Equatorial Guinea. Petro Gangsters and Prestige Architecture

Equatorial Guinea. Petro Gangsters and Prestige Architecture

With gleaming office towers, lavish five-star hotels, and six-lane highways, tiny Equatorial Guinea creates the impression of a nation on the rise. The country’s unusual geography encompasses several islands in the Gulf of Guinea and a larger region on the African mainland called Río Muni that is sandwiched between Cameroon to the north and Gabon in the south. Located on Bioko Island, the current capital is Malabo (population 297,000). However, construction is underway on the new capital city of Djibloho, located in the far eastern part of Río Muni. Equatorial Guinea has a few other distinctions. It is the only African nation where Spanish is an official language and the country with the continent’s longest serving leader, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Having received its independence from Spain in 1968, the Equatorial Guinea struggled economically until 1995 when Mobil discovered oil within its territorial waters. Since that time, the country has been one of the biggest oil exporters in Sub-Saharan Africa and among the wealthiest in per capita income. Unfortunately, the distribution of oil wealth is extremely uneven. In lieu of investments in health, education, and housing, President Nguema and his cabinet have focused oil income on “prestige” infrastructure projects such as airports, highways, government buildings, and hotels. Corruption is rampant with members of the President’s inner circle owning shares in companies that receive inflated construction contracts.

With several U.S. oil companies operating in the country, holders of American passports are not required to obtain a visa to enter Equatorial Guinea. We arrived in Malabo on a flight from Cameroon and were picked up at the airport by the owner of the tour company who had arranged our travel on both Bioko Island and within Río Muni. Malabo has a charming historic quarter with many colonial-era buildings. We spent most of our first day seeing the old city including La Casa Verde (the Green House) which once served as the German consulate. We also stopped at Cathedral de Santa Isabel, constructed between 1887 and 1916 in Gothic Revival style. Along the outskirts of the old city are walled compounds used by oil company executives and their employees. In several places we saw Chinese laborers at work on new high-rise buildings. Because of the large number of Chinese guest workers in the country, the city has several good Chinese restaurants including one across the street from our hotel.

On our second day in Malabo, we drove east on a nearly empty six-lane highway and past 52 luxury villas built by President Nguema to accommodate African heads of state attending a three-day African Union Summit in 2011. It was unclear if the villas have been used in the last decade. Farther down the highway, we toured the grounds of a five-star hotel called Sofitel Malabo Sipopo Le Golf. With 200 guest rooms, the hotel features an Oympic-sized swimming pool, three restaurants, several bars, and an 18-hole golf course. On the other end of the economic continuum, we drove dirt streets of villages where people live in dilapidated houses without running water.

A short flight from Malabo took us to Bata, Río Muni’s largest city (population 474,000). Our new guide was an out-of-work architect who picked us up in his extended-cab Toyoda pickup. The next day we drove on a brand new and barely traveled, four-lane highway to Monte Alen National Park. Positioned in the foothills of the Monte Alen and Monte Mira- Mountain Range, the park was created by presidential decree in 2000. Among mammals in the park are an estimated 3,800 gorillas and 1,600 chimpanzees. The park also protects habitat important to 65 species of reptiles, 55 amphibian species, and a wide variety of bird types. Departing the asphalt, we followed a dirt logging road into the interior. Leaving our vehicle behind, we took a make-shift ferry across a narrow river to a trail that extended deeper into the rainforest. Aside from monkeys seen from a distance and a duiker (a small antelope), we saw no mammals and few flying insects. However, there was an abundance of large and aggressive ants that formed long lines crisscrossing the forest floor. Most impressive were massive termite nests built upwards on tree trunks or as freestanding towers. Because of its multi-level tree canopy, the rainforest was without wind.

Before returning we stopped at an abandoned tourist lodge where our driver/guide helped himself to wicker patio furniture that he placed in the bed of his pickup. On our return drive we made another stop along the highway so he could purchase bushmeat --- a pangolin that looked like a scaly anteater. As we reached the outskirts of Bata it occurred to me that we had driven more than two hundred kilometers without passing a gas station. The mystery was solved when we stopped at what appeared to be a private home. A woman soon emerged with a large bottle of brownish liquid which she poured into the Toyoda’s fuel tank. The next day our driver met us at our hotel for our return to the airport. Before putting my suitcase into his pickup, I pointed to damage on the front fender. Our driver didn’t seem upset and explained that a taxi had run into his truck on his drive home the previous day. He then said with a shrug. “You know, it’s Africa.”