Sao Tome and Principe

Located in West Africa, this stunning Island Nation that is East of Gabon goes fairly unnoticed by most of the world. My love of flags encouraged me to book the ticket when a flight alert came up for a 50% reduction compared to normal fares. The main language here is Portuguese, some people might speak English or French and you can definitely get by with Spanish too.   

At this point I had been travelling for just over a year so my mum came to join me for this special adventure! We began in Sao Tome, the north and more inhabited island. Here you can scuba dive, snorkel, eat delicious freshly caught fish and yummy local dishes at the market! The entire island is fairly small and you could technically reach the north within an hour or so, and same for the south from the capital, except the infrastructure isn't accounted for on maps so don't be fooled!  Here you without a doubt need a driver’s license if you want to see anything (thank you mum!) as there isn't a transport system and most people either drive themselves, walk or take a moto which is essentially a motorbike or scooter taxi. Sao Tome is stunning with barely any tourists except the Portugese and so you can have the most authentic local experiences dancing Kizumba and singing karaoke! You can also get a boat to a small island at the very south (Ilhéu das Rolas) which lies on the equator and you can quite literally jump the line!

Principe island is like  tropical heaven! You must take a very small plane to get here which can be delayed or cancelled due to the change of climate and tropical rain. The beaches are absolutely stunning, barely touched and there is so much adventure to be had! It is even smaller than Sao Tome so if you're in a rush a few days would suffice but it is definitely one of the most gorgeous places I've seen!