My Story

Black Beach

by Daniel Janse van Rensburg & Tracey Pharoah
Published by Penguin Random House South Africa

491 Days in one of the world and Africa's worst prisons.

What was supposed to be a short business trip to Equatorial Guinea turned into a journey to the depths of hell.

What I have survived ...
has taught me to always have faith in God,
in my love for my family and in the will to survive against all odds.

Black Beach is a horrifying account of Daniel's nightmare ordeal behind bars at the notorious Black Beach prison in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. An explosive expose on corruption and abuse of power at the highest levels of government in the oil rich nation of Equatorial Guinea and Daniel's ultimate journey into hell trapped behind the walls of one of the world's most notorious prisons.

Daniel’s sometimes harrowing chronicle exposes his personal experiences of the appalling conditions at a facility that has fallen under the spotlight on numerous occasions due to reports of extreme brutality, torture and basic human rights violations. He tells of his daily struggle scavenging for food, often eating rotten meat and drinking contaminated water, living in filthy conditions with no running water or functioning toilets and washroom facilities and totally cut off from his family, legal representation or the South African embassy.

Shocking Expose

Daniel’s story makes for a riveting read with a cast of characters straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Fat cat politicians living a life of luxury in palatial homes around the world, private jets, super yachts and a lifestyle of kings. In prison, as the only white man, he is known as ‘Blanco’ (Spanish meaning ‘white’).

Gangsters, murderers and thieves are his nearest neighbours, with some ultimately becoming his friends, sharing their food and water with him, taking care of him as he battled malaria and typhoid and through it all his motivation to stay alive is his faith in God, truth and justice and the thought of returning home to his wife and family in South Africa.

491 Days illegally detained at Black Beach Prison, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

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