The reality TV show Survivor Gabon took place in the country Gabon for its 2008 Season. Gabon a small west African country located on the Atlantic Coast in the central part of the African continent is known for its record number of natural reserves created to preserve the lush, unexplored forests and the wildlife that resides therein.

Sole survivor

Survivor Gabon – Earth’s last Eden, was the seventeenth season of the American reality TV show, Survivor. 18 contestants were selected out of 800 applicants to be part of an ‘extreme’ experience which characterizes the Survivor show. Of all these contestants, only one could be allowed to go home with a 1 million dollar cash prize.

The show is characterized by contestants being left to fend for themselves in the wilderness to win cash and other prizes. The show makes use of progressive elimination, which allows contestants to eliminate other members by vote up until a final contestant is left standing and claims the title of sole survivor.

Survivor Gabon, was filmed around late June 2008, in Gabon’s Wonga-Wongue presidential reserve, one of the 13 national parks of Gabon- home to lowland gorillas, antelopes, hippos, chimpanzees and elephants. The contestants also visited the Evengué island, a sanctuary and reintroduction centre to western lowland gorillas orphaned by the bush meat trade- a project supported by Africa’s Eden.

The competition was no ball in the park for all 18 contestants. Gabon is home to one of the most diverse and dangerous wildlife on earth. Danger lurked around every corner with the presence of tropical diseases, poisonous snakes, bugs and spiders. Gabon’s Hippos, Buffalos and Gorillas are not habituated to major human activity in the area either and as such extreme caution had to be taken whenever the animals came too close to the cast and vice versa.

Survivor Gabon culminated with Bob Crowley outlasting all other contestants to become the ultimate survivor. Crowley, a 57 year old physics teacher from Portland, U.S.A,  who was voted favorite contestant on the show by viewers, won the million dollar cash prize.