Canhabaque Reef

Canhabaque Island's underwater reef system is a window into what West African reefs looked like before centuries of exploitation, with stony coral coverage and fish biomass that researchers have compared to the Indo-Pacific rather than the degraded reefs typical of the wider Atlantic coast. Large schools of snapper and jack fill the water column while hefty grouper patrol the coral walls and enormous stingrays rest on sandy patches between reef spurs. The island's community has maintained traditional taboos that effectively restricted fishing in certain areas for generations, creating a de facto marine reserve that now stands as one of Africa's most intact reef ecosystems.