Gabon: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Gabon feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 38 written places.
French-style formality over easy Central African warmth; greetings come before everything.
✓ Considered polite
- Greet everyone in the room individually - greetings before business, always
- Ask after family and health before making any request
- Agree the taxi fare before getting in - fares are set by negotiation, not meters
- Dress neatly in Libreville - the city takes appearance seriously
✗ Better avoided
- Give or receive anything with the left hand
- Photograph people without asking first
- Point a camera at official buildings
- Skip greetings when entering shops - a bonjour is expected
Worth knowing
- Cash in Central African CFA francs is standard - cards work only in Libreville's bigger hotels
- Regab, the national lager, is on every table and costs little even where everything else is dear
- Shared taxis pick up passengers along the route - state your destination through the window and hail the next if the driver declines
- Sundays are quiet - churches full in the morning, shops mostly shut
Plugs and voltage: Wikipedia, «Mains electricity by country» (after the IEC World Plugs list), read 15 October 2026.
Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links - if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.