Sao Tome and Principe Part Four

Sao Tome and Principe, September 2022, Part 4

Saturday 17th

We met at 6am for breakfast and Laudino showed up with freshly baked rolls and fried eggs. We decided on having a leisurely day as there were no new birds we needed in the area so we set off on the waterfall trail. This starts behind the hotel and is a driveable track up into the hills but we just slowly walked up it. We did get better views of Sao Tome White-eye and more photos of other birds. We just walked past the waterfall (not much more than a trickle) when it started raining so we elected to turn round and headed back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day.

Waterfall

We had lunch in the restaurant which soon filled up, either with tourists or students. There was also a party of UN observers who were here for next week’s election. We had a relaxing afternoon, photographing birds in the garden and packing, even though we still had quite a few wet clothes that we weren’t able to dry out. 

Newton's Sunbird

We had a late check-out at 5pm and drove into town where we stopped at a bakery for snacks and then to the airport where we bade farewell to our guide and driver.

It didn’t take long to get airside and then we had a long wait until our 10pm flight. Unfortunately, there was a refuelling problem so it was delayed by two hours so it was after midnight when we finally left Sao Tome.

Sunday 18th

With the two hour delay we just missed our connection in Lisbon. TAP had booked us on the next available flight but it wasn’t until the next day as all flights were full because of the Queen’s funeral. The TAP rep gave us the new flight details and meal vouchers and said we had a hotel but this turned out to be a complete lie. We elected to collect our luggage which took about ninety minutes then went to find out where our hotel was. After talking to multiple TAP people we were finally told that their hotel was full and we had to book one ourselves and then claim the money back. This seemed unreasonable but they wanted nothing more to do with us so Lynne found us a close hotel via an app.

We had lunch in the airport then took a cab to the Radisson Blu Hotel and checked in. Not wanting to spend all day indoors, Lynne and I went for a walk in the local park which turned out to be quite birdy, seeing Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Firecrest and Spotless Starling amongst other common birds. There were even a few dragonflies on the lake and it was a pleasant stroll in the warm afternoon sunshine. 

One of many interesting sculptures in the park

We all met up again the bar in the evening and had a drink before our final dinner together.

Monday 19th

We enjoyed a welcome lie-in and met for breakfast at 8.00. We got a cab back to the airport and arrived in time for check-in. Once through to the other side we spent all our meal vouchers and waited until it was time to board our plane. We should have left at 11.00 but because of the funeral the airspace was closed so we had to wait for two and half hours on the tarmac before we could finally head to Heathrow and then back home.