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Hotel Afkoakam does not look especially prepossessing. It is a compact, rectangular, dark red structure but as Algeria’s players file out of the lobby it is easy to see why the Africa Cup of Nations’ favourites have few complaints about the manner in which they are being kept.

Two six-tier chandeliers hang from the ceiling and staff at the entrance are polite and deferential to a fault. Media are allowed no further but in fact it is a novelty to anyone that this place is open for business at all: usually its doors are closed to most apart from its owner, Constancia Obiang, the first lady of Equatorial Guinea, and her entourage.

Opposite the hotel is a fenced-off set of squat, beige buildings that are under heavy guard. Among them is the house in which Obiang Nguema, the country’s president, was born.

Mongomo, sitting up against the border with Gabon in the far east, is these days a deeply strange, grotesquely opulent monument to what is best described as a personality cult. Swathes of jungle have been levelled and billions of pounds spent; the speed of development has been astonishing and a microcosm of it comes in the form of the town’s new stadium.

As recently as early November, locals wondered whether it would be mothballed; the job was half-done, at best, and it had fallen into disrepair. Ten weeks on, it stands complete and relatively pristine, surrounded by new parking spaces and with easy access from all directions, and has just hosted two Group C matches that, to packed houses, passed without incident.

The stadium’s apparent paucity was just one reason why there was incredulity when Mongomo and its northerly neighbour, the even more remote Ebibeyín, were named host venues for the tournament – and why there was a lack of surprise when pre-event stories told of logistical nightmares, non-existent accommodation and sub-standard training facilities.

There have certainly been issues in the biggest city on the mainland, Bata, where the Republic of Congo coach Claude Le Roy has had plenty to say about his players’ lodgings – there was not enough room for seven of his squad when they arrived – and Paul Put, of Burkina Faso, told the Guardian that his team’s conditions equated to a “campsite”.

But, and this should still be whispered quietly, there is a sense that Equatorial Guinea might just be pulling this off.

The first thing to point out is that crowds and atmospheres have been superb in the early games. The traditionally poor attendances at this event receive plenty of coverage but, if anything, three of the first six matches were played to a capacity audience.

The vibe in Ebibeyín – whose low-rise stadium is surrounded by plantain trees – when Democratic Republic of the Congo drew 1-1 with Zambia on Sunday was mellow enough to draw the onlooker into something of a lull.

The rhythms created by a large travelling contingent of Congolese fans – 300 had flown from Kinshasa – and keen locals were a constant backdrop to an entertaining game. More than once, you looked around you and felt you had travelled back to a time where tournaments were not largely contested in identical big-budget bowls. The sense of place, of being in Africa, has been palpable at these venues.

All is not quite as it seems, though. Before Ghana and the Algerians began their campaigns against Senegal and South Africa here on Monday, busloads of fans clad in Ghanaian getup could be seen dispatching their loads outside the stadium entrance. The buses had local number plates and their occupants confirmed that they were locals.

Equatorial Guinea is, put kindly, assiduous in managing its public image and it does no harm to show that it can fill a stadium. Government workers have been allowed time off to watch games and ticket prices have been set creditably low, but the idea of supporters “playing their part” can to some extent be taken literally.

The football has been good enough to hold the interest, local or otherwise.Moussa Sow’s winner for Senegal, with the last kick of the game, capped a pulsating comeback against Avram Grant’s anaemic Ghana. A madcap second half between Algeria and South Africa saw the latter go in front, miss a penalty and shoot themselves in the foot three times to come away beaten.

It is away from the stadium that your bearings go awry. Constancia’s hotel is one thing, but elsewhere in a spread-out settlement with virtually empty streets are vast presidential palaces and luxury apartments. There is also, most incredibly of all, an 8,000-capacity Italianate basilica, a championship golf course, a cavernous – and empty – American-built library and a college building that will be able to host 800 students. A new supermarket sells legs of jamón ibérico for £60.

Mongomo has a population of just 7,000 and whether these facilities will ever be used is moot. It is an unsettling place, one that appears suddenly through the trees to dwarf you with its scale and scope. The clear intention is that this will not be the last we see of it on the international stage and for now it is, at least, putting on an edifying enough football spectacle.

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