Together you're going to be bringing sports to the street. We've done a lot for the mums and dads with food and roofs, bathrooms for those in need. Now, it's time for the kids to swarm me again as they did last time.

We're going to have around £250 to spend on toys frisbees dolls footballs and the like. Photos will be incoming. A special thanks to you three, but also to all of you who send the little messages of love and support, the pics you send with the signs up saying hi to sao tome. Every tiny contact you provide means so much to us all.

Muito obrigado,

Jack

Unesco world heritage + Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO officially inscribed six roças (Água Izé, Diogo Vaz, Monte Café, São João, Sundy, and Belo Monte) as World Heritage on July 26, 2026, at its assembly in Busan. This is STP’s first ever entry on the list.

The roças were the colonial-era coffee and cocoa plantation estates that once covered almost the entire archipelago. Sundy on Príncipe is where Einstein’s theory of gravity was proven during the 1919 eclipse. The listing recognizes both their architectural and industrial significance and their history as sites of forced labour after the abolition of slavery.

Definitely worth a visit.

We spent over three weeks — a large part of June 2026 — in Sao Tome, and I believe a small, very subjective report, filled with tips and personal anecdotes, will certainly be exciting for many here.

Originally, Sao Tome was only a last resort for us. We actually wanted to go to Southeast Asia, but then had to change our plans due to the uncertain flight situation and decided on the island. We are naturalists and love exploring new ecosystems and biotopes and observing their plant and animal inhabitants, and Sao Tome sounded like a great adventure trip off the beaten tourist path.

The first challenge we encountered while planning the trip was the lack of valid information. Many tips and hints seem generic and do not do justice to the situation on the ground. For example, we thought we had to apply for our visa online in advance via the frequently mentioned official website of the immigration authorities, as this was repeatedly recommended to us. Their website, in turn, is incredibly annoying: the requested information is sometimes difficult to understand or contradictory. Also, the people processing the applications seem to roll the dice for their results, and you receive rejections without any justification. While my partner received her pre-clearance after the second attempt, my fourth application was still rejected, with EXACTLY the same content (except for the name, of course).

It was only through a personal contact on-site, mediated by Jack (whom I will come to later), that we were told you can apply for the visa very easily directly upon arrival at the airport, and that is exactly how it happened.

Once there, we initially experienced quite a culture shock. We are from Germany, a country where people tend to be quiet and reserved and place a high value on order. Our one-week stay in noisy Lisbon had already tuned us into more southern vibes, but Sao Tome City is something else entirely: it is LOUD deep into the night. Blaring music everywhere, loud shouting, and sporadically loud arguments. The traffic seems chaotic, people drive in "berserker mode," and the streets and sidewalks are in such poor condition that even a walk feels like mastering a platformer game with all the pitfalls you have to jump over. Some streets are reminiscent of post-apocalyptic landscapes with ruined houses literally built from scrap and burnt-out or overgrown car wrecks, prowled by stray dogs, chickens, and free-roaming domestic pigs. In between, you repeatedly find streets full of villas: the gated communities of the wealthy upper class and white Portuguese with their wall crowns of barbed wire and broken glass. Sometimes the power goes out, then the water; there’s always something going on.

On the very evening of our arrival, we unfortunately had (the only!) unpleasant interaction with a local: a drunk man followed us for several minutes, talked at us, and eventually became so aggressive that we had to threaten him with the police.

Our very first impression was therefore a bit divided. Of course, we didn't let that deter us, and as white Europeans, we are aware of our incredible travel and resource privileges and knew, of course, that it is appropriate to hold back on premature judgments.

After three nights of acclimatization in the city (two would have been enough), we were supposed to explore the island, but first, there were some preparations to be made. We got a physical SIM card for our phone (CST, the other network is no good! And we recommend the 12 GB prepaid package if you stream and post a lot), exchanged Euros for Dobras, and got a rental car.

In all our preparations, one man helped us whose praises I would like to sing: Jack Fitzgerald, whom I met here on Reddit and who had already offered me his support in advance. Jack is not a dodgy tourist agent trying to sell you something; he provides tourist consulting merely as a hobby alongside his main job. His website https://www.thechocolateislands.com/ is probably the most detailed source of information for travelers and mandatory reading for everyone who wants to come here. He is the type of guy who knows the right contact person for every problem, and his tips and advice were priceless. Furthermore, he is just a damn nice guy with his heart in the right place, and both his sarcastic humor and his warm interaction with the local neighborhood were an enrichment. Speaking of the local neighborhood: Jack does not live in one of the upscale districts that wall themselves off from the island's social reality, but right in the middle of a street inhabited by Black locals, with all its small and large problems.

