Sao Tome and Principe

Two volcanic islands, chocolate, and almost no other tourists

Sao Tome and Principe is the second smallest country in Africa, two volcanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea sitting almost exactly on the equator. It was uninhabited before the Portuguese arrived in the 1470s and became the world leading cocoa producer in the early twentieth century, worked by forced labour on plantations called rocas.

Those rocas are the distinctive sight now: enormous decaying plantation complexes with hospitals, chapels and railways, some abandoned to the forest, some still lived in by descendants of the workers. Roca Agua Ize and Roca Sundy are the most visited, and cocoa is being revived by small producers making genuinely excellent chocolate.

Principe, the smaller island, is a UNESCO biosphere reserve with about eight thousand people, dramatic volcanic plugs rising out of forest, and beaches with nobody on them. Obo National Park covers a third of both islands. There is little infrastructure and few visitors, which is precisely the appeal for anyone who has had enough of crowds.

Annual events and festivals

• Independence Day (12 Jul) — marks 1975 independence from Portugal.
• Sao Lourenco, Auto de Floripes (Aug) — a Principe street theatre tradition re-enacting a Christian and Moorish battle over a whole day.
• Sao Joao (Jun) — a widely celebrated saint day with music and food.
• Carnival (Feb-Mar) — small-scale but enthusiastic parades.
• Ussua and Danco Congo (varies) — traditional dance dramas of Creole origin.
• Festa de Nossa Senhora (Sep) — religious processions in coastal villages.
• Turtle nesting (Oct-Feb) — several species nest on both islands.
• Whale season (Jul-Oct) — humpbacks pass through the Gulf of Guinea.
• Chocolate harvest events (varies) — small producers open plantations to visitors.
• Martyrs Day (3 Feb) — commemorating the 1953 Batepa massacre.