Sao Tome and Principe Part One

Sao Tome & Principe September 2022, Part 1

Four of us booked on a new tour to this pair of islands in the Gulf of Guinea with Ashanti African Tours (https://ashantiafricantours.com). Our flights were arranged by Sacha at Travel Counsellors (01603 360099).

Saturday 10th

We all met at Heathrow T2 for a 4am check-in. We were soon through all the various queues and had time for breakfast before boarding our 6am TAP flight to Lisbon. We had a couple of hours wait for our next flight to Sao Tome which took off about half an hour late.

We landed at dusk at 5.45 pm and it didn’t take long to go through arrivals: a check of our Covid vaccination pass and a few questions at passport control then we picked up our bags and were met outside by our guide and driver. We had a one-hour drive to our first hotel along a good road that was poorly lit as we sped through villages with many people hanging out by the roadside. Dinner was served on arrival while they sorted the rooms out. We were split up with two staying in the main building and two in the annex up the garden path despite us being the only guests.

Roca St Joao Guest House - the annex

Guest House main building

Sunday 11th

After a good night’s sleep, we had another early start, leaving at 5.00 in an assortment of 4x4s. It was only a thirty minute drive to the edge of a palm plantation where we had a field breakfast. We then walked up into the forested hills of Monte Carbo. The light drizzle gave way to a heavy downpour so we all donned waterproofs. Birding was initially pretty slow and there wasn’t much light but we began to see our first endemics – Sao Tome Prinia and Sao Tome Weaver, the latter behaving bizarrely like a Nuthatch.

As we got higher more birds started to appear and then there was a call of ‘ibis’ by our local guide. Two birds flew up from the ground and landed in the tops of some trees. They kept moving further away but eventually stopped, allowing us to approach and we had great views of them despite the fairly poor light. This was one of my most wanted birds so it was great to have seen it so early on in the trip. We continued climbing and eventually reached the campsite where some groups stay overnight. Our main reason for booking with Ashanti was that this itinerary didn’t include any camping and we were quite grateful for that.

Sao Tome (Dwarf Olive) Ibis

We carried on upward just for one more bird. The trail got steeper and more difficult and after a while Lynne and Neil decided not to carry on and went back to the campsite with one of the guides. Tim and I pushed on as the path got steeper and about 15 minutes later we made it to the first ridge. Our guide began whistling and soon attracted the attention of our quarry: Sao Tome (or Newton’s) Fiscal. Luckily for us it came in and landed close by, singing back at us. 

Sao Tome (Newton's) Fiscal

This is typically the lowest area it can be found and often another hour’s ascent is required to find it. Once we’d filled our boots with views, photos and videos we left it in peace and began to make our way back down. It was even slower going back down due to the steepness of the trail and we took our time before getting to the campsite where the others were, and we had an early lunch and a long rest.

resting at the campsite

During the rest period a Sao Tome Oriole came in and started singing above us. We took a different trail downwards, walking along a ridge with views over a valley to a distant waterfall. Not long after setting off we found a pair of Sao Tome Grosbeaks which had a nest nearby. By now the rain had stopped and it was a pleasant temperature so it made the long descent easier. We stopped at various intervals whenever there was something to see.

Waiting for the rain to stop

Sao Tome Weaver

Sao Tome Thrush

At the bottom of the hill we had to cross a stream which the morning’s rain had turned into a torrent. It was quite deep but with care stepping on boulders we made it across with just the odd wet boot. We still had a bit further to walk back through the plantation before we reached the vehicles. We drove back, stopping at a bridge overlooking a wetland area where we saw a few more birds. 

Volcanic plug

Birding at the bridge

It started raining again so we headed back to the hotel for an early checklist and dinner.

Monday 12th

We awoke in darkness as the power had gone off. Luckily I knew where my torch was and made it down to the car park at 5am for another visit to Monte Carmo. After breakfast we headed back up the hill, this time going up the route we came down yesterday. This meant crossing the river again and getting wet boots. As we’d got most of our target birds yesterday we spent most of the morning searching for the two missing ones: Sao Tome Scops Owl and Short-tail. After a couple of hours our guides managed to find a roosting Scops Owl. It woke up as we approached but didn’t move from its perch.

Sao Tome Scops Owl

We had better, repeat views of some species such as Giant Weaver, Giant Sunbird and ST Grosbeak. There were plenty of calling Orioles but we didn’t see any more. We elected not to climb up to the campsite and had lunch a bit lower down. Here we heard another Scops Owl which flew in and landed just above us. As some groups miss this bird we were fortunate to have seen two individuals so well.

Another ST Scops Owl

After lunch we spent more time looking for the Short-tail. We heard one but it disappeared before we could see it and there were no further sounds or sightings on the way down.

Sao Tome Paradise-Flycatcher

Multi-legged critter

We crossed the stream for one final time, wishing that we had been advised to bring wellies. We left our cut walking sticks for the next group and jumped in the cars and headed back to the bridge. 

Stick resting place

We spent an hour there, seeing Malachite Kingfisher, various herons and some of us even saw another endemic – Sao Tome White-eye. 

Malachite Kingfisher (ST race)

We drove back to the hotel early as we had to pack our stuff up for tomorrow’s departure. The power had now been restored so we called the log and had dinner. As we walked back to the annex we heard an odd bird call as it flew over which we later identified as a Band-rumped Petrel.