Sao Tomé and Principe Islands are one of the last island paradises that remain almost untouched. Travelling to Sao Tomé and Principe Islands can be the ideal option for those travellers looking for unspoilt beaches, spectacular natural scenery, colonial atmosphere, and safety. Sao Tomé and Principe Islands can also be a brilliant way to end your vacations in Central Africa. For example you can visit Cameroon’s tribal areas, Chad’s Ennedi Desert, Dzanga-Sangha Reserve in Central African Republic, or any of Gabon’s wonderful national parks, and end the remaining days of your vacations on the beaches of Sao Tomé and Principe Islands. It’s a 2h flight from Douala in Cameroon and just 1h flight from Libreville in Gabon. There also permanent flights from Europe, mainly departing from Lisbon in Portugal.
Sao Tome Island, also known as ‘the Forgotten Island’, host the city of Sao Tomé, the archipelago’s capital. This young republic was a Portuguese colony till 1975 and has kept a specific charm due to the architecture, the mixing of Latin and African blood, the diversity of its landscape from tropical beaches to high volcanic mountains. The main interests there are cultural, bird life, humid mountain forests, fishing, diving and trekking.
Príncipe Island lies north-east of Sao Tomé. It’s a place where dense rainforests teem with exotic birds, where whales sport playfully off unspoiled, deserted beaches, where crystal-clear waterfalls cascade into the azure blue ocean, and where the people are, above all, friendly and happy to meet you. Príncipe’s extraordinary landscape, an irregular scattering of soaring volcanic peaks, is 70% covered by primary forest where up to 20% of trees, orchids and birds are said to be endemic. It has still been barely touched by the island’s 5,000 inhabitants or the outside world.
