GerhardM

Austria - 04-Jan-24 -

We visited Sao Tome in 2021, during Covid Time. We did not visit the sister island of Principe.

We spent there one week.

Our journey took place via Lisboa and Ghana/Accra by TAP Airways. For the last leg of our journey from Accra to Sao Tome the flight takes about one hour and twenty minutes.

The airport of the capital Sao Tome (same name as the state) is a small airport with a couple of flights per day. 

Sao Tome and Principe is the second smallest African state.  with only about 220.000 inhabitants, but the number is fast growing like in other African countries. 

Settlement took place in the 15th century by Portuguese people and it was for a long time a center of the slave trade. 

But there have always been large plantations, called Rocas, for coffee and cacao.

We have visited some of them (Porto Figo, Generosa, Monte Forte) and they are in a pitiful condition, left to decay (with one or two exceptions as we were told).

Nobody cares about

A Roca is like a small village, with a church and hospital. A Roca is a cultural and historical peculiarity, nowadays with a morbid charm.

Sao Tome is an incredible green island with beautiful hikes and long deserted beaches, wonderful swimming.

Impressive is the highest mountain (2.024 meters), the Mount Pico, with an interesting shape.

Interesting is a trip to the small island Rola, only twenty minutes from Sao tome away, which lies directly on the equator.

There are only a small number of hotels and lodges and very few tourists. You can easily hire a car or go by taxi.

There is a proverb at Sao tome:

There are as many rivers at Sao Tome as there are days in the year.