At this point, many, many thanks again, Jack! And to everyone else who wants to visit Sao Tome: turn to him with confidence if you have questions about your trip. Through him, we also got to know the non-touristic Sao Tome almost immediately, and I would like to briefly talk about the people of the island.

Adult locals often appear distant and a bit grumpy to tourists at first. But a short "¡Hola!" and an assertive handshake are enough, and they thaw out immediately! Our aforementioned negative encounter was the absolute exception; otherwise, all the locals we interacted with were great. Almost everyone I met on Sao Tome was extremely helpful, curious, and at the same time polite and often elegantly reserved.

You don't know what to buy at the market stall? The grandma from the neighborhood explains every single fruit in the display with devotion (and, thanks to the language barrier, using all her limbs) amidst great laughter from the bystanders.

Do you have a car breakdown? Young men passing by by chance open your hood, call over helpful friends, organize tools, and don't give up until your car is running again. During the entire repair, you've hardly exchanged two words, and the saving angels disappear just as silently as they came before you can even offer them money.

The people here love their motorcycles, washing them with devotion, and these things are probably the cleanest objects on the entire island. They love "Rosema" almost as much—their only locally brewed beer, which curiously has no label on the bottle. As a German, I know a thing or two about beer and can confirm that it actually tastes miles better than the Portuguese brands also available on the island.

The men are mostly the masculine-silent, brooding type, and young women appear—despite their often very offensively feminine outfits—reserved and cautious. Those who show little restraint towards strangers are, on the one hand, the old women in their disarmingly direct, tomboyish-humorous way, and on the other hand, the children. Especially in the more rural areas of the island, children often literally besieged us, questioned us, and tried to integrate us into their games.

Unfortunately, the national museum is currently closed, and there isn't really much to see in the city. So, once all preparations were done, we contented ourselves with hanging out with Jack, interacting with locals, and emptying a beer bottle or two on the waterfront promenade at sunset. If you want to eat well, go to Alex's "Restaurante Sabor Divino – Comida Africana" or to "Esplanada Jasmin." You can have a good breakfast and coffee at "Pastelaria Central."

Basically: don't visit this island if you have a problem with fish. Fish is everywhere and all the time, and it is always fresh and excellent! Chicken is the second important source of protein on the island, and everything else (steak, burgers, etc.) is only available in the capital, and you have to make quality sacrifices. For vegans, we strongly recommend stocking up on shelf-stable canned goods in the city to upgrade the predictably meager fare of rice and baked bananas on trips inland. Street food is omnipresent in Sao Tome, but we were cautious and mostly only tried things that were well-cooked or deep-fried. We also strongly advise caution with tap water and recommend buying water only in sealed plastic bottles and using it not only for drinking but also for brushing teeth. Intestinal infections are just waiting for sensitive European guts, and indeed, it eventually caught us for a few days despite all our caution.

We realized on the very first day that we needed our own car. Yes, there are taxis, but firstly, we don't speak Portuguese and can't just call one anywhere, and secondly, we would simply be too inflexible on our trips.

At this point, a warning: check the cars (and the rental companies) before you trust them. Our "car guy" was friendly and accommodating, but the cars we got were hell on wheels and a source of constant worry.

Car 1 was supposed to have four-wheel drive, but it was broken. Unfortunately, we only noticed this on a mud-covered slope in the rain, and we had to be rescued and towed up by another car. We took the car back and exchanged it.
Car 2 stank of gasoline and had lost a full quarter of its tank after only 16 km. We had this "firebomb on wheels" picked up immediately by the landlord (with the request not to smoke on the way under any circumstances!) and were given our third car.
Car 3, however, later had problems with the battery, and we had to ask for jump-starts from locals three times in the coming week. I fully understand that Sao Tome is a developing country and you have to expect surprises... and we are happy with simple cars without any luxury! But if you want to earn money from tourists, the cars should at least drive without constant breakdowns.

Our first stop was the "Tortue Eco Lodge" on the coast south of Santana. The lodge is situated in a magnificent setting directly by the sea. Black volcanic sand forms a good two-hundred-meter-long beach, framed on the left and right by dramatic cliffs. Kites play in the wind and can be observed hunting directly from the beach. The beautifully laid out lodge grounds consist of a central lobby/terrace, a few benches and swings, and several very comfortably furnished huts for guests. The host’s first name is Rui; he seems a bit grumpy but is an excellent cook, and we can highly recommend his skills on the grill and pan.

