Gleaming but eerily empty, the luxurious Sipopo resort with its five-star hotels and exclusive facilities rises from a tropical beach, symbolising the dilemma of Equatorial Guinea – a notoriously closed country that has turned to tourism to help fill its coffers.

The purpose-built town was carved out of an ancient forest in 2011 at a cost of US$670mil (RM2.8bil), initially to host a week-long African Union summit and showcase the rise of the tiny oil-rich state.