Elobey Islands

The Elobey Islands consist of the two islands of Grande and Chico. They lie close to the border with Gabon in the south of Equatorial Guinea.

Elobey Grande is inhabited by a small but friendly population and there are only two ways of staying there. One way is to be invited into somebody's house. The only other way is to camp somewhere.

The smaller island of Chico is uninhabited. The remains of the former capital still stand, but they have long been abandoned and it's a ghost town nowadays. You can wander around them and they are quite interesting.

The Elobey Islands lie about 100 km south of Bata and in order to get there you will have to take a minibus from Bata to Mbini. There you will have to cross the river by ferry (which can take some time). After that another minibus will take you as far as Acalayong, Coco beach or Cogo. From any of these towns you will have to ask locals if they can bring you to the islands in their cayuco (canoe). The trip can easily take you a full day.

The islands lie at the mouth of the Mitémélé river, in the Gulf of Guinea.