Photographic tales from around the world...
Chapter One
January 2008 - Equatorial Guinea and Gabon Hi fellow travellers
So once again four weeks ago, Pat and myself found ourselves on our way to a country that you never find in any holiday destination brochures, namely; Equatorial Guinea. Black gold is the name of the game and it is being found here in quantities that are simply staggering. Sixteen flights later, many by helicopters and light planes, we arrived back this weekend, desperately looking forward to not having to get up 5.00am every morning.
It all started in a very civilised fashion of flying Swiss down to Malabo via Zurich, (sorry KLM but you don't go there!) but then the crunch came in meeting the security police the moment we set foot on the Equatorial Guinean soil. Mindful of recent history, showing our passports and visas to these people seemed to be just a means of creating an intimidating delay for visitors. After three checks we were met by our helpful minders, to whom we supplied Barcelona football shirts as a pre-empting thank you. (EG is the only Spanish speaking African country). We joined the interminable queue and bun fight, where everyone had to open every case they had for searching of what? It sure wasn't Liquorice Allsorts - or maybe it was. They clearly had no idea of what Lumedyne flash kits could do. We somewhat stalled the mad rush by having 110kgs of kit tucked away in eight cases.
Two hours later we were on our way in a one hour high speed dash in the dark on a very twisty mountain road. Four legged creatures, and broken down trucks turned the route into somewhat of a slalom course at times with our hearts in our mouths, but we arrived having got through two more security checks manned by some very difficult individuals. My count down of dollars had started!
Sadly the next four days of shooting were partly curtailed by some serious tropical rain storms and magnificent lightning displays. The port we were photographing with all its new extensions, increased business and action with ever larger ships arriving, is situated in Africa's deepest natural bay surrounded by three volcanoes. A truly beautiful scene. We were given the keys to a 4 x 4 pick up to cart our gear around and so we made our way to revisit many of the people we saw last year to formulate a programme of photography for the client back in London. We started well with the first evening being devoted to tasting the local hooch in the village nearby. Stayed in our luxury £15000.00 Portacabin, we were also fed with excellent French/Indian/ and Geordie cuisine in a superbly run canteen. In these sort of places the only thing that keeps people sane is the food. So it has to be good.
Much of the time we were tramping through ankle deep mud as the port was undergoing huge construction projects of extending the quayside with various ancillary buildings. Once we had the chief of police's son take us up the steep mountain at the back of the port. Largely as security against theft and kidnap. The local people are never very shy of simply asking for money the moment you get out of the car. It is an experience that gets repeated all over Africa, where the financial rewards of the resources found under the ground, never reach the local population. Once again we visit the school in the local village and renew our acquaintance with the head master and staff. This time our presents were footballs, pencils, chalks and copies of the photographs we took the previous year. With the shortage of space in the current building, our client, along with several other oil companies have pledged to build the village a new school. The sad thing is that the local politicos cannot agree on where it should be built. Stalemate.
Saturday, saw us re-tracing our steps to the airport to catch a local, but international flight to our next client in Gabon. African airlines have a fairly relaxed idea about timetables. Booking seats on a flight doesn't mean it will take off, either on time or even that day! This time we were lucky and we were leaving Malabo on a one hour flight to Libreville and relative civilisation. We were two of about a dozen passengers who got off the plane, but it still took two hours to get through security and be provided with visas. I was particularly taken with the attractive blue, green and yellow visas issued by the authorities. Sad that it seemed that later checks assured me that security people didn't actually know their own country's visas as they only looked at the plain stamp issued in Equatorial Guinea. Again I was quite sure that some staff couldn't read as they looked at it upside down.
Well, at least we were booked into the Inter Continental Hotel, but of course African style! The first room was a smoking room which we rejected, the second had clearly been used and not cleaned, with the bed unmade and bathroom wet. Still we waited until it was sorted and paid the guy who came to clean it up and make the bed, even though someone should have done it before we arrived. Presumably, it wasn't his fault as it clearly wasn't his job. And so the dollars made their steady exit from my wallet. At 360.00USD per night the room was par for the course. Changing dollars into CFA's (Communauté Financiare Africaine) used as a common currency by several Central African countries, was a surprise to us in the dollar's lack of buying power. With its current weakness, even the locals recognised it is not worth what it once was. On several occasions they preferred their own currency or Euros, which I held in reserve.
