How do you visit the south of Bioko?

From Malabo, with a car and a driver for the road to Moka and Ureka, both within a day's drive of the capital. The beaches beyond Ureka and the Gran Caldera mean nights out, with a local guide and everything for camping carried in. The guide is paid and the terms are agreed in advance. Spanish is the language for arranging anything locally; English is rarely spoken.

When do sea turtles nest on Bioko?

The nesting season on the south coast falls in the drier months around the turn of the year, roughly from November to February. The turtles come ashore after dark, so watching them means a night on the beach with a guide. The same drier months make the forest trails easier underfoot, since rain falls heavily on the south of the island for most of the year. Nesting keeps no timetable, and a night on the beach can pass without a turtle.

Which monkeys live on Bioko?

Seven species of monkey: the drill, a large, short-tailed relative of the mandrill; the Bioko red colobus, found nowhere else; the black colobus; and four smaller monkeys of the guenon family. Most live in the forests of the south, the Gran Caldera above all. Hunting has made them shy, and they are more often heard in the canopy than seen.

Travel deep dive

Bioko's South: Highland Lakes, a Forest Crater and Turtle Beaches

The south of Bioko, away from the capital on the north coast, is the island's forest country. A road from Malabo climbs to the highland village of Moka, with its crater lakes, and drops to Ureka, where sea turtles nest on beaches of black volcanic sand. In the south-west lies the Gran Caldera de Luba, a forested volcanic crater where drills and colobus monkeys live. Few visitors come and little is built for them, so a trip here is arranged in advance, with a driver and a local guide.

Updated 2026-10-04

The road south and where it ends

The road leaves Malabo for the south of the island, climbs into the highlands to Moka and comes down to the coast at Ureka, where it ends. Past the last village, the beaches and the Gran Caldera are reached only on foot along forest trails or by boat along the shore, and always with a guide. The north of the island, with the 3,011-metre summit of Pico Basilé, is a separate trip from the capital, in Bioko Norte. Police and military roadblocks are common on the island's roads, and the rules on identity papers and roadblocks apply on the drive south as anywhere else.

Moka and the crater lakes

Moka sits high in the southern highlands, where the air is noticeably cooler than on the coast and cloud often hangs over the hills. It is the starting point for walks to the crater lakes of the massif above it: Lago Loreto, close to the village, and Lago Biao, higher up and a longer hike through mountain forest. The trails are muddy for much of the year, and a guide who knows them is the way to find either lake.

Ureka and the turtle beaches

Ureka lies among rivers and forest that run down to beaches of black volcanic sand. Four species of sea turtle nest along this shore — leatherback, green, hawksbill and olive ridley — coming ashore after dark to dig their nests above the tide line. A research programme monitors the beaches, and turtles are watched on night walks with a guide: no white torchlight or flash, distance kept, and quiet while a turtle lays. A stay on the beaches beyond the village means camping.

The Gran Caldera de Luba

The Gran Caldera de Luba is the collapsed crater of an old volcano, its walls and floor under dense forest and protected as a scientific reserve. No road enters it: it is reached on foot from the south coast, on treks of several days with a guide. Its forest holds drills, red colobus and black colobus among the island's monkeys, but the animals are wary of people and a trek can pass without a sighting.

This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.