The small island of Bioko is not only home to the country’s capital, Malabo, which is divided between colonial architecture and modern buildings, but also to rainforest, savannah, volcanic peaks and idyllic beaches where you can meet turtles.
Bioko Island, off the coast of Cameroon, far north of the mainland of Equatorial Guinea, is a curious mix of small villages with Spanish colonial churches, dense rainforest, rare wildlife and oil rigs.
Malabo is a synthesis of these contrasts, where the Gothic Cathedral of Santa Isabella, begun during Spanish rule in 1887, the pompous villas of the new ruling class and the modern buildings of banks and oil companies coexist.
A short distance from the capital is the volcanic mountain known as Pico de Basile, at an altitude of over 3,000 metres, which is the highest point on the island, while further south is the Luba Crater, an exceptional reserve rich in endemic species of plants and animals, such as the famous red Pennant colobus. Moving towards the centre, you’ll come across the magnificent Arena Blanca beach near Luba, before arriving at the Moka Wildlife Centre, the starting point for a series of walks and treks in the Bioko Sur province.
And finally, on the southern tip of the island, we arrive at Ureca, one of the places with the highest rainfall on the continent at 10,450 millimetres per year, but where we are rewarded with magnificent natural beauty: the waterfall of the Eola River, which flows directly from the jungle into the sea, beaches of black volcanic sand, with waves ideal for surfers, and four species of turtle (Atlantic green, lute, hawksbill and olive) that lay their eggs there between November and January.
