Experience the best of São Tomé Island

São Tomé lies just north of the equator in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of central Africa, a green volcanic island about 50 kilometres long that rises to the Pico de São Tomé, 2,024 metres high. Portuguese navigators found it uninhabited around 1470, and it grew rich on sugar and later on cocoa. The capital stands on the north-east coast, with the fort of São Sebastião, built in 1566, which houses the national museum, a cathedral and a lively market.

Old plantation estates, called roças, stand in the highlands, among them Monte Café, which has a coffee museum. Ôbo Natural Park protects rainforest inland, with birds found nowhere else. In the south, Pico Cão Grande is a volcanic needle 663 metres high, and the small island of Rolas at the southern tip is crossed by the equator, which is marked by a monument. Beaches such as Jalé are nesting sites for sea turtles.

Cocoa and coffee are the island's famous crops, and chocolate made from local beans is sold in the capital. Grilled fish is served with breadfruit or banana, and calulu, a stew of fish or chicken with vegetables and palm oil, is a favourite. The drier gravana season runs from June to September.