Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program

Before

After

In September 2005, the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program rented this property in Moka to renovate as a wildlife research center and guest house for scientific researchers and adventurous tourists. It will have four double-occupancy bedrooms, modern indoor plumbing, a sitting room, a screened porch, and a dining area to provide a simple yet comfortable base from which to explore the Moka Valley. Its expected completion date is in 2007.

Known as Casa Risiiti, it was originally built as a vacation home during the Spanish colonial era. It is in the Basque style, perhaps because the nearby mountains reminded its original owners of the Pyrenees in northeastern Spain.

BBPP also has plans to establish a wildlife breeding and rehabilitation center at Moka.

Because of its cool climate and central location, Moka is the ideal place from which to explore and study Bioko Island's rich flora and fauna. For more information on the crater lakes, waterfalls and other attractions surrounding Moka, consult our section on Moka.

Moka sits on the edge of Bioko’s Gran Caldera Southern Highlands (GCSH) Scientific Reserve, an unspoiled rainforest extending from ocean beaches to an altitude of more than 6,500 ft above sea level, all within a linear distance of 8 miles. The primate populations in the Reserve are among the densest in the world, with an average encounter rate of roughly 2 monkey groups/km. Its beaches are one of the major nesting grounds for marine turtles. Some of its valleys remain unexplored, possibly harboring as-yet-unnamed plants, insects, spiders, and amphibians. With such an intact ecosystem, GCSH is also attractive to scientists studying relationships among organisms, including those interested in the transmission of disease between species.

Once the facility begins to take shape, BBPP will explore the possibility of expanding the research facility, in collaboration with a larger research university outside E.G., to focus on zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to humans), especially SIV and AIDS. Dr. Preston Marx at Tulane University has already collaborated with BBPP on a project to determine the existence of the AIDS virus in Bioko Island primates, a logical beginning for further research.