Photos

This boy is showing off some of the coffee beans grown by his family near Akieni, Gabon. Never heard of coffee from Gabon? I guess most people haven't. It is my understanding that coffee growing was begun in the days of French colonial rule. I don't know if it was ever much of a success. But to this day (or at least as late as 1989) coffee production was encouraged in Gabon by government subsidy. My understanding is that the government purchased the crop, then did who-knows-what with it. I guess it gets sold somewhere, because coffee is listed as one of Gabon's exports, though its economic significance is far less than oil and wood.