The lost but found paradise of Sao Tome
The croaky voice of the captain woke me from the nap that started immediately after the flight took off; the nap that was disrupted temporarily by an overly nice flight attendant of Tap-Portugal (airline) giving out snacks.
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“We are 10 minutes from landing at the Sao Tome International Airport,” the captain rattled in Portuguese before the rapid English translation followed.
For a notorious sleeper on flights, the distance from Accra to Sao Tome was like a drive from Achimota to Accra. It’s approximately an hour and 40 minutes journey. Tap
Portugal is the only airline that flies to the Island from Ghana and last year, 2,294 tourists flew there, up from 1,620 in 2015.
Landing
I took a peek through the window and the island zooms in like a scar on the ocean. As the aircraft descends, the ripples on the sea appear, giving the feeling of the aeroplane landing on the sea. But it lands on the tarmac and taxis to a stop.
A giant signage on the airport, “Aeroporto Internacional de Sao Tome”, announced our destination.
Sao Tome has an airport its size. The airport is probably equal to the size of the Tamale Airport but its efficiency has no words to describe it. Within 15 minutes, I was out of the arrival hall with my colleague journalists and Mr Edwin Lawson, the District Manager of the airline.
The assignment was a Tap Portugal organised press tour of the twin-island country famous for its beaches and thick rainforests, cocoa and coffee plantations.
Stunning beauty
The Central African nation tucked in the Gulf of Guinea seems to be a secret, largely confined to cocoa and coffee merchants and mainly European tourists who flock there for its captivating vegetation, beaches, rare birds and butterflies.
Numbers are not in favour of Sao Tome, the population of the entire country is estimated to be almost 190,000, which is less than the population of Makola on a busy day.
However, any visitor to the continent’s second smallest country will be stunned by its vivid natural attractions, run-down architectural magnificence and charmingly friendly people.
The Portuguese who colonised the pristine island were probably equally charmed by these little populated islands when they arrived in 1470, but were also quick to see their commercial potential; first sugar, then cocoa and coffee.
The island became infamous for the inhuman conditions in which its slaves were kept as well as the quality of its produce. The chocolate magnate, William Cadbury, was said to be so shocked by his visit to the islands in 1908 that he boycotted the import of the bean on humanitarian grounds a year later.
Today, however, nature has taken over most of the cacao roças (plantations) since independence in 1975, but a handful still function as cocoa farms (the crop still accounts for 80 per cent of the country's exports), and are an engrossing record part of the country's past.
Our tour guide, Fernado, who talked more politics than tourism, said at one time all plantations were self-sufficient, with their own hospitals and a railway to transport the cocoa to port.
Today, the island has a small port but the Chinese have promised the country a bigger port. A 30-year build, operate and transfer agreement is being discussed, and many are convinced it will turn the local economy around.
Back to the visit, our hotel, Pestana, was about 20 minutes’ drive from the airport and we got there at 5.45 pm and were welcomed with a cocktail.
Pestana
Pestana overlooks the ocean with its owners doing a great job with the landscaping that gave it the aura of a lush paradise. The supper was great — local and a strong blast of Portuguese.
Against the backdrop of a roaring sea, the night went well with a good sleep. I woke up to see the sun rising behind a 1530 fort that is being battered by the sea but refuses to fall.
After breakfast the next day and a tour of a plush condominium for sale and the hotel, we took off to town. The city has the fascination of a colonial metropolis and life seems to roll by without the pressure of time.
Just like Ghana, Sao Tome is blessed with thick rainforest and one of such forests has in its belly the Sao Nicholao waterfall—a fiery fall of about 800 metres that rains down on cliffs.
A tough staircase leads it patrons beneath where a canal has been constructed to direct it into a canopy of trees.
From there, the next stop was the Mountain Café, one of the oldest plantations that have gone defunct. It is now a museum which costs two euros to see the age-old coffee processing and a tot of thick milky coffee at the end.
My favourite part of the entire trip was on the third day. We toured the Rolas Island where the landmark equator splits the world into northern and southern hemispheres. A landmark stands here.
After almost an hour and half driving along winding forest roads, I saw unique box-like wooden houses brightly painted and standing on high stilts, hundreds of people washing in rivers. We got to the transfer point before a canoe crossed the calm sea to the island.
Found paradise
Ohhh! Rolas Island is beautiful, it holds you spell bound. It redefines picturesque and for the first time in more than 15 years, I took off my shirt on a beach front, lying by the shore while the waves pounded my body.
You can’t swim in the sea because of its rocky bottom but Pestana Ecuador (Equator), where we lodged, has Africa’s biggest swimming pool filled with sea water.
The best of Sao Tomean food was here and the nightlife was long and exciting, with locals entertaining the guests until almost 1a.m.
Scuba divers and snookers will find Sao Tome exciting, in fact the hotel runs a two-week certification course.
You don't have to be a honeymooner to fly to São Tomé. You just have to droll over nature and ohhh, it does pay to leave your watch behind and forget all the sense of time.
Obligado!!
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