Bioko's southern beaches: leatherbacks, green turtles and the Caldera primates
Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), green (Chelonia mydas), olive ridley and hawksbill turtles nesting; drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), Pennant's red colobus, black colobus, Bioko red-eared monkey and Preuss's monkey in the Gran Caldera de Luba forest above the beaches. Ureca, Moaba and Moraka beaches, Gran Caldera de Luba Scientific Reserve, Bioko Sur, Equatorial Guinea.
Best time: 15 Dec – 15 Feb (December to February). Where: Ureca (San Pedro de Ureka) – village and community turtle guards, Moaba beach – leatherback camp, Moraka beach – green turtle camp (Equatorial Guinea). Time of day: Females come ashore from about two hours after dark to an hour before dawn, mostly 22:00–03:00.
- Guide, ranger or boat needed
- Paid trip only
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 3/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 Dec – 15 Feb. Mid December to mid February: January is the leatherback nesting peak and the only reliably dry weather on the south coast; the Moaba (leatherback) and Moraka (green turtle) beaches are patrolled nightly by the Ureca community and the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program camps
Active from 1 Nov to 31 Mar (November to March) in a typical year.
Time of day
Females come ashore from about two hours after dark to an hour before dawn, mostly 22:00–03:00; primates call from the forest behind the beach in the first hour of light and again before dusk
- Nesting turtles: 2 h after last light → 03:00
- Primate dawn: first light → 90 min after sunrise
- Evening primates: 1 h before sunset → last light
What will you hear?
Black-sand surf, then the scrape and sigh of a leatherback digging a few metres away. At dawn the forest behind Moaba is one of the richest primate choruses in Africa: drill grunts and crowing, the chatter of red-eared monkeys, colobus roars, hornbills and the Bioko race of the grey parrot. Waterfalls drop straight onto the beach between the nesting bays.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Turtles are at arm's length in the dark (red torch); binoculars for colobus and drills 20–40 m up in the forest at dawn.
Where to go
- Ureca (San Pedro de Ureka) – village and community turtle guards — The southernmost village on Bioko, at the end of the new road from Luba via Belebu; the beach guards have patrolled these beaches since 1996 and the Ureka permit is paid here. Map
- Moaba beach – leatherback camp — About 3 km of beach east of Ureca inside the reserve, with the BBPP research camp; reached on foot along the shore with river crossings (waist-deep at high tide). Coordinates approximate. Map
- Moraka beach – green turtle camp — West of Ureca, the green turtle beach with the second BBPP camp; same shoreline walk, same crossings. Coordinates approximate. Map
- Moka – highland village and research base — At 1,400 m on the way south: the Moka wildlife centre and forest trails are the easiest place on Bioko for drills and colobus at dawn, without the beach walk. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
The Caldera reserve and the south-coast permits are issued in Malabo and need arranging in advance; nobody walks in. Cheapest legal way: shared taxi Malabo–Luba–Ureca on the new road, the Ureca community guard fee and a village room, then the beach walk with a local guard.
Cost: Packaged one-night trips from Malabo with the Ureka permit are advertised at about £330 per person (2025); independent: Ureca community fee plus guide, check locally; the Caldera reserve permit is separate.
Free or no-guide alternative: No legal way onto the reserve beaches without the permits. The forest around Moka village is outside the strict reserve: a dawn walk on the Moka trails gives drills, colobus and the Bioko dawn chorus for the price of a shared taxi and a local guide.
Field-recording notes
Red light only on the beaches; no light on a female until she lays, and keep the rig behind her. Beach guards and BBPP staff decide where you may walk — they are there against poaching and will ask. Primates on Bioko are hunted for the Malabo bushmeat market and are shy; recording is from a still position at dawn, no playback. Expect saturating humidity, salt and very loud surf on the exposed south coast: the quiet recording is at the stream mouths and in the forest. Volunteers' reports say nobody will take you to the beaches in the rains (May–October) because of the river crossings. Permits: a permit to leave Malabo and one for the Caldera reserve, plus the Ureca community fee — arrange them in Malabo in advance (the Ureca community and the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program are the bodies involved), not on the day. Keep cameras out of sight at checkpoints.
Sources
Similar spectacles
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More: all spectacles in Equatorial Guinea · sea turtles · wildlife at night · January · February · December