My friend and colleague at the National Geographic Society Mike Fay and I had been talking for many years about combining our twin interests - conservation and exploration - to see a part of Gabon he did not yet know. While he had walked the breadth of the Congo - famously, during his 1999-2000 Megatransect, which took one-and-a-half years, 2,000 miles through the densest of jungles - there were still parts of the country accessible only by water, which we went to investigate.

Accompanied by photographer Peter McBride and two Gabonese eco-guides, we made an exhausting and exhilarating circumnavigation of Gabon's jewel of a national park, Loango. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and stretching 40 miles into the jungled-interior, we kayaked and portaged more than 200 miles around the park's perimeter, seeing this wild country from a new and different perspective. Along the way we encountered river-swimming elephants, manatees, tarpon, surfing hippos, gorillas and more. By trip's end it was hard to decide which was the most beautiful, and the most difficult, parts of the expedition. But it was eye opening, for us all.

TEAM: Jon Bowermaster   Sofia Etouck   Michael Fay
Aime Jessy    Peter McBride