A volcanic island painted in a thousand colours and fragrances, São Tomé invites you to embrace adventure at every turn. Its black and golden beaches, tucked beneath the shade of lush tropical forests, open the way to hidden volcanic peaks and lively rivers. As you wander along sun‑dappled paths, encounters with welcoming locals reveal the island’s unique heritage—shaped by Portuguese, African, and mestizo influences.
From the 19th century onward, the Portuguese transformed the island into vast coffee and cocoa plantations, known as roças, stretching from misty mountainsides all the way to the ocean. Each plantation was its own little world, complete with a grand manor house, workers’ quarters, workshops, warehouses, a chapel, a hospital, and even a private railway carrying cocoa and coffee to oceanfront pontoons.
Your journey through São Tomé is a genuine exploration of this remarkable island destiny—an encounter with a little‑known colonial architectural heritage now reclaimed by exuberant nature, and with a population deeply connected to its African roots. The archipelago rose to global fame as the world’s leading cocoa producer from the late 1800s until 1913.
Whether trekking through misty high‑altitude primary forests, wandering between cocoa, palm, or ylang‑ylang plantations, or strolling along pristine, untouched beaches, each moment on São Tomé feels like stepping back into a time when the world was wild, mysterious, and gloriously unexplored.
Arrival in São Tomé. Transfer from the airport to the north of the island (45 mins). The bungalows of Mucumbli lodge overlook the ocean in the middle of exuberant vegetation, a small paradise frequented by many multicolored birds. A small path leads down to the beach.
Meals included: no meal included (diner possible at the accommodation)
Night: Neves
+33 (0)4 86 65 00 20
Contact us
Transfer to the edge of the Obo National Park. This park, which covers 30% of the territory between Sao Tome and Principe, is home to all the biotopes of the archipelago. From the Bom Successo Botanical Garden (1100m), we start a rather steep climb to Lagoa Amelia at 1483m, an ancient crater lake, now filled with a carpet of vegetation and lined with giant begonias. Continue through the primary forest by the "path of the fugitives" which evokes the escaped slaves who sometimes took refuge in the mountainous and wild part of the island: bamboos, mosses, hundred-year-old and disproportionately large trees, lianas, wild orchids... This dense equatorial vegetation is a refuge of biodiversity and a real pharmacopoeia. Return to Bom Sucesso and transfer back to Monte Café.