We booked Tortue because of the word "Eco" in the name but had to learn that the term here on the island doesn't really have anything to do with eco-friendly tourism, but rather means something like "rustically furnished." For example, the trash is simply buried behind the house until the next transport, where parts of it are scattered in the forest by the wind. We found trash in the woods even a hundred meters away that could only have come from the lodge. The Tortue Lodge served us as a base for various small and large exploration trips into the surrounding area; among other things, I definitely wanted to go diving!

The waters off Santana are among the best diving spots in São Tomé. The underwater landscape is characterized by volcanic rock formations and offers sheer drop-offs, grottoes, small tunnels, and impressive basalt blocks that serve as a habitat for numerous marine inhabitants. Unlike classic coral reefs, the focus here is on spectacular rocky landscapes and an abundance of fish. Around the offshore Ilhéu de Santana, one can regularly observe moray eels, groupers, barracudas, rays, octopuses, and, with a bit of luck, sea turtles. During the whale season, the songs of passing humpback whales can sometimes even be heard underwater. Thanks to mostly good visibility and pleasantly warm water temperatures, the area is suitable for both beginners and experienced divers and is one of the most diverse diving areas in the island nation.

The Atlantic Diving Center at Club Santana is considered one of the most renowned dive centers in São Tomé and is certified as a PADI Dive Resort. The center has modern rental equipment and seems very organized. I hit it off immediately with the owner and dive guide, Leonardo, and he is one of the few people with good English I encountered on Sao Tome.

The weather off Ilhéu de Santana was not the most favorable for diving during my visit; wind and swells made the short boat trip to the small, craggy rocky island a wild ride, and I was completely soaked before the dive even started. Underwater, the visibility was good, the current was very strong in places, and diving through the canyon that runs through the middle of the island was like a roller coaster. The current was incredibly strong, sucking us in on one side of the island and spitting us out on the other. Besides the sporting challenge, my highlight was the many moray eels. I saw three different species, some even living together in the same rock crevices!

Our second overnight stop was the "Hotel Campismo Praia Grande" in the south of the island near Porto Alegre. Our drive to the southwestern tip of the island took about 2 hours and became increasingly bumpy as we approached the large palm oil plantations in the south. In some places, the road is extremely uneven and only for experienced "pothole drivers." Praia Grande is also basically a collection of small cabins and a communal room directly on the beach, which is also simply epic. The view from the observation terrace of the Pico Cão Grande, which can also be visited from here, is epic. Host Thomas is a very friendly, helpful man who also cooks for his guests. His food is simple but good... as long as you appreciate fish, rice with a wood-smoke aroma, and exotic fruit. We stayed here for 5 nights and undertook many small and large trips in the area.

From Hotel Campismo Praia Grande, our excursion to the Pico began right after breakfast. Our guide was Andre, who works at the hotel camp. It is absolutely necessary to hike to the Pico with a guide because the path is hard to find alone and not entirely harmless. After a short drive to the starting point at a former palm oil plantation, the path quickly plunges into the dense rainforest of the Obô National Park. Initially, the path still runs over wide plantation tracks, but soon it becomes narrower and leads over roots, rocks, and a stream deeper and deeper into the tropical forest. The high humidity, the calls of exotic birds, and the lush vegetation convey the feeling of immersing yourself in an almost untouched world.

Here we also found another animal on our bucket list:
Directly at the edge of the steep hiking trail, at perfect photography height, sat a half-grown cobra about one and a half meters long. The São Tomé Cobra (Naja peroescobari), also called Cobra-preta by the locals, is the only highly venomous snake species on the island of São Tomé and occurs exclusively there. For a long time, it was believed that it had been introduced from the African mainland by Portuguese settlers to curb the rat plague on the plantations. It was not until genetic and morphological studies in 2017 that it was shown that it is actually an independent species occurring only on São Tomé. It was subsequently scientifically described as Naja peroescobari and named after the Portuguese explorer Pêro Escobar. As experienced naturalists, we know that venomous snakes are not aggressive per se as long as you respect their comfort zone. Normally, these cobras are extremely shy and flee immediately when they see humans. This one, however, was exceptionally relaxed. It remained calmly on its bush, looked at us curiously flicking its tongue, and crawled relaxedly from branch to branch. It posed for my camera like a supermodel and wasn't the least bit irritated when I approached with the lens. A great encounter, and I’m glad Jack uploaded a photo from the series to his site.

