Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (SSG) - here's how it went
Sep 17, 2016, 3:41 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 643
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (SSG) - here's how it went
As anyone interested in going to Equatorial Guinea has surely noticed there’s very little information on how to get here, and what little there is is inconsistent. Maybe this will help?
Details: US citizen, flew HRE-ADD-SSG-ADD as part of a larger UA award in J on ET.
Entry requirements: passport, yellow fever card. There’s a lot of information online saying that Americans, though exempt from needing a visa, still need all sorts of things to get in. This was not true in my experience. A passport and the yellow fever card were all I had to show.
Report: at check-in in Harare, I was issued my boarding passes with no problem. From ADD, my flight first stopped in Douala. J was mostly full, with all but three passengers headed to DLA. After landing in Douala, the plane was sort of cleaned, and then a couple more passengers came aboard – maybe 20-30 in total. Largely empty plane after DLA. Turn-around time was about an hour. Then we were back in the air. There was no service at all, since flying time was 19 minutes “at an altitude of 6,000 feet.” Almost as soon as land disappeared on the right Bioko Island appeared on the right.
After landing, we quickly taxied to the airport, and deplaned via a jet bridge. From the bridge, you follow the exit signs down the stairs to immigration.
Immigration was not kind, but also not stressful. We did not communicate in any way. There were no questions.
I had no bags, so went straight to customs. There’s a scanning machine, but wasn’t in use. I walked outside, where there are guards posted, and maybe a couplet people waiting for passengers/taxi fares. My hotel driver wasn’t there, but the officials guarding the door were very nice and helpful, let me go in and out of the terminal, and called me when my driver arrived. There are two ATMS in the departures area. I tried one, didn’t work. The other might? There’s also a candy/snack shop that someone told me would exchange money – the bank does not.
Here I’ll point out that Spanish is a really great thing to speak here. Every word you know will help. However, if you speak French, you’ll do just fine. I don’t know that everyone knows French, but there appears to be an assumption that foreigners speak French and not spanish, so I found myself speaking French constantly while in the country. Sometimes I would ask a question in Spanish and get an answer in French. Sometimes, others just started talking to me in French. Sometimes, both were used in the same exchange. Which is to say, it appears people know both quite well. Didn’t test out English, but I never heard anyone speak it or saw anyone try to speak it to me. If you speak Chinese, you’ll always have someone around to ask for help.
Hotel: Stayed at the hotel Mango/Magno. At about $170, it is much cheaper than the big hotels, but is, I think, much, much nicer than the cheaper hotels in town. If you can afford to splurge beyond “budget” (Hotel Yoly, for instance, charges 46k cfa) then this is a great option. It’s outside of downtown, but there are taxis outside everywhere, and a ride anywhere in town will cost no more than 1,000 CFA ($1.95). Has a free shuttle and a very responsive reception. (email to arrange.)
People in Malabo are very friendly, very helpful. Someone shut down shop to show me to a restaurant (Alibaba, decent place, run by Cameroonians, is on google maps), another saw me a few hours after I’d asked him for directions and stopped me to ask if I'd made it ok. I never, ever felt unsafe, was never approached by anyone, not even the police. Now, there’s not a lot to see or do in town. Lots of places to sit outside and have a beer though, and making friends seems easy enough. No beach in town. You can walk every street in town in a few hours. It doesn’t quite have the sleepy charm of Sao Tome, probably because there’s a lot more going on economically. I didn’t take many pictures, and those I did were discretely done, but I had no problems. I saw lots of discos around, so maybe there’s a nightlife?
Because of my short trip, my having a cold, and the cost, I didn’t tour outside the city. If you do want to arrange a day trip, you might contact Félix, who drove me to the airport. Fesono at ya.hoo. He charges 100,000 CFA for a full day’s tour of the island.
Returning to the airport: no need to arrive early, it seems, at least for the ET flight. The total passenger load was sixteen in Y, 4 in J. There are no other international flights until evening, so not exactly much of a rush at check-in.
