Have you ever had a country that you have seen so many great photos of that you desperately want to go to? That was how I felt about Sao Tome & Principe. This tiny island nation off the west coast of Africa seemed to have it all – beautiful beaches, rugged scenery, historic buildings, etc. It was basically everything that I look for in a travel destination! Unfortunately, it’s also very hard to get to with flights connecting it to only a handful of places in Europe and Central Africa. 

I flew to Sao Tome from Luanda and was extremely excited to hit the ground running. My original flight was cancelled so I ended up losing about 3/4ths of a day there so I really, REALLY had to get the ball moving as soon as I got there! Luckily, immigration didn’t take long and I had an airport shuttle waiting for me as soon as I walked out the door of the airport. The driver took me directly to my guest house, stopping to exchange money along the way.  The town was bustling and much bigger than I expected it to be.  I quickly dropped my bags at the guest house, got a few tips and tricks from the welcoming owner,  and headed out to explore as much as possible in the one day that I had to see the “cosmopolitan” city of Sao Tome. 

I walked all throughout the colonial city center, visited the old fort/museum, and walked down the waterfront to go to one of the local chocolate shops that Sao Tome is famous for. It was definitely a mad dash through the capital but I definitely felt like I saw a lot, even if it was only a few hours of sightseeing.

The next morning, I met up with a fellow traveler named Cheung who I had just traveled through Angola with a few days earlier. We had previously rented a car for two days, planning on doing a road trip along the island’s northern route one day and along the southern route the other (yes, Sao Tome only has two main roads). Unfortunately, due to the last-minute cancellation of my flight on STP Airways (Sao Tome’s national airline) and having to be rebooked a day earlier on Afrijet, we suddenly lost a day there. Knowing that I had a flight out the next afternoon instead of the following day as originally planned, I decided to squeeze in as much as possible, even if it meant getting very little sleep and driving long hours.

The Southern Route

Sao Tome’s southern route is certainly the more famous of the two roads. This route takes in much of the island’s best scenery and leads you to the far southern end of the island and the town of Porto Alegre. From there, you can hop in a canoe and head over to Ilheu das Rolas to visit the Equator. It was an interesting journey and definitely worth it, even if just for the novelty factor of saying that you had been to the equator in Sao Tome! 

The scenery was gorgeous but I think we were most enthralled by the old plantation towns that you could find dotted around the island. These towns were the site of former factories. When the Portuguese moved out, locals took them over and converted the buildings, storehouses, etc into houses and public buildings. It was really interesting to see how they had reused the different buildings and it kind of reminded me of some of the old factory towns that you can find scattered around the Great Lakes and East Coast of the United States. 

The Northern Route

While I try to be appreciative of everything that I get to see in a country, I have to say that the Northern Route leaves a little to be desired. This route takes you along the northeastern and western coasts of Sao Tome. It goes through many small villages and then briefly along the coastline. You can get some beautiful views along the way and potentially stop by a restaurant (we couldn’t find one open). We did almost the entire route and back in about three hours and tried our best to be excited about what we were seeing. However, after the previous day’s adventure, it felt like we were left hanging a bit. While I’m glad that we did it, in retrospect, I wish we would have just taken our time on the Southern Route and stayed the night somewhere down there. 

Principe 

From Sao Tome, I took a short flight to Sao Tome. I arrived in San Antonio, the oh-so-cute capital, and checked into my slightly strange guest house where I was the only guest due to the massive flight cancellations that happened. The owner and his family, who all lived on the premises, made me feel very awkward like I didn’t belong there. They also seemed to ignore the fact that there was a guest there which resulted in loud noises night and day. This didn’t put me in the best of moods.  This, combined with the fact that there is virtually no vegetarian food (or vegetables for that matter!) on the island made me tired and grumpy for pretty much my entire stay.

As I write this though, I have a different view of Principe. Maybe it’s because I am writing this as a memory and have a stomach full of food and had a great night’s sleep last night but I look back at my time in Principe fondly. The main town is adorable and very welcoming. I was able to go for runs and walk around at night without worrying about any safety issues and the wifi was fast enough that I could work easily from both my hotel and from cafes, etc. 

While I was there, I considered getting a car but the costs were high, especially when you consider the price of gas. Instead, I hired the local motorbike drivers who hung out by the market to take me to some of the nearby plantation hotels. These were the main things that I wanted to see on the island as they served as a vestige to the island’s economic history. They were also lovingly renovated and very relaxing places to hang out at!  The drive between the hotels was also gorgeous with soaring trees on either side of the road and tantalizing views of the ocean. 

I also rented a boat for a day to take me to some of the island’s most beautiful beaches. This was a great way to spend the day and the beaches were gorgeous. However, I imagined the boat being a bit larger than it actually turned out to be and I was pretty surprised to see something no larger than a fishing dinghy. This made the journey along the coast of the island much bumpier than I expected and it was definitely more of an adventure trip than a relaxing outing on a yacht. I am still glad that I did it as there would have been no other way for me to access some of the beaches and it gave me an interesting way to spend the day!

Looking back, I have good memories of Sao Tome & Principe but would definitely bring some veggie-friendly food with me if I were ever to visit again!