantic coast, and there are no beach towns along it, just forest, lagoons and long empty beaches. Forest elephants walk on the sand, and the hippos that live in the lagoons sometimes go into the sea.
National Geographic photographers took pictures of hippos in the waves here in the early 2000s, and the photos went around the world. Very little has changed on this coast since.
The surf
The better waves are further south, around Mayumba. That part of the coast gets the most Southern Ocean swell, and a large headland there lines it up into long lefts that run along the point. The beach is also a nesting site for leatherback turtles.
Further north, near Port-Gentil, are Cap Lopez and a few spots with names like Palplanche, Guegue, Ekwata and La Ferme aux Crocos (the crocodile farm). They are beach breaks and river mouths, and few people surf them.
Gabon is on the equator and the surf is not consistent. On the plus side, the water is warm all year, there is usually little wind, and when a dry-season swell does arrive there is nobody else out.
Getting there
It is an expensive trip and it takes planning. You fly to Libreville, then continue by small plane, 4x4 or boat, and you need park permits and malaria tablets. There are no surf camps, so bring everything you need. There are sharks, crocodiles in the river mouths and the odd hippo, so look carefully at the river mouth before you paddle out.
Most people who go are there for the wildlife and the empty coast more than the waves.
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