When you enter the terminal, you approach a desk. They’ll ask for your ticket, but it’s okay if you don’t have it. This desk has a list of passengers, and all the boarding passes pre-printed. You’ll get them, then go drop your luggage if you have it. Go around the corner for immigration. Again, very easy, and again, did not speak to me except once to point downward and say “dedos.” (they scan your two index fingers, right, then left.) Security is pretty easy (no laptops out), but they did hand-search my bag. After that, you can continue upstairs to the “lounge.”
It has leather chairs. But that’s all. There’s a drinks case, but its “only for air france.” There’s wifi signal, but you can’t connect. No one actually looked at my passes before giving me access, just asked if I was in J. You could probably say yes even if you weren’t, but the only reason you’d lie to get in is if you really, really, really loved leather chairs. There is also a bathroom outside, but no soap. You can also pretty much wander anywhere in the airport you want at this point…walk down jet-bridges, walk back to arrivals immigration (not recommended?) There’s no one around.
Boarding: at some point, someone comes into the lounge and asks for your boarding passes. They tear them off, and you’re expected to walk back to where the jetbridge is. Here, a woman asked me if I had a “Samsung Galaxy.” I said no. I do have a Galaxy, but it’s an old one, and certainly not the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. I had no interest in finding out what would happen if I said yes and then tried to explain that mine wasn't the exploding kind.
Then there were security folks randomly searching bags. One stopped me to ask if I had a Samsung Galaxy, but the woman said I had already been checked. I went down the bridge. At the end, by the plane door, there was another security officer who checked everyone with a metal detector. He asked me if I had a phone. I said I did. He asked if I had a Samsung Galaxy. I said no. He said let me see your phone. I handed him my Samsung Galaxy. He had a look, handed it back, and I was aboard. Some people were on board already, people headed from ADD to DLA. When we landed at DLA these folks got off and the plane filled up with DLA-ADD passengers(J half full.)
In sum, based on my 23.5 hours in EG, I can say that it was quite fine. No trouble of any kind, but also no life-changing experiences. I readily admit though, that a single day is hardly enough to form a real opinion. I had a dandy time, and I hope you do too.
Details: US citizen, flew HRE-ADD-SSG-ADD as part of a larger UA award in J on ET.
Entry requirements: passport, yellow fever card. There’s a lot of information online saying that Americans, though exempt from needing a visa, still need all sorts of things to get in. This was not true in my experience. A passport and the yellow fever card were all I had to show.
Report: at check-in in Harare, I was issued my boarding passes with no problem. From ADD, my flight first stopped in Douala. J was mostly full, with all but three passengers headed to DLA. After landing in Douala, the plane was sort of cleaned, and then a couple more passengers came aboard – maybe 20-30 in total. Largely empty plane after DLA. Turn-around time was about an hour. Then we were back in the air. There was no service at all, since flying time was 19 minutes “at an altitude of 6,000 feet.” Almost as soon as land disappeared on the right Bioko Island appeared on the right.
After landing, we quickly taxied to the airport, and deplaned via a jet bridge. From the bridge, you follow the exit signs down the stairs to immigration.
Immigration was not kind, but also not stressful. We did not communicate in any way. There were no questions.
I had no bags, so went straight to customs. There’s a scanning machine, but wasn’t in use. I walked outside, where there are guards posted, and maybe a couplet people waiting for passengers/taxi fares. My hotel driver wasn’t there, but the officials guarding the door were very nice and helpful, let me go in and out of the terminal, and called me when my driver arrived. There are two ATMS in the departures area. I tried one, didn’t work. The other might? There’s also a candy/snack shop that someone told me would exchange money – the bank does not.
Here I’ll point out that Spanish is a really great thing to speak here. Every word you know will help. However, if you speak French, you’ll do just fine. I don’t know that everyone knows French, but there appears to be an assumption that foreigners speak French and not spanish, so I found myself speaking French constantly while in the country. Sometimes I would ask a question in Spanish and get an answer in French. Sometimes, others just started talking to me in French. Sometimes, both were used in the same exchange. Which is to say, it appears people know both quite well. Didn’t test out English, but I never heard anyone speak it or saw anyone try to speak it to me. If you speak Chinese, you’ll always have someone around to ask for help.
