Malabo - Equatorial Guinea
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Malabo - Equatorial Guinea
Anyone with any experience of flying / living in Malabo?
Appreciate any advice on climate, cost of living, culture, diseases, security etc.
Many thanks.
Appreciate any advice on climate, cost of living, culture, diseases, security etc.
Many thanks.
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Ah, Malabo...
For about 18 months, I did rotations based in Bata (on the mainland) and spent a few days at the beginning and end of each one in Malabo. My info is current as of 2010-early 2011.
Flying - most of the fixed wing traffic is back and forth between Bata and Malabo... when I was there, there was a EG company (Ceiba), a Nigerian company, a SOuth African company and on/off other local airlines, as well as military transport operated mainly by Russians/Ukrainians. Lots of heli traffic to/from the oil rigs. ATC is "ok" and speak OK English, but always double check everything... and do your own traffic checks... It wasn't just once where ATC was quite happy to try to send three aircraft to the same spot at the same time!
Climate - hot and humid. I've never sweat so much in my life.
It apparently rains a little more on the island than it does on the mainland, and there always seem to be some argument as to where the weather is "worse" - i.e. Bata vs Malabo.
Cost of living - All I know is hotels are pricey! You can always find reasonably inexpensive local food everywhere... but at the nicer restaurants and hotels you can easily spend $50 US for dinner including wine, etc. Also, cell phone cards seem to get used up way faster than I've seen in any other African country... i.e. easy to use up a $20 USD card in a 20 or 30 minute phone call to North America. Local calls and texts were a lot cheaper, obviously. (To get a sim card you need to go and stand in line at the cell phone office, with photocopies of your passport, as per government regulations (again, this info is as of 2010 or so but since there have been few governmental changes, I suspect this is the same now.) Everything is a bit more restricted, and the government seems to want to keep tabs on everyone, perhaps due to some of the history...) Hopefully though, if you're going as crew for a company already there, they'll just have a local phone all set for you. Anyhow, things in general seem to be more expensive than many other African countries.
EVERYTHING (with the exception of a few of the bigger hotels which accept some credit cards) is cash-based. Be prepared for long lines at the bank (and everywhere else!) unless you have someone at your company that does that for or with you (can be really overwhelming if you don't.) Euro and USD are easily exchanged.
Culture - Spanish is the main language, but French is the language of "business" and a good number of people speak that as well. The occasional person will speak some English. Equato-Guineans come across as somewhat reserved but are polite. You're rarely "bothered" on the street, and I found I was often left to my own devices unless I engaged someone in a conversation and/or ask for directions, etc. The business-people dress very elegantly for pretty much everything, work, travel, etc; you'll see many suits & ties and dresses & heels. They are very proud of their country.
Don't talk politics... the President is revered... and is very security conscious. THat's all I shall say about that!
The airport security guys in Malabo are used to a lot of foreign workers who speak no French/Spanish/English going through, and have realized that they can easily intimidate them into handing over cash. Just be wary of this, keep your cash and passport on your person as opposed to in a wallet you have to put thru the "scanner", and allow yourself enough time so you can just sit and wait them out (they do get tired of waiting!) There is also a lot of corruption when it comes to shipping/receiving offices and some of that is unavoidable. Just be aware.
Diseases - Malaria is rampant. Again, my info is mostly for Bata but I expect it's the same for Malabo... There's an excellent Israeli/Spanish hospital in Bata, and it's always full of malaria patients. During the year and a half or so that we had a crew there, we heard of several expats dying of Malaria so be careful, and go to the hospital/clinic for a test at the first sign of it. OTher than that, just the usual "don't drink the water" and expect bedbugs...
Security... I never really felt unsafe there but I was always careful. Just usual precautions... and again, the folks I came across were typically polite and/or just left me alone (for perspective, I'm female with light skin.) As far as police go, they have a few checkpoints here and there on the roads and our drivers never really had any issues with them, except for the occasional drunk military policeman waving around his (likely unloaded) rifle asking for a soda. Always carry a copy or two of your passport as well as the actual document itself, but only present the copy to police when asked... other than that - again, just the usual precautions for any big city.