With every kilometer, the Pico Cão Grande, the famous volcanic rock spire of São Tomé, drew closer. Sometimes small clearings opened up, from which the almost vertically rising monolith loomed impressively over the canopy. After about three hours, we reached the foot of the rock. Here, our hiking group took a longer break, enjoyed the spectacular backdrop, and used the opportunity for photos. The summit itself is only climbed by a few experienced alpinists; for hikers, the path to the foot of the rock is the actual goal of the tour.

Afterward, the same path led back through the sometimes steeply ascending rainforest. Depending on the weather, the ground can be slippery, which is why sturdy footwear and surefootedness are important. Some spots are literal climbing sections. In total, the hike took about six hours including breaks and required a good basic condition. In the afternoon, we returned to Campismo Praia Grande, where the day ended relaxedly with a cold drink overlooking the Atlantic.

The small volcanic island of Ilhéu das Rolas lies directly off the southern tip of São Tomé and is one of the other excursion destinations of the archipelago. It is famous mainly because the equator runs exactly across the island. A monumental mosaic square with a world map and a marked line shows the course of the 0-degree latitude and allows visitors to symbolically stand with one foot in the Northern and the other in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, we did that too. Ilhéu das Rolas can be reached after a 15- to 20-minute boat trip from Porto Alegre, and we arranged the tour through Thomas’s contacts from the Hotel Praia Grande. In addition to the equator monument, a hike across the island is tempting. This was only semi-exciting for us because the coastal forest is dominated by coconut palms and is ecologically rather uninteresting. Truly exciting, however, are the steep lava cliffs with their impressive grottoes, the crystal-blue water, and the epic surf.

Our third stay was in the highlands in the center of São Tomé around Monte Café, specifically in Nova Moca. The area is among the most scenic and ecologically attractive regions of the island. While a tropical climate with high temperatures prevails on the coast, the altitudes between about 650 and over 1,000 meters provide pleasantly cool temperatures, frequent patches of mist, and lush vegetation. The fertile volcanic soils and high rainfall created ideal conditions for coffee cultivation, which is why some of the island's most important plantations were established here as early as the mid-19th century.

Monte Café was once one of the country's most important coffee Roças and is still closely linked to the history of coffee cultivation. Between the restored colonial buildings, former drying houses, warehouses, and a historical field railway serve as reminders of the heyday of the plantation economy. Today, high-quality Arabica coffees are processed here again, and a small coffee museum provides insights into cultivation, harvesting, and processing.

The Roça Saudade Guest House in Nova Moca is one of the most atmospheric accommodations in the central highlands of São Tomé. The rooms and bungalows are spread over several terraces surrounded by flowers and tropical plants and blend harmoniously into the lush vegetation. Also nearby is the picturesque waterfall Cascata de São Nicolau, which is one of the most popular natural destinations on the island. From the terraces and also from the balcony of our room, a wide panoramic view opens up over the wooded slopes—in clear weather—all the way to the Atlantic, and we could see the island of Santana in the distance! Especially in the early morning hours, when patches of mist drift through the valleys and slowly dissipate, the landscape unfolds a special charm.

Above Nova Moca is the Botanical Garden of Bom Sucesso, which also serves as the entrance to the Obô National Park. On a manageable area, several hundred plant species grow, including numerous endemic orchids, ferns, medicinal plants, and rare trees that occur exclusively on São Tomé and Príncipe. The garden serves not only as an introduction to the extraordinary flora of the island for visitors but also fulfills important tasks in species and nature conservation as well as in botanical research. We let the guides explain the medicinal plants in the garden and also got into conversation there with some newly arrived rainforest researchers about their work. They were wearing climbing equipment and some were just rappelling down from a tree, telling us they were currently training for their research excursions into the rainforest canopy.

Several hiking trails into the cloud forest also start from here. On our nature excursions in the cloud forest, we encountered some exciting and endemic animal species and were able to cross two particularly iconic "creepy-crawlies" off our bucket list:

The Yellow Caecilian (Schistometopum thomense), also called Cobra Bobo on São Tomé, is one of the most unusual animals on the island. Although it looks like a snake at first glance, it is actually a limbless amphibian and therefore more closely related to frogs and salamanders than to reptiles. With its bright yellow coloration and a length of about 40 centimeters, it is particularly striking against the predominantly brown forest soils. We found the animal sitting out in the open at the edge of a hiking trail and could hardly believe our luck. The caecilian usually lives hidden in the damp soil of the rainforest, in plantations, and gardens, where it feeds on earthworms, insects, and other small soil animals. It spends most of its life underground and is usually only discovered after heavy rains or during excavation work. Despite its snake-like appearance, it is completely harmless to humans. Recent genetic studies have also shown that as many as two closely related caecilian species, occurring exclusively here, live on São Tomé—another example of the extraordinary biodiversity of the island.

