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We offer holidays to the four corners of the globe. If you want specialist advise please phone our travel team and we will be happy to help.
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- Destinations
- Africa
- Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea consists of a mainland territory, named Rio
Muni, and five island territories within the Gulf of Guinea. Rio
Muni, oddly enough, is not the epicentre of the country. While the
region is the largest in the country, it is 60% rainforest, a
conservation area respected among primate experts for its large
variety of gorilla and monkey species. The real buzz of Equatorial
Guinea is Bioko Island, which is situated closer to Cameroon than
Rio Muni, north of the mainland and home to the capital city,
Malabo.
Bioko Island is a beautiful, volcanic isle and Malabo a
seemingly dilapidated but charming island town with a prevalence of
Spanish colonial architecture which belies the fact that you are in
an African state. In fact, the official languages of Equatorial
Guinea are Spanish and French, making it one of the few African
states not to have an indigenous language as an official language.
What does, unfortunately, tip one off to the fact that you are in
Africa is the level of abject poverty affecting the local
population. While Bioko, Corisco and the other islands of
Equatorial Guinea have been heavily invested in by oil companies
drilling in the water of the gulf, this money has not made its way
to the poor, with President Obiang citing oil revenues as a 'state
secret'. Human rights watchdogs such as Amnesty International have
described the government as corrupt and the dictatorial leadership
of Obiang has, over the last 19 years, been one of the most brutal
Africa has seen.
So while the marketplace of Malabo is lively and filled with
curiosities and exquisitely wrought tapestry, a tourist will have
to take care not to be mugged or worse when travelling the city.
The best way to travel is by taxi when on the ground and there are
ferries making regular trips between the islands and Rio Muni.
Information & Facts
Customs
Both the people and the customs of Equatorial Guinea are
friendly and welcoming. Greetings are important, and may last
longer than foreign visitors are accustomed to. People tend to
stand close together when conversing. Always ask permission before
photographing someone; photographing military personnel or
buildings is prohibited.
Duty Free
Visitors to Equatorial Guinea may import the following goods:
200 cigarettes/50 cigars/250g of tobacco, one litre of wine and one
litre of spirits, an amount of perfume reasonable for personal use.
Currency in excess of XA50, 000 must be declared on arrival.
Passport Visa
All foreign visitors to Equatorial Guinea require two
passport-sized photographs for police control, if arriving there
for the first time. NOTE: It is highly recommended that your
passport has at least six months validity remaining after your
intended date of departure from your travel destination.
Immigration officials often apply different rules to those stated
by travel agents and official sources.