Arboretum Raponda Walker

The arboretum covers a block of coastal forest on the road out to Cap Estérias, named for André Raponda Walker, the first Gabonese Catholic priest and an ethnographer and botanist who documented the country's plants and their uses. Marked trails run through the forest with trees labelled, and it is the easiest place near the capital to walk in equatorial forest without an expedition. Monkeys and forest birds are present. The reserve covers a little over sixty square kilometres, which is enough that the interior feels genuinely remote despite the city being half an hour away.

What you actually see

• The labelled trees - the identified species along the marked trails.
• The coastal forest - equatorial woodland close to the capital.
• The trail network - the walking routes through the reserve.
• The Raponda Walker connection - the priest and botanist the reserve is named for.

When to go

June to September is the drier season and the best for walking. The rains make trails muddy. Mornings are best for birds and monkeys.

Honest expectations

Trails are muddy after rain and maintenance is uneven. Wildlife is present but hard to see. Facilities are a gate and a fee.

Nearby

Cap Estérias is north, and Libreville is south.