A Spanish colonial capital on a volcanic island
Malabo sits on the northern coast of Bioko Island, the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the only country in Africa with Spanish as an official language. Its old centre has Spanish colonial buildings around the Plaza de la Independencia and the twin-towered Cathedral of Santa Isabel. The island's interior rises to Pico Basilé, and the southern coast around Ureca has black-sand beaches where sea turtles nest, along with rare primates in the forests of the Gran Caldera de Luba.