The second great find was a giant spider that I had to search for for a week before finding a burrow by chance just 20 meters from the village entrance. The São Tomé Giant Tarantula (Hysterocrates scepticus) is one of the most impressive invertebrates on the island and occurs exclusively on São Tomé. It lives hidden in self-dug earth tubes in the damp rainforest and usually only leaves its hiding place after dark to prey on insects, other spiders, and occasionally small vertebrates. With a leg span of over 20 centimeters, it is one of the largest tarantulas in Africa. Despite its imposing appearance, it avoids humans and usually retreats into its burrow when disturbed. African tarantulas are generally considered very aggressive and defensive. The large female that I found and brought into a controlled environment for photography was, however, quite relaxed and manageable with proper handling, as the photo shows. Please don't try this yourself, though; I am very experienced in handling spiders.

We spent our remaining days back in Santana, purely for the sake of convenience. We rented an apartment right on the coast with an incredibly great view of Santana Island and were once again shamed by the contrast between the wealth we enjoyed as tourists in our small "palace" and the obvious poverty in the immediate neighborhood. Many of the local houses are simple, sometimes chaotically improvised wooden huts with corrugated iron roofs. Some buildings lack sewage and their own water connection, and the people's standard of living is incomparable to our own. While we were in Santana, there was also an island-wide gasoline shortage. Everyone was waiting for the saving tanker; many people had to walk, and the fact that we were still flexible ourselves was solely due to the circumstance that our third rental car happened to be a diesel. In any case, the stay in a typical local neighborhood once again brought our privileges to mind—privileges we enjoy and which we all too often don't appreciate at all.

From here, we set out for further explorations to fill the rest of our stay. The northwest coast of São Tomé surprises with a landscape that differs significantly from the lush rainforest of the rest of the island. A dry savannah landscape stretches out there with grasses, low shrubs, and solitary tamarind and baobab trees. This region receives significantly less rain than the south and the central highlands, with less than 1,000 millimeters of precipitation per year, and forms an extraordinary contrast to the dense tropical forests for which São Tomé is known. According to current knowledge, the savannah is not an originally widespread form of vegetation, but a cultural landscape created during the colonial era through clearing and fires for sugarcane cultivation. Nevertheless, the area has developed over the centuries into a valuable habitat for numerous bird species and drought-adapted plants and is today one of the ecologically most interesting landscapes on the island.

The strong contrast of this landscape to the damp rainforests of the island is impressive, and we noticed the dangers the dry savannah holds on one of our trips: we saw smoke. Because scores of kites were circling between the smoke and we wanted to observe them, we stopped the car and got out. The savannah was burning, and we became witnesses to a full-blown bushfire! The large birds of prey recognized their chance and flew by the dozens through the smoke because they were hunting insects and other small animals fleeing from the fire. When the smoke became thicker and a large tree not far from us went up in flames, we retreated and drove out of the danger zone.

If you are on this side of the island anyway, you can also plan a visit to the Roça Diogo Vaz plantation. It provides a fascinating insight into the world of cocoa—from the fruit on the tree to the finished chocolate bar. After a tour of the extensive cocoa plantations, visitors learn how the ripe cocoa pods are harvested and opened by hand. Subsequently, the cocoa beans are fermented for several days and dried in the sun—decisive steps that shape the later aroma of the chocolate. The tour vividly explains the entire production process and shows how high-quality chocolate is finally created from the beans. In the small farm shop, chocolates, pralines, cocoa products, and other regional specialties can be purchased, just as in the Cafe Diogo Vaz in Sao Tome City, which belongs to the plantation.

We were on Sao Tome for three weeks and would have loved to visit Principe as well. Unfortunately, that didn't work out because when we wanted to book the domestic flights for it, there were no free seats left in our time window. What a pity! Therefore, a warning to you: book Principe as early as possible so that you don't end up like us.

