‘Survivor’ will shine spotlight on pristine Gabon

Gabon's unique topography is actually affected by its inhabitants. “Even though this is a remote, pristine place, there's a long tradition of people living there,” White said. “The fact that we have a mix of forest and savanna is partly due to people. The savanna's grasslands go back about 3,000 years, but they're maintained by fires set by people,” White noted.

Unit production manager Dick Beckett, who is on location for five or six months, acknowledged that while “(the show has) a big footprint ... whatever we bring in, we take out,” Beckett said. “We will not be leaving anything behind — and if we leave it behind as a (donation), it's probably timber that goes to the local villages. In the past, we've built additions to local schools. We've tended to make contributions to communities.”

The production utilizes and shares local resources — if necessary, the show has access to the president's private military hospital. While around 80 shipping containers and 16 tons of air freight were brought in — everything from flat-pack cabins and offices to appliances, never mind the TV production equipment — many supplies are purchased locally, from food to five kilometers of PVC pipe and 15 kilometers of electrical cable.

More significant will be the impact the series will have on the country's economy. “A local labor force is essential,” Beckett said “We just cannot bring in enough people to do the kind of work, especially just the general hard work that people don't often realize (is necessary).”

Tourism wanted, but not too much
But those are short-term jobs, and once the series gives Gabon its biggest platform yet, the long-term changes will come with many challenges. Among those is skepticism from some Gabonese people.

Their reaction to the parks and plans for ecotourism is “somewhat mixed,” White said, “because they've lived in this lush equatorial forest all their lives next to elephants and gorillas, they think of it, to some extent, as being somewhat primitive. Their idea of advancement is moving to the city and getting a job in an air-conditioned office, and so they don't really understand the psychology of these rich, educated people who come from abroad and who get really excited about something they think of as mundane.”

The government is “basically taking a gamble that the national parks will not only protect Gabon's unique nature, but they'll be able to develop some sort of long-term industry around them,” White said. “And finding an industry that will maintain the environment whilst giving people jobs that they can be proud of is a challenge.”

The plan, he said, is “that the parks can act as a pull to attract people in and therefore foreign exchange, and can create jobs in rural areas which, to some extent, have been neglected in Gabon.”

But Gabon isn't looking to become the next Costa Rica, he said. Instead, the nation is “aiming at high-end” travelers and “definitely (doesn't) want to do mass market tourism.” White says Gabon's objective is 100,000 tourists a year by 2015, up from a tourist base that is now practically negligible.

There's a lot to be done to make that happen, but one of the first steps is simply awareness.

“The great thing about ‘Survivor’ is that it will mean that a lot of people around the world are seeing flashes of Gabon and are talking about Gabon,” White said, “and will actually know that Gabon exists.”

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