Gabon - General Information.
As surprising as it may sound, one of the main difficulties of traveling through Gabon is the abscence of ATM's where to withdraw some money. We put quite some energy in finding out where we would be able to withdraw money. It turned out there are only ATM's in Mouila (Southwest), Oyem (Central North) and Libreville (Northwest). In the Northeast, we went as far East as Makokou. We did not go to the Southeast either. Therefore, we can't tell if there is any ATM in those two regions. It is possible there is something in Francesville, but we would not expect to find any ATM anywhere else.
Border Crossings
There is immigration and customs in Ndende. We were told we were supposed to get the carnet de passage stamped at customs in Ndende. However, we were still able to get stamped at the border. We did not get an exit stamp at the border, though: that should be done in Ndende. We also did not get our entry stamp at the border post (northern border with Cameroon). We got our entry stamp at the first town, several kilometers south of the Cameroon border.
After Ndende, leaving towards Congo, there are about 50kms of bad dirt road to the border. Afterwards, already in Congo Brazzaville, there are about 240kms of bad dirt road to Dolisie. On the Congo side, there is some little town about 20kms from the border post. We were asked to complete some little paperwork there. Afterwards there is basically nothing but tiny villages until Dolisie.
As surprising as it may sound, one of the main difficulties of traveling through Gabon is the abscence of ATM's where to withdraw some money. We put quite some energy in finding out where we would be able to withdraw money. It turned out there are only ATM's in Mouila (Southwest), Oyem (Central North) and Libreville (Northwest). In the Northeast, we went as far East as Makokou. We did not go to the Southeast either. Therefore, we can't tell if there is any ATM in those two regions. It is possible there is something in Francesville, but we would not expect to find any ATM anywhere else.
Border Crossings
There is immigration and customs in Ndende. We were told we were supposed to get the carnet de passage stamped at customs in Ndende. However, we were still able to get stamped at the border. We did not get an exit stamp at the border, though: that should be done in Ndende. We also did not get our entry stamp at the border post (northern border with Cameroon). We got our entry stamp at the first town, several kilometers south of the Cameroon border.
After Ndende, leaving towards Congo, there are about 50kms of bad dirt road to the border. Afterwards, already in Congo Brazzaville, there are about 240kms of bad dirt road to Dolisie. On the Congo side, there is some little town about 20kms from the border post. We were asked to complete some little paperwork there. Afterwards there is basically nothing but tiny villages until Dolisie.
