Untitled by Piecesofeight
I visited this island in 1989 with a small merchant ship which was loading sacks of cocoa. We were there for a week and although getting ashore was difficult for various reasons, the Captain did manage to organise a trip one afternoon.
We went around the island by minibus, the land is green and tropical as you’d expect, overgrown with vegetation. There is a strong Portuguese influence in the buildings highlighted for us by a visit to a villa way up in the hills which we were able to visit for half an hour. Polished wooden floors unbelievably surviving in the tropical heat without coming up!
We all wanted to visit the cocoa processing plant given the cargo we were loading but because the political situation then was quite left wing, if not communist, there were restrictions in place and it didn’t happen.
However, the joy of the island is its tranquiility and isolation and I remember thinking that the villa would make a great honeymoon spot if you could book it!
Sadly the island’s tranquility is now under threat from oil exploration and I fear for its future. Go now if it’s not too late.
I was lucky to go by ship but I believe other transport is via Luanda and a local flight from Angola.
Please read this:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/equatorialguinea/story/0,,1322333,00.html
It tells you everything that was happening there in 2004.
over 5 years ago
