The deadliest mammal in the world is not what you would expect.
If you ask most surfers from Southern Africa (the largest population of surfers on the continent) what creature they fear most in the water, they will say the great white shark. This is boilerplate, as everyone almost expects to have their chance to punch a great white in the nose (a la Mick Fanning, in the J-Bay Pro Final circa 2015). But for this writer, the water-birthed creature that fills me with dread is the hippopotamus. Little did you know that the ungainly hippopotamus is the world's deadliest large mammal, killing on average 500 people a year. Growing up visiting national parks across southern Africa, near large bodies of fresh water, I was no starved for hippo horror stories. My parents, friends' parents, old bushmen, scouts, rangers - everyone in Zimbabwe has a story about a hippo.
My memory is littered with horror stories; of the one that snapped a canoe, that one that put a hole in the speed boat, that maimed the child. I cannot possibly imagine why on earth anyone would want to get close to a hippopotamus. Yet before me, I note - with an inappropriate curiosity - a now-famous National Geographic photo from the early 2000s by Michael Nichols. In a beautiful ocean break on Loango Beach in Gabo is a hippopotamus with its eyes and nose bobbing out of the white was, bodysurfinf. Some people see one, some say two; but truthfull,y there are three, and that's three too many.
The story goes that Michael took this photo when he was advocating for Gabon to protect its rich nature, biodiversity and unrivaled beauty. A meeting in a New York hotel with Gabon's then-president, Omar Bongo, resulted in the small West African nation enshrining 11% of their natural land as national parks. And the rest, as they say, is history. Gabon has long held a distant fascination - monstly for its peculiar history, and their semi-decent soccer team. Prior to the 15th century the Kingdom of Laongo controlled the south coast, and was in fact made up of seven kingdoms.
As with most of the continent, Portugese settlers were the first Europeans to have made contact here, around the 15th century, before the Dutch, French, and English followed. The ones who stayed promptly named the region Gabao, an old Portugese word for a coat of sorts; attributed to the shape of the Komo tributary, which runs for over 200 kilometers.
What is abundantly clear is that the Gabon has always attracted outside interest. I recently discovered a map of the ancient Kingdom of Loango overlaying a modern map of Africa - and like the hippo's nose, something odd rises up. This pre-colonial kingdom just north of the Congo, made up a large proportion of modern-day Gabon, with numerous winding waterways - even making contact with the source of my hippo horros, the Zambezi River. But facing the Atlantic side, there is a small gap that juts into the ocean - a hidden doorway, almost like a channel.
The only route from the ocean into this rich Kingdom was through this funnel, which made access difficult. It strikes a poignant metaphor. Gabon was and continues to be a rich regoin, with ecological and mineral resources. They have one of the highest GDPs on the continent, albeit marred by inequality. Oil is in abudance in its oceans, while the natural environments are teeming with fauna and flora. The beaches are as beautiful as the waves. A nation rich in oil, minerals, biodiversity, land and waves makes Gabon the perfect candidate for a new Afrosurfonomic framework. Like a number of African nations, Gabon has its challenges, but the opportunity that lies here is worth the pursuit.
In fact it has been said that Gabon could be Africa's surfing version of Costa Rica. And if so, why not then use the whole cow? It's estimated the nation's oil reserves will run out by the year 2025. Ecotourism will become an even more pertinent economic focus for the nation's well-being. But a future with surfing would be a significant driving force, delivering both economic and community benefits. Fewer places on the planet could ever offer the opportunity to share a line-up with hippos and paddle with elephants. No debate about it: Gabon is a surfing utopia. The opportunity for a developmental framework to weave the economic benefits of sustainable surfing safaris, with the social and environmental advantages offered by supporting and encouraging strong local surfing communities, is... uplifting, to say the least.