Let's All Just Escape to These Beautiful, Off-the-Radar African Islands

Praia Boi, a pristine beach found on Príncipe Island’s northern shore (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

*Post updated on March 16, 2022

With everything going on in the world these days, running away to a beautiful island paradise and never coming back sounds like a pretty tempting proposition. Just picturing the crystal clear waters of Fiji, the white sandy beaches of Aruba, or the colorful coral reefs of the Bahamas is enough to have you daydreaming all afternoon. However, while all of those island nations offer the whole package, we’re not here to talk about any of them.

What we are here to talk about are the much lesser-known islands that comprise São Tomé and Príncipe, a pair of volcanic archipelagos located very near the equator in the Gulf of Guinea. Despite their position in what might be considered the “armpit” of Africa, these islands are anything but the pits. And yet, they saw just 33,000 visitors in 2018, ranking 134th in the world in terms of tourist traffic.

Admittedly, that’s a number that’s been on the rise since 2010, when São Tomé and Príncipe hosted only 6,700 visitors, but it’s still pretty safe to say that you’ll have much of the place to yourself should you decide to go. The only rival you’ll really have to put up with are the trees — they cover 90 percent of the island nation, giving credence to its status as an ecotourist’s wet dream.

Also making up the islands’ landscape are steep mountains and rock formations, such as Pico Cão Grande, a needle-shaped volcanic plug which peaks almost 2,200 feet on southern São Tomé Island; 130 miles of combined coastline, including the likes of Banana Beach and its golden-colored sand on Príncipe Island; and picturesque waterfalls within hiking distance.

The location of São Tomé and Príncipe in relation to the rest of Africa (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Before you dive head first into all of that nature, though, your first taste of this two-island nation will be the city of Sao Tome, the sole international entry point by air. In a recent travelogue published in The Telegraph, contributor John Gimlette described the capital of São Tomé Island as both charming and decrepit.

“This is Africa’s own miniature Havana, with its little pink palaces and colonial churches,” Gimlette wrote after a visit in 2017. “The fountains may be dry but the town remains defiantly cheery. Life is lived under the almond trees, and, in the general store, time [seems to have] stopped in about 1952.”

Gimlette went on to say that traces of Portugal — from whom the island nation declared independence in 1975 — were just about everywhere. Nowhere is that influence more apparent than in the native tongue: Portuguese is the national language, and 98 percent of Santomeans speak it.

Outside the city, a wonderland ripped straight from Land of the Lost awaits curious travelers. Sprinkled throughout the jungle that covers much of the islands, you’ll find ruins begging to be explored, along with a number of other oddities, such as miniature Russian tanks, long-forgotten shipping containers, and rusted Victorian traction engines.

Specific sites to see on São Tomé Island include Lagoa Azul, a picture-perfect lagoon with baobab trees and clear blue waters near the northern tip of the island; Praia Micondo, a cozy beach encircled by black cliffs and plenty of lush foliage found along the eastern shore; and São Nicolau Waterfall, found along a winding and bumpy mountain road only a half hour from the capital.

To get the true Santomean experience, however, you really need to make your way up to Príncipe Island, which sits 99 miles to the northeast. Home to a population of just 8,000 people (compared to São Tomé Island’s 200,000), it’s a place that can feel almost abandoned at times. That’s according to Jada Yuan, the lucky gal who traveled the world on assignment for The New York Times as their inaugural 52 Places Traveler in 2018. São Tomé and Príncipe was No. 22 on that year’s list.

Yuan, in her dispatch from the island nation, reported that she had planned to stick to the larger island, which, she said, “is filled with enough lush rain forest, volcanic peaks and cocoa plantations to keep an intrepid tourist interested for days.” However, workers from the U.N. she met at São Tomé International Airport convinced her she needed to see Príncipe, as well.

Bom Bom Island is connected to Príncipe via this wooden footbridge (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

“The only way to get to Príncipe is infrequent flights from São Tomé, or a 24-hour boat ride that locals advised me not to take,” Yuan wrote. “But, oh, does that effort come with rewards. Unesco designated the entire island a biosphere reserve, and at times it feels uninhabited. The largest gathering of people I saw was at the airport watching the spectacle of our plane touching down.”

The few tourists that visit Príncipe have the option of staying at isolated eco-resorts which sit on some of the most pristine beaches found anywhere on earth. These include the sites of former plantations, or roças, such as Roça Belo Monte and Roça Sundy, as well as the island’s oldest resort, called Bom Bom, and the newer five-star luxury tent complex Sundy Praia, which boasts an infinity pool right on the ocean.

It should be noted, though, that the island Lonely Planet describes as a “canopy of green broken by spires of primordial rock” also comes saddled with a bit of dark history, as does São Tomé. As Yuan explained, both islands are inextricably linked to slavery: “Portuguese colonialists began using São Tomé and Príncipe as slave outposts in the 15th century, bringing forced labor from African countries like Angola and Guinea there to be sent to Brazil and the West.”

The exploitation of Africans, even after slavery was abolished in 1875, led to the country becoming the biggest cocoa producer in the world in the early 20th century, with most of the land divided into roças. As was mentioned above, some of those plantations have been repurposed into accommodations for visitors; others have been left to rot. Becoming familiar with that history before visiting certainly clouds some of the outward beauty of the islands, but it also gives you a greater understanding of the people and the culture you can expect to find.

Those willing to give the islands a shot should get started right here.

-LTH