Hotel: Stayed at the hotel Mango/Magno. At about $170, it is much cheaper than the big hotels, but is, I think, much, much nicer than the cheaper hotels in town. If you can afford to splurge beyond “budget” (Hotel Yoly, for instance, charges 46k cfa) then this is a great option. It’s outside of downtown, but there are taxis outside everywhere, and a ride anywhere in town will cost no more than 1,000 CFA ($1.95). Has a free shuttle and a very responsive reception. (email to arrange.)
People in Malabo are very friendly, very helpful. Someone shut down shop to show me to a restaurant (Alibaba, decent place, run by Cameroonians, is on google maps), another saw me a few hours after I’d asked him for directions and stopped me to ask if I'd made it ok. I never, ever felt unsafe, was never approached by anyone, not even the police. Now, there’s not a lot to see or do in town. Lots of places to sit outside and have a beer though, and making friends seems easy enough. No beach in town. You can walk every street in town in a few hours. It doesn’t quite have the sleepy charm of Sao Tome, probably because there’s a lot more going on economically. I didn’t take many pictures, and those I did were discretely done, but I had no problems. I saw lots of discos around, so maybe there’s a nightlife?
Because of my short trip, my having a cold, and the cost, I didn’t tour outside the city. If you do want to arrange a day trip, you might contact Félix, who drove me to the airport. Fesono at ya.hoo. He charges 100,000 CFA for a full day’s tour of the island.
Returning to the airport: no need to arrive early, it seems, at least for the ET flight. The total passenger load was sixteen in Y, 4 in J. There are no other international flights until evening, so not exactly much of a rush at check-in.
When you enter the terminal, you approach a desk. They’ll ask for your ticket, but it’s okay if you don’t have it. This desk has a list of passengers, and all the boarding passes pre-printed. You’ll get them, then go drop your luggage if you have it. Go around the corner for immigration. Again, very easy, and again, did not speak to me except once to point downward and say “dedos.” (they scan your two index fingers, right, then left.) Security is pretty easy (no laptops out), but they did hand-search my bag. After that, you can continue upstairs to the “lounge.”
It has leather chairs. But that’s all. There’s a drinks case, but its “only for air france.” There’s wifi signal, but you can’t connect. No one actually looked at my passes before giving me access, just asked if I was in J. You could probably say yes even if you weren’t, but the only reason you’d lie to get in is if you really, really, really loved leather chairs. There is also a bathroom outside, but no soap. You can also pretty much wander anywhere in the airport you want at this point…walk down jet-bridges, walk back to arrivals immigration (not recommended?) There’s no one around.
Boarding: at some point, someone comes into the lounge and asks for your boarding passes. They tear them off, and you’re expected to walk back to where the jetbridge is. Here, a woman asked me if I had a “Samsung Galaxy.” I said no. I do have a Galaxy, but it’s an old one, and certainly not the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. I had no interest in finding out what would happen if I said yes and then tried to explain that mine wasn't the exploding kind.
Then there were security folks randomly searching bags. One stopped me to ask if I had a Samsung Galaxy, but the woman said I had already been checked. I went down the bridge. At the end, by the plane door, there was another security officer who checked everyone with a metal detector. He asked me if I had a phone. I said I did. He asked if I had a Samsung Galaxy. I said no. He said let me see your phone. I handed him my Samsung Galaxy. He had a look, handed it back, and I was aboard. Some people were on board already, people headed from ADD to DLA. When we landed at DLA these folks got off and the plane filled up with DLA-ADD passengers(J half full.)
In sum, based on my 23.5 hours in EG, I can say that it was quite fine. No trouble of any kind, but also no life-changing experiences. I readily admit though, that a single day is hardly enough to form a real opinion. I had a dandy time, and I hope you do too.
Last edited by danielm; Sep 17, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Sep 17, 2016, 9:25 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Radisson Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 3,623
The Sofitel hotel there is beautiful, it's just across from the stunning cathedral. I also recommend the nearby Candy Irish Pub. It's not Irish at all, but it's where a lot of expats hang out and they have live music, at least that was the case about 3 years ago when I went.
Apr 2, 2024, 4:05 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/1MM, DL DM/2 MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 11,992
Has anyone stayed at the new Sofitel Golf Resort on the island? Interested in staying there, but would love an FT'er perspective rather than Tripadvisor.