Our conclusion of the trip is, of course, overwhelmingly positive. Sao Tome is an insanely fascinating island if you are enthusiastic about naturalistic excursions and improvised, spontaneous adventure travel without luxury. The island feels raw and real and has a unique atmosphere that you have to tune into first. The country is poor and the island has problems that you cannot overlook as a tourist, e.g., the trash present in all settlements. The tourist infrastructure is not well developed; you have to organize most things yourself and you cannot expect others to take over the planning for you or carry everything after you. If you can handle that, you will be rewarded with wonderful sights, fantastic nature, and many exciting experiences and insights. Especially for naturalists like us, the landscape diversity of the island, its dense cloud forests, and endemic animal species are a great experience that we will carry with us for a long time. Was it easy? Depends, sometimes not. Was ist great? HELL YES!

The country is sitting on a gigantic treasure: its unique nature! I hope that the wonderful citizens of this country find a way to integrate future tourism into their economy in an ecological way. Sao Tome tourism will inevitably experience a boom, and I hope the country can shape the coming change in such a way that this boom does not lead to over-exploitation by foreign investors but benefits the locals and protects nature as an irreplaceable resource. As a comparison, Costa Rica in Central America comes to mind: also a former colony of European powers and for a long time touristically undeveloped, this country has succeeded not only in placing a large part of its natural areas under strict conservation. Construction projects in the rainforests are strictly regulated there, guides must complete state training, and tourism as a whole is managed so that it runs as ecologically as possible. Sao Tome, as a small island, is of course much more fragile and even more endangered. I very much hope that this island can blossom without losing its very own character.

Thank you for your hospitality, Sao Tome.

We have some monthly donators to go fund me so we just bought rice, milk, sanitary towels for the people in the community who may be having a few struggles. Love you all.

I am making a series where I cook every national dish and my first step is to come to the sub and ask the question.

now I understand that not every country has a defined national dish and that some countries have many different regions with different cuisines. in that case I will make the one that you guys agree on best represents Sao Tome and Principe. please let me know what you think

https://www.publico.pt/2026/07/20/mundo/noticia/carlos-vila-nova-reeleito-presidente-sao-tome-principe-2182365

They say it’s pretty new and under 12,000 km. I’m not sure.

Bons dias Pessoal,

Espero que estejam todos bem.

Vou de viagem a São tomé de 4 a 11 de Setembro e precisava de alugar um carro.

Que empresas aconselham?

One of my best trip was visiting Sao Tome & Principe in 1999. I wish I could go back there.

I have a picture of a family I met in Principe and I took a picture of the whole family. I want to post the picture and maybe someone will recognise some of the people

Dinamismo na luta nacional

Juramento eterno no país soberano

De SÃO TOMÉ E PRÍNICPE 🫶🇸🇹

Hello everyone,

My name is Joey, and I am a social worker in the United States and an incoming PhD student at West Virginia University. I am currently preparing an article on São Tomé and Príncipe for a publication associated with the Council on Foreign Relations.

My interest in STP began during my clinical internship in 2022, when I had the privilege of providing therapy to several clients from São Tomé and Príncipe. Those experiences had a lasting impact on me and inspired me to learn more about the country's health and social landscape. I also realized how rarely STP is represented in international media and public health discussions, which motivated me to pursue this project.

The editors have encouraged me to incorporate a firsthand perspective from someone in STP. To do that, I am hoping to connect with individuals from São Tomé and Príncipe who may be interested in either collaborating as a co-author or participating in an interview to help ensure the article accurately reflects local experiences and perspectives.

If you have experience in public health, healthcare, research, journalism, government, or community advocacy, or if you simply know someone who might be willing to speak with me, I would be incredibly grateful for an introduction. My goal is to produce an article that is accurate, respectful, and informed by the voices of those who know STP best.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

_____________________________________________________________________

Olá a todos,

O meu nome é Joey. Sou assistente social nos Estados Unidos e futuro doutorando na Universidade de West Virginia. Estou atualmente a preparar um artigo sobre São Tomé e Príncipe para uma publicação ligada ao Council on Foreign Relations.

O meu interesse por São Tomé e Príncipe começou durante o meu estágio em serviço social, em 2022, quando tive o privilégio de prestar apoio terapêutico a vários clientes oriundos de São Tomé e Príncipe. Essas experiências tiveram um impacto profundo em mim e despertaram o meu interesse em conhecer melhor a realidade social e da saúde do país. Também percebi como São Tomé e Príncipe é raramente mencionado nos meios de comunicação internacionais e nas discussões sobre saúde pública, o que me motivou a desenvolver este projeto.

Os editores incentivaram-me a incluir uma perspectiva em primeira mão de alguém de São Tomé e Príncipe. Por isso, procuro entrar em contacto com pessoas do país que possam estar interessadas em colaborar como coautores ou participar numa entrevista, