Gamba

Gamba is a small town in Gabon lying on the southern bay of the Ndogo Lagoon. Historically, the area was populated by gatherer-hunter-fishermen autochthons scattered in small villages around the Ndogo Lagoon and the Yenzi Lake. With the discovery in 1967 of a major oil field by Shell in the area, the town boomed and immigration of workers from various other parts of the country resulted in the population today of about 8000 people. Though production from the Gamba field is now only a fraction of what it once was, Gamba remains an important and strategic oil hub, being one of only two oil terminals in Gabon (the other one being Cape Lopez. Most people live in the heart of the town, divided into five blocks called Plaines, while most senior Shell staff live in Yenzi, half a dozen miles away from the heart of the city near the airport and the oil terminal.