Chasing Waves And Waterfalls

Gabon might be beeping on the tourism radar, even Cameroon to a certain extent. But what about Equatorial Guinea? Join us on a search for nesting sea turtles and the perfect jungle wave in one of the least-visited countries on earth.

- ALAN VAN GYSEN

An eerie sound wakes me from deep sleep in my tent at the edge of the jungle.

Scratch, rasp, scratch, swoosh…

The sound rises above the symphony of crashing waves and the chorus of insects.

What is that?

Scratch, rasp, scratch, swoosh…

There it is again. I climb out of my tent into the moonless night, heart hammering. I switch on my headlamp, searching the darkness for the source. It gets louder and then suddenly there’s movement down on the beach: Something dark is digging among the rocks…

That’s when I realise: The sound is sand – being flicked onto dry leaves. My heart beats faster and I take a few steps closer.

The female Atlantic green turtle is almost as big as a double bed, and she’s working meticulously to dig a nest where she’ll deposit 80 – 100 eggs on the same stretch of beach where she was born many years ago.

It baffles the mind: How does she know where to return to, or how to safeguard her eggs from predators by digging two false holes and then a third, true hole? Scientists can only guess. But she and her kin come to these beaches in scores: Atlantic green, hawksbill, leatherback and olive ridley turtles, year after year during the dry season between September and April.

As I stand there on that dark beach, watching one of nature’s miracles at work, I realise that this is why I’ve made the trek to Bioko Island. I wanted to experience an unspoiled slice of wild West Africa, and hopefully ride a decent wedge break in the process…

Bridging the gulf