Our first day at Lope let us lounge around and get clean!
Nestled amongst the mountains, forest, and the Ogooué River, Lope really is a strikingly beautiful place. We camped last night in a nice grasslands about 80 kilometers outside of the park. It took a while to travel the last stretch since the roads weren’t in very good condition, we weren’t able to go faster than 30 kph.
The Lope Hotel was our first stop. We had to wait a few minutes to get information regarding rooms and safaris because the receptionist was busy having her hair braided. She was eager to quickly give us the information so that she could get back to her hair. We ended up taking a suite that we could all share to try to cut back on costs.
Tomorrow will be a full day; a jungle walk in the morning and an afternoon vehicle safari. I don’t know what to expect other than trees. I don’t want to get my hopes up. The staff from Mayumba had told us that they have seen all sorts of animals in a leisurely day at Lope.
We went into the little village to try to buy some goods for lunch. The bread being sold in town looked tasty enough. As I bit into mine, I realized there was a pretty good amount of sand that must have gotten mixed in with the flour. I was the fortunate one since it was only sand. Peta bit into hers and with a grimace, pulled away. She discovered a strange piece of string in her loaf. A tug revealed that this rope had been in the entire length of bread. It was by far the least appetizing lunch of our trip.
Today I finally did some washing in the sink. I have been wearing the same fuchsia shirt and khaki pants for god knows how long. The colors have changed quite a bit from all the dirt caked on them. I feel like a new person now that I have showered in an actual shower and am wearing fresh, clean clothes.