We were truly looking forward to this part of the trip. There were four days of photography to do on various oil rigs on and off shore, plus aerial photography from helicopters. The problem we had, which we knew of before we set out, was that our return flight didn't take place for another ten days. Our client therefore very kindly at their expense organised a trip to La Lopé National Park for us to see the silver back gorillas and other wildlife and then onto the Batéké Plateau, returning via Lamborené and Albert Schweitzer's famous hospital. A five day journey made entirely by train and 4 x 4. Well that was the theory anyway. After a relaxing Sunday it all went wrong on the Monday - the first day of shooting. An early morning 30 minute flight to Port Gentil and then a one hour helicopter trip and a one hour drive through the rain forest to the first on shore oil rig. For those in UK, to put this into context you have to imagine that you leave London for Birmingham (150km) and there are no roads. The only means of joining the two places is by air or by sea. You then must travel to Liverpool another 150km, where the choice is helicopter, light plane or a 24 hour barge trip up the Ogooué River. On our immediate arrival we were met by yet another tropical rain storm. The cases in an open truck got soaked, but fortunately the rain didn't penetrate to the kit. Man handling the kit through the mud, it took all day just to light two interior shots of control rooms of the drilling rig. No exteriors were possible before we had to make our way back out of the rain forest and return to Port Gentil before dark. At that point it became clear that our photography plans had to be re-jigged. A further two days were subsequently added to the schedule which put paid to our trip to see the gorillas. The following day the weather was fabulous for aerials over the sea around three of the off shore Marathon rigs. Leaving PG at six in the morning we were helicoptered onto the rig by nine. Coverage of people and ironmongery on the rig climaxed in hanging out of a Eurocopter Dauphin (Pat on one side and myself on the other, with the client strapped in, in the middle!).
Back to Libreville via PG in the evening just before dark. A day of downloading, the next day was a little respite before we were on our way late afternoon to overnighting again in PG. Up at dawn for a helicopter flight back to the site we visited on the first day, but this time allowing for poor weather we were to stay on camp overnight. The day proved a success in terms of photography. A glorious three hours of sunshine enabled us to get the action shots of guys using the tongs and controls on the rig deck. Thereafter it was downhill, including the accommodation. This was a container with holes cut in it for the doors. Either end were two bunk beds and a shower room in the middle, with a window open to all and sundry passing by. So Pat shared this high class suite with three of us blokes. Very cosy. This was when the mozzies came out with a vengeance. Zooming in on us through every crack of the cabin. Buggies everywhere, large and very large, centipedes, cockroaches, moths as large as a hand, bats homing in on all and sundry. Next day was given to getting shot of wildlife in and around the rigs. In our drives around the sites we were lucky to see small Gabonese Assala elephants, mandrills and buffalo all claiming their rights over a truly dense and amazing primary rain forest. The anacondas and pythons were also out sunning themselves on logs over rivers and banks. Not to mention the eagles. And so we came to love this place, probably because we knew we were getting out after only three days. Most of the guys are on six weeks on, six weeks off revolving pattern. Come Friday afternoon, we heard of fierce rain storms nearby and so were wondering whether we would get out that night. We were driven to the Shell site at Rabi where we were relieved to see a Desault 120 land on the airstrip through a terrific thunderstorm. Goodbyes all round and we were on the flight with 20 other guys all in high spirits in going home on leave to various corners of France. The South African air stewardess made a brave attempt at the safety drill in French, which drew a wave of applause from these guys who teased her mercilessly.
Overnighting in PG yet again, we then caught another flight back to Libreville. During this flight I realised the aircraft belonged to another company that was part of another client we worked for in Johannesburg earlier in the year. We photographed this same aircraft in bits being refurbished. It was comforting to see all the bits back together again. I also realised I knew the pilot whom I photographed at the same time. Small world!
Weekend in Libreville. Invited out by client's representative for Sunday lunch on the beach. Pat couldn't stop clicking and ended up with some great shots of Gabonese doing the same. All good library material. Me? I just chatted up the boss's wife! Fascinating to hear how people cope with the schooling of their kids in foreign parts. It is the one big issue that exercises minds. To educate in a local school, or the International school or to send them home to boarding school. No set answers there. Onto Monday/Tuesday with shots of key personnel and local colour of markets, wooden cathedrals, sunsets across the sea. A pleasant wind down before the flight back to Equatorial Guinea for the next session of photography of the port. This time it was two hours late in taking off. Three more days, more ships including a beautiful Norwegian supply vessel less than a year old. What state of the art these ships are, bristling with electronics and quality bridge interior fittings to put liners to shame. As the last day approached we were both becoming exhausted with the punishing schedule. Our minds began to lose the creative plot as it were, making it a struggle think of new ways to look at things. Still we got there in the end and it was a relief to know that once through the paraphernalia of having all our kit searched twice by hand we could sit in the lounge awaiting our flight back to Zurich. I say lounge - no business class here, no food, no water, simply nothing for the weary traveller but a large uncomfortable shed. But that is Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, for you. Learning to go with the flow and not getting fazed by things going pear shaped is the name of the game.
As night follows day, now comes the boring bit of processing all the images, brought to life by the memories of the people we met and the places we visited.
Ghana beckons next. |
