13 Dec 2019: Birding São Tomé and Principe

The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe straddle the equator in the Gulf of Guinea and are positioned within the 200 nautical miles (370 km) inclusion zone and therefore qualify as tickable territory for African birds. The islands consist of two archipelagos about 140 km apart and about 250 and 225 km off the coast of Gabon in western Africa. They also offer some of Africa’s most spectacular scenery, many beaches, friendly people and are home to 25 endemic bird species (depending on which international bird list is used). The number of endemic birds in these islands equals that of the much more extensive Galapagos Islands, and are easier to find. São Tomé and Príncipe possibly hosts the easiest and most concentrated grouping of island endemics anywhere in the world! I was hoping to find at least 15 endemics within the next few days.

Fish Buyers, São Tomé Town

Obtaining a visa for São Tomé and Principe was an administrative nightmare. The electronic visa website was mostly inoperative and the application processes so cumbersome that I gave it up as a bad job and decided to look for an alternative destination. The only problem was that I urgently needed to tick another 36 birds within the next two weeks to reach my goal of 1500 birds on the Clements list. Habiba Biallo, my tour operator in Gabon, came to the rescue and within an hour I walked out of the São Tomé embassy in Libreville with the precious visa in my passport. A 45-minute flight over the Atlantic followed in the late afternoon before I booked into the Sweet Guest House in São Tomé Town. Unable to find a local bird guide on the internet I spent the evening working through trip reports to identify the birding hotspots on São Tomé and Principe.

São Sebastião Fort, built in 1575, São Tomé Town