Author: In 2019, Max travelled out to the African Islands of Sao Tome and Principe to see what they were all about. Here’s what he has to say:
The island of Sao Tome greets you from the plane with a warm and open hug.
As I stepped off the plane, I felt the friendly embrace of warm, humid, tropical maritime air. This tropical climate and the friendly nature of the people living here would accompany me throughout my time on the islands. When taking in the beautiful wilderness, I felt like I was on the frontier of tourism, exploring remote rainforest and pristine empty beaches. The primary forests were alive with birdsong, the places I stayed were charming and unique, and the guides were all passionate about their island home. I enjoyed so many indisputably stunning natural delights here, yet it was clear that tourism is still in its infancy.
Lisbon ✈ to Sao Tome
It’s as a tourist that I arrive on the Air Portugal flight from Lisbon. My transfer to Club Santana waits for me to clear customs and collect my hold bag from the tiny carousel. Soon we are bouncing along the surfaced-but-potholed roads along the ocean front of Sao Tome city. Along with the weather, it’s the traffic that often provides that feeling of being somewhere other than home. It’s Saturday night and the roads are alive with people. Motorbikes make up the majority of the traffic, some with helmets, some carrying multiple people with bare heads.
The traffic flows at a relaxed pace through the tarmac and dirt streets, horns beeping. When we exit the city, stone buildings are replaced with hand-built wooden shacks. These wooden houses are mostly built on stilts, so that the underside can be used for storage and animals. The road side is bustling with people and it seems that life takes place on the streets.
Club Santana
Arriving at Santana village, we turn off into forest and bump down the drive towards Club Santana. This resort is a collection of plush bungalows set on the ocean front of Santana Bay. My room is fresh and cool, it seems the air conditioning has already been set for me. Dinner is is a BBQ on the beach prepared in front of us.
When I awake in my new surroundings, the morning is bright and I walk along the beach before breakfast. After breakfast, my guide takes me to explore the surrounding forest. That ninety-minute walk was an excellent taster for the Sao Tome experience! We walk through dense forest and past huge trees laden with exotic fruit. We followed an old plantation path down to a deserted beach looking out to Santana islet.
Praia Inhame Eco Lodge
Later in my first week I travel to Praia Inhame, on the south coast of Sao Tome island. The closed surface of the east coast road ends some 20km before my destination and the minibus transfer bumps along increasingly uneven stone and dirt roads. I feel that I’m getting closer to the Sao Tome that I expected to see. The road quality lends a remote feel to the south of the island and the short journey is bouncy and plodding, with lots of gazing out of the window. It’s immersive travelling through such a beautiful area at this ‘leve-leve’ pace.
We drive through fishing villages with houses on stilts and, again, people are everywhere. Beyond Porto Allegre the road gets considerably worse and the final 2km is at walking pace. It’s almost dusk by the time the Praia Inhame eco lodge sign comes into view. We turn into the forest along their drive, the plants brushing the vehicle. My wooden lodge is awaiting me; it’s comfortable and I get a glimpse of the beach from my window.
I walk through the trees and up and over the storm bank to the soft golden sand. Emerging alone from the overhanging trees on to the sweep of the beach, I have to sit down to take the beauty in. It’s profound, stunning, empty, perfect… and it’s the experience of untouched natural wonder that I hoped to find.
Portuguese Rule and Sugar Plantations
During my time on Sao Tome and Principe, I really enjoyed visiting the old Portuguese colonial buildings. Though dilapidated, these relics of the Sao Tome’s past allowed me to imagine what it must have been like for the plantation workers so long ago. I found that the locals were inhabiting parts of these buildings, despite their crumbling state and lack of functioning facilities. Many of the buildings are slowly being reclaimed by the forest.
The islands of Sao Tome and Principe were uninhabited until they were discovered by Portuguese explorers in late 1500’s. The first people to live on the islands were the Portuguese undesirables, those unwanted by the Portuguese government, such as convicts and religious dissidents. Once it became clear that sugar plantations were viable and labour was needed, slaves were brought from the African mainland. Slaves and sugar supported the economy until the early 19th century, when coffee and cocoa were introduced and the Rocas (large plantations) were created. Though Portugal abolished slavery in 1876, the 20th century saw modern-day slavery taking place on the islands, with Angolan and Cape Verdean workers being forced into long working days, 7 days a week.
This varied history has influenced the human geography of the islands today. Nowadays, the Rocas are largely passed over to community ownership, whilst the rather grand stone built buildings (of the typical Portuguese colonial style) are being overtaken by forest growth, or segmented into houses and shared living.
The hospital of Roca Água-Izé
The story of the islands and the subsequent removal of the Portuguese financing and skills after independence is clear everywhere but, for me, no more so than at the hospital of Roca Água-Izé. Dotted about the islands are ‘Rocas’, plantation houses or estates, each functioning as an independent unit, and each with its own hospital. The hospital at Roca Agua-Ize was built in 1928 and was considered state of the art at the time. After independence, the Portuguese maintained the services and the building until 1991, when they were asked to leave as part of an agreement between Sao Tome and China.
The building today is a dilapidated shell. Walking up the grand sweep of the staircase, I try to imagine the sounds that would have come from this building thirty plus years ago. From the first floor, you can look through the now-skeletal roof structure of the hospital wings to the Santomean forest beyond. Greenery is overtaking the building. Walking around the remaining internal structure, I discover that each room is inhabited by a family. Sanitation is non-existent and, although there’s an air of genuine calm and happiness in the community, it’s impossible to fully reconcile with the scene. This colonial building built houses slaves and forced workers, now their free descendants are in poverty within the crumbling walls.
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