Wanderlust on Principe

View from my pension's window

My plane to Principe

The flight on a 15 seater plane from Sao Tome to the Principe was a quick one lasting just about 30 minutes. The island lay around 150 kilometers north of Sao Tome and is the smaller of the two with an area of 142 sq. km. but only habituated by around 5000 people.

As the plane approached the island it was clearly apparent that Principe was untouched compared to Sao Tome. Where I saw unsustainable development and deforestation on Sao Tome, Principe seemed almost entirely covered in a velvet of green surrounded by beautiful aquamarine waters. No wonder that when I did my research most travelers who visited both islands suggested going directly to Principe rather than spend time on Sao Tome.

Casa de Patron at roça Sundy

The emblematic Pico de Papagaio could be seen as soon as I stepped out of the plane and it was surrounded by clouds. I can easily say that the airport of Principe was the most picturesque I have ever seen.

The ride from Airport to the capital Santo Antonio was less than 10 minutes and the gentleman who offered me the lift happened to be the same guy I wanted to meet …the director of Obo National Park on Principe.

Antique machinery

Guard at Sundy who showed
me around

Santo Antonio was a charming laid back little town with the Pico de Papagaio and Pico Mesa towering in the background. The town has extremely well preserved colonial architecture and a couple hours were more than enough to explore it.

The next day I rented a motorbike; the idea being that I just wanted to wander where my heart desired. Taking one of the unpaved roads I ended up at Roça Sundy, a dilapidated old plantation in the north central part of the island and a place that has something in common with Einstein.

View of northern Principe coastline...the islet of Bom Bom in the distance

Banana Beach

You may wonder what Einstein might have had to do with a decrepit old Portuguese plantation on the almost unknown island of Principe. Well, it turns out that this was the place a scientist by the name of Sir Arthur Eddington undertook an expedition to prove Einstein’s theory of Relativity. Being an engineer, I have to be a little nerdy to be interested in stuff like this!



Emelio...a good man!



A mestico or mullato Sao Tomean

Next it was time to visit another roça…Belo Monte. In colonial times, Belo Monte and another one called as Ponta do Sol used to be satellites to Roça Sundy. There I met a couple from Zimbabwe who were rehabilitating Belo Monte’s roça. They gave me a very interesting insight on the difficulty of the project which involved constructing a new village for the squatters and then the problems with shipping goods to this remote island.



A typical house in Sao Tome and the complexion
of the kids shows the rich ethnic mix typical in
Sao tome & Principe



The roça was small but had stunning views of the ocean and had probably the country’s most famous beach…Banana beach. There was not a single soul other than me as I rode my motorbike all the way down and then took a quick dip and a nap.

Since I had my own bike, I helped the locals to hitch a ride with me which they surprisingly did not seek. They seemed to be too nice and perfectly happy to bother a traveler by soliciting a ride but I knew they had long distances to walk so I volunteered to help at every opportunity. One of them was Emilio, a gardener at Belo Monte who took me to his house when I asked him for a restaurant for lunch. I politely declined but he insisted that I have lunch with him. He and his wife quickly set about making lunch which was duck egg omelet, fried bananas and fried matabala (taro). The eggs were from his own stock of ducks, the bananas from his small farm and the matabala were pulled out from the ground by his wife right in front of me. That’s what I call “grow what you eat and eat what you grow!”

Mirador...Ilheu Bone de Joquei (Jockey's island) in the distance

The 4 kids and my bike at the Mirador

I thanked him for his generous hospitality and gave him some money as my gratitude. As I handed him the money, I wondered if I was corrupting him as his was a genuinely kind move and not a fake play to get me to give him something. Was I setting a precedent where he will see other travelers and then do the same again but this time with a motive? I gave him some money regardless…perhaps I don’t care …or perhaps I think it has nothing to do with others…just two human beings helping each other out!

Alzira Varela Quaresma - 8 anos             Dualinda De Deita Leite - 8 anos

Rosita de Rosaria Silva - 8 anos             Isabel da Silva Mendes - 7 anos

The sun sets very fast close to the equator and I had to hurriedly get going on my way to Ponta do Sol where I planned to spend the night.

The roça there was run by Jean Claude, a very friendly Belgian who had a very interesting story on how he landed there. After traveling around Africa, he came to Principe and fell in love the moment he saw the roça and decided to settle there. His roça had equally good views of the plantation, forest and the western coastline of the island. The next morning it was time to explore the eastern part of the island but not before refueling the bike. Availability evidently is uncertain and the best place to give it a shot was a guy selling it from a tanker back at Santo Antonio. Waiting in line for 20 minutes and the bike was finally quenched and the next stop was Roça Abade, another of the islands plantation dominated by a well kept casa de patron but not so well kept casa do trabalhadores. The roça at Nova Estrela was in even worse condition and did not warrant an extended stay.

Casa do trabalhadores @Terreiro Velho

Pretty smile and pretty braids

Heading further south was the Mirador, a place with spectacular view of the south eastern coast. As I parked my bike to take in the view I was approached by four curious little girls who soon took over my bike, my hat, and my sunglasses and asked me to take their pictures. No matter how many pictures I took they never got tired. Soon it was time for me to say bye and each one of them wrote their names and drew they profiles for me. When I did the same, one of them immediately noticed that I forgot to sketch my goatie :)…such sharp kids.

The furthest point south I could go was the cacao and coffee plantation of Terreiro Velho where STP’s only chocolatier, Claudio Corrado, grows his cacao pods. It’s pretty unfortunately that some of the best cocoa comes from these islands but there are hardly any local chocolatiers.

View from Terreiro Velho

It was late afternoon and I had to get the bike to Santo Antonio by 6pm but there was one more place I had to see before turning in the bike…the resort of Bom Bom. Here lay reputedly STP’s best luxury resort and it was every bit as special as I had heard. The location, the lush rain forests around it, the clear waters, and the wooden bridge to the Bom Bom islet made it extraordinarily striking. There I met Shyjunc, a cook who hailed from the Indian state of Kerala.

After meeting an Indian store owner on the island of Moheli, only seeing an Indian on moon might surprise me so I was not overtly surprised on meeting a fellow Indian on this remote island. Our reasons for coming to Principe though could not be more varied since I was backpacking and single and he was married and there for work so it was fascinating to get his views on Principe and the problems that its remoteness brings.



Bridge to Bom Bom islet



Terreiro Velho Casa de Patron