Rapid Travel Chai

Equatorial Guinea has for decades been one of the hardest countries in the world for many nationalities to visit. Many determined travelers have spent fruitless attempts to obtain a visa. A longtime visa requirement exemption, that for US citizens, is no more.

In the off-chance you have Equatorial Guinea on your wish list, want to experience Cronos Airlines, or add SSG-BSG to your dots and lines, this is your chance.

A New Capital Rises

A new capital is rising in the mainland jungle, Ciudad de la Paz (formerly Oyala), to replace the island capital and main international gateway, Malabo.

Few international visitors have visited this new capital yet the 5-star, 380-room Grand Hotel Djibloho is open.

MTP Travel Summit 2023

June 21-25, 2023 you have the opportunity, if you move fast, to be among the first to see the new capital and join over 130 of the most dedicated travelers in the world in the first MTP Travel Summit. Organized by the traveler organization Most Traveled People, this is one of the biggest ever extreme traveler meetups. This is NOT a points and miles conference, although I will speak on that topic as part of the program. Most attendees don’t know or care about frequent flyer programs.

Register by May 31, 2023 to ensure processing time for your letter of invitation (LOI). With the LOI you will enter the country. There is no need to retrace the steps many of you have taken in prior attempts to obtain a visa. Registrations after that date will be on a case-by-case basis for processing.

Speakers include:

• Bruno Rodi
• Paul Barbato
• Jeff Shea
• Michael Runkel
• Eva Zu Beck
• Mateusz Cyrankiewicz
• Charles Veley (MTP founder)
• Bjoern Braustein
• Patrick Woodhead
• Pipa Coutinho
• Charlie Uldahl Christense
• Kolja Spöri (founder of Extreme Traveler International Congress)
• Stefan Krasowski

Cost to attend:

• Your own transport to/from Malabo
• $875 registration fee (use code: RTCDISCOUNT for $100 off)
• $275 domestic roundtrip flights between Malabo and Bata (Book as part of your conference registration. There is no convenient online booking so MTP is providing the coordination. On some dates (June 21 and June 25) the seats are tight so you might need to add a day.
• Optional day trip on June 24 to Annobon Island, subject to an additional charge and currently waitlisted pending additional aircraft availability

Registration fee includes:

• 4 nights lodging
• All food and beverages (excluding alcohol)
• Full conference access
• Scheduled return ground transportation Bata – Ciudad de la Paz

Register here, and remember to use code RTCDISCOUNT for $100 off

Getting to/from Malabo

Flights are slowly being restored after a widespread pandemic hiatus.

Current flight options from international gateways to Malabo (airport code SSG) are primarily Air France, Ethiopian, Lufthansa, and Royal Air Maroc. Turkish seems to have cut its service. Most of these flights are not daily so you may need to budget extra time for the trip.

For frequent flyer mile fans like me, Eithiopian and RAM generally have decent availability, while Lufthansa tends to release award seats in all cabins 3-7 days prior to departure. Air France is currently set to absurd-o-pricing. With your LOI you are not locked in to a specific flight so can make last-minute changes. Those from North America may do better by positioning first to Europe, and then starting an award to Malabo from there as we are running into peak trans-Atlantic flying season.

See You in Malabo?

Ok, not likely. Maybe one or two of you? I have been to Equatorial Guinea when access was easy for US citizens and there even was a Hilton hotel walkable from Malabo Airport. I entered by ferry speedboat from Gabon, made my way up Rio Muni, the mainland, then over to Bioko, the island. Every moment was an education. Consider experiencing the only country in Africa with Spanish as the primary language.