Pico de São Tomé

The hotel offered us an early breakfast at 5am, but we politely declined as we were afraid it would take too long. We then drove for almost an hour to a resort where our guide, Zezito, was supposed to be waiting for us. When we arrived, the gates were locked and no one seemed to know anything about Zezito. We then went to the nearby village of Ponta Figo and asked around, only to find that everyone knew Zezito, but no one knew where he was. Finally, his family told us that he is waiting for us at the hotel. After checking again and finding no one there, we decided to walk and soon a motorbike with Zezito on it approached us – he only spoke Portuguese and French! We said bonjour and drove along a cobbled road to the start of the trail.

*Momordica charantia*, commonly known as bitter melon, Goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash or balsam-pear (among many other names), is a tropical and subtropical vine of the *Cucurbitaceae* family

Cocoa beans are one of the main products of São Tomé and Príncipe

Pretty good road up to the old coffee farm ruins

Zezito with Rob (left)
Pile of eaten snail shells (right)

The *Rubiaceae* (??) family is commonly referred to as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family

Yellow creature, I had no great desire to investigate exactly what it was

After a few miles we parked, changed and were ready to go. To our delight, Zezito gave us boxes of food for dinner. We began our walk through the plantations, taking shortcuts between the serpentines of an old road to the ruins of a former coffee farm. Easy and comfortable walk

Zezito (left) and Rob (right) taking a short break

Rhododendron, *Melastoma malabathricum* ??

Trig pillar with typical São Tomé inscription – 1916

We had an interesting trail and nature to explore, but not much to see. After the ruins the path got steeper but eventually we reached the lower summit with a shelter. The real summit was 600m to the west and there was a reasonably good trail leading up to it. There was a little re-ascent and some easy root scrambling before we reached the summit, which was marked by a concrete pillar with an inscription. Like many peaks on São Tomé, it was dated 1916. After twenty minutes of enjoying the clouds and a snack at the top, we descended by the same path.

The *Hypolimnas misippus* also known as Danaid eggfly, mimic or diadem, is a common species of nymphalid butterfly

*Cinchona pubescens*, also known as red cinchona and quina

*Hylodesmum repandum* sometimes called ticktrefoils or tick-trefoils (left)
A lot of breadfruit grows on the island (right)

Official version: Poor monkey stuck between the branches, but somehow I have never seen or heard of such phenomena. Who knows.

Ginger or ginger root, *Zingiber officinale*

Zezito showed us various plants and berries and we found that Portuguese and French were not too difficult to communicate in. Although it’s not technically necessary to have a guide, I would highly recommend hiring one, especially one as professional as Zezito.

Down below, we are the clouds again (left)
Giant trees (right))

Now that the core plan is complete, we have the freestyle programme. Our main interest is still to reach the high peaks. The Pico Cão Grande impressive, although technically difficult, is a 5.14 rock climb, few others are difficult to access. But tomorrow we will find few opportunities. Today, as time and daylight are limited, we will just stop at a random spot near the village of Diogo Vaz and enjoy the sunset.

Pico de São Tomé	2024 m altitude	2024 m prominence 405.92 km isolation
Ranges	West Africa Mountains - Bight of Benin
Countries/regions	São Tomé and Príncipe - São Tomé Province
Distance	9.00 km up	9.00 km down
Elevation	1652 m gain	1652 m loss
Time	5h20 up 0h20 other	4h40 down 10h20 total
Trailhead	370 m altitude	0.3077490, 6.5538610
Route	Passing through the village of Ponta Figo, we drove a few more kilometres along the cobbled road and parked the car on one of the bends. We then walked along a reasonably good, old, overgrown road with a few shortcuts. At one point we walked along the top of an aqueduct. From the old coffee farm ruins we climbed steeper jungle slopes, but never too steep or slippery. Most of the way to the top is in the shade. The lower summit was grassy and quite flat with a few trees. The path to the summit was not bad either, with some small re-ascents and a few steep root scrambles. The descent was fast enough, although slower than expected.
Difficulties	A few steeper sections of easy root scrambling before the summit can be slippery in the rain
Links	GPX trail