Anyhow, I hope that helps. There are a few good books on the country that would be worth picking up (a couple are banned in EG itself so be careful!) but other than that, I think I've covered most of what I figured out in my time there. It's a really interesting country, with beautiful jungle and a volcano towering over Malabo (when it's not covered in cloud!) and it'll definitely be an experience!
For about 18 months, I did rotations based in Bata (on the mainland) and spent a few days at the beginning and end of each one in Malabo. My info is current as of 2010-early 2011.
Flying - most of the fixed wing traffic is back and forth between Bata and Malabo... when I was there, there was a EG company (Ceiba), a Nigerian company, a SOuth African company and on/off other local airlines, as well as military transport operated mainly by Russians/Ukrainians. Lots of heli traffic to/from the oil rigs. ATC is "ok" and speak OK English, but always double check everything... and do your own traffic checks... It wasn't just once where ATC was quite happy to try to send three aircraft to the same spot at the same time!
Climate - hot and humid. I've never sweat so much in my life.
It apparently rains a little more on the island than it does on the mainland, and there always seem to be some argument as to where the weather is "worse" - i.e. Bata vs Malabo. Cost of living - All I know is hotels are pricey! You can always find reasonably inexpensive local food everywhere... but at the nicer restaurants and hotels you can easily spend $50 US for dinner including wine, etc. Also, cell phone cards seem to get used up way faster than I've seen in any other African country... i.e. easy to use up a $20 USD card in a 20 or 30 minute phone call to North America. Local calls and texts were a lot cheaper, obviously. (To get a sim card you need to go and stand in line at the cell phone office, with photocopies of your passport, as per government regulations (again, this info is as of 2010 or so but since there have been few governmental changes, I suspect this is the same now.) Everything is a bit more restricted, and the government seems to want to keep tabs on everyone, perhaps due to some of the history...) Hopefully though, if you're going as crew for a company already there, they'll just have a local phone all set for you. Anyhow, things in general seem to be more expensive than many other African countries.
EVERYTHING (with the exception of a few of the bigger hotels which accept some credit cards) is cash-based. Be prepared for long lines at the bank (and everywhere else!) unless you have someone at your company that does that for or with you (can be really overwhelming if you don't.) Euro and USD are easily exchanged.
Culture - Spanish is the main language, but French is the language of "business" and a good number of people speak that as well. The occasional person will speak some English. Equato-Guineans come across as somewhat reserved but are polite. You're rarely "bothered" on the street, and I found I was often left to my own devices unless I engaged someone in a conversation and/or ask for directions, etc. The business-people dress very elegantly for pretty much everything, work, travel, etc; you'll see many suits & ties and dresses & heels. They are very proud of their country.
Don't talk politics... the President is revered... and is very security conscious. THat's all I shall say about that!
The airport security guys in Malabo are used to a lot of foreign workers who speak no French/Spanish/English going through, and have realized that they can easily intimidate them into handing over cash. Just be wary of this, keep your cash and passport on your person as opposed to in a wallet you have to put thru the "scanner", and allow yourself enough time so you can just sit and wait them out (they do get tired of waiting!) There is also a lot of corruption when it comes to shipping/receiving offices and some of that is unavoidable. Just be aware.
Diseases - Malaria is rampant. Again, my info is mostly for Bata but I expect it's the same for Malabo... There's an excellent Israeli/Spanish hospital in Bata, and it's always full of malaria patients. During the year and a half or so that we had a crew there, we heard of several expats dying of Malaria so be careful, and go to the hospital/clinic for a test at the first sign of it. OTher than that, just the usual "don't drink the water" and expect bedbugs...
Security... I never really felt unsafe there but I was always careful. Just usual precautions... and again, the folks I came across were typically polite and/or just left me alone (for perspective, I'm female with light skin.) As far as police go, they have a few checkpoints here and there on the roads and our drivers never really had any issues with them, except for the occasional drunk military policeman waving around his (likely unloaded) rifle asking for a soda. Always carry a copy or two of your passport as well as the actual document itself, but only present the copy to police when asked... other than that - again, just the usual precautions for any big city.
Anyhow, I hope that helps. There are a few good books on the country that would be worth picking up (a couple are banned in EG itself so be careful!) but other than that, I think I've covered most of what I figured out in my time there. It's a really interesting country, with beautiful jungle and a volcano towering over Malabo (when it's not covered in cloud!) and it'll definitely be an experience!
Last edited by surveytheworld; 10th Apr 2013 at 00:08.
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One of the strangest places I've ever been to, I was in Malabo for three days. I can concur with much of what's been said above. Like many places that are in the grip of a despot, the people themselves are delightful and I was well looked after and felt safe, yet there was a palpable atmosphere of tension and speech is very guarded.
I stayed in a decent hotel, I forget the name, it was clean and comfortable but noisy, and had some good meals. I speak Spanish so felt quite at ease with the locals but it's not a place I'd care to go back to although I did feel a little sad leaving some of the lovely people I'd met, knowing the conditions under which they live and that during their lifetimes things will almost certainly not improve for them. As I said, a very strange place.
I stayed in a decent hotel, I forget the name, it was clean and comfortable but noisy, and had some good meals. I speak Spanish so felt quite at ease with the locals but it's not a place I'd care to go back to although I did feel a little sad leaving some of the lovely people I'd met, knowing the conditions under which they live and that during their lifetimes things will almost certainly not improve for them. As I said, a very strange place.
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One more thing - legally, you need a "permit" to take photos, and this still is apparently fairly restrictive (no government buildings, etc). I never had an issue taking photos of our own aircraft/crew on the ramp at Bata but I was very careful about taking photos when out and about (mostly surreptitious iPhone pics, or when our driver said it was ok... which wasn't very often.)
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Cronos Airlines
I see that Cronos have started registering their aircraft locally in Equatorial Guinea now, with their first BAe146 ex ZS-SOV changed. Anyone know what 3C marks it is carrying.
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As of about a year or so ago, Ceiba was still operating the ATRs in EG, crews based in Malabo. Malabo/Bata/Annabon/Douala for sure and I believe Lagos and/or Accra or maybe even Abidjan perhaps?
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EG features in 'From our Own Correspondent." The EG part begins at 18'15", an interesting commentary.
BBC - Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent - A Demo a Day
BBC - Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent - A Demo a Day
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Used to fly to both Malabo & Bata (back in my time with Astraeus)... and when in Malabo we used to stay at a Chinese run hotel called the 'Hotel Dynasty' (which we crew quickly re-dubbed as the 'Die Nastily')... it was, to say the least, an adventure in architecture (wherein not one single wall, or door frame, or window frame, was either square or true)... and, fwiw, the post above by 'surveytheworld' is spot on and praiseworthy in extremis !
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...90954085_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...90954085_n.jpg
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I should add, that we (in Astraeus) also once had one of our Cabin Crew arrested for the 'crime' of taking some photos of what she thought was a colourful local procession, but which in fact was a political demonstration.
It would seem that some eagle eyed policeman had seen her camera flashing from behind the glass of her hotel room, from wherein she was then arrested and removed to a local Police Station.... it took several hours (and one suspects a substantial amount of 'dash') to get her released. Needless to say, the lass was badly traumatised by the event.
TIA
It would seem that some eagle eyed policeman had seen her camera flashing from behind the glass of her hotel room, from wherein she was then arrested and removed to a local Police Station.... it took several hours (and one suspects a substantial amount of 'dash') to get her released. Needless to say, the lass was badly traumatised by the event.
TIA
