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…
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.
Cocoa beans are one of the main products of São Tomé and Príncipe
Zezito with Rob (left) Pile of eaten snail shells (right)
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
Rare glimpses of the nearby mountains
Rob on the lower summit of Pico Pequeño
Good visibility into dense cloud
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.
Hylodesmum repandum sometimes called ticktrefoils or tick-trefoils (left) A lot of breadfruit grows on the island (right)
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))
Streams below
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.
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