Batouala

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Batouala is a small village in Gabon halfway along the dirt road from Makokou to Mékambo, in the north-eastern province of Ogooué-Ivindo. A 2014 report noted that "pre-electrification" of the Batouala area was underway.{{cite book |editor1-last=Jeffreys |editor1-first=Andrew |title=The Report: Gabon 2014 |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford Business Group |location=Oxford |isbn=9781910068120 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ruCCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59}}

The climate is equatorial, with annual median temperatures between 23.9 and 23.7 °C (reference points for these data are Makouko and Mekambo, respectively), average rainfall between 1725 and 1612 mm, relative humidity of 81%, with an average 160 days of rainfall annually.{{cite web |title=Reconnaissance pedologique dans la region de Batouala (Ogooue-Ivindo) pour l'implantation d'une cafeiere |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39881183.pdf |publisher=ORSTOM |accessdate=30 November 2018|location=Libreville|date=November 1976|language=fr}}

The area features caves, one of which, the Grotte de Batouala, is at a 3-4km drive and then a 1h45m walk from the village. The cave has three species of bats, and its entrance is made difficult by a thick layer of guano.{{cite web|url=http://carnetsdevoyages.jeanlou.fr/Les_Grottes_du_GABON/La_Grotte_de_Batouala/|accessdate=30 November 2018|title=La Grotte de Batouala|date=May 2012|language=fr|first=Jean|last=Lou}} Its main gallery, according to the report of a 1966 expedition to caves in the Makokou area, contains a thigh-deep lake of liquid guano.{{cite web |last1=Adam |first1=J. P. |title=Rapport sur une Mission au Gabon pour l'Etude Préliminaire de la Faune de quelques grottes de la Région de Makokou |url=http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers11-04/10541.pdf |accessdate=30 November 2018|language=fr|date=February 1966|location=Brazzaville}}