Equatorial Guinea
Sand Origin
Punta Europa black beach and Sipopo beach (white)
Random Sand Fact
What do you build for a major political summit? A new sandy beach.
Ahead of the 2011 African Union summit, Equatorial Guinea built the Sipopo district on Bioko Island with a conference centre, hotels, 52 presidential villas, a golf course and an artificial beach.
Sand was transported from Bata on the mainland and laid along the existing coast to create a new beach setting around the summit.
The project drew criticism. Human rights organisations described Sipopo as an expensive showcase of prosperity in a country where large parts of the population lived in poverty.
The beach remain. Sipopo is today used as a tourism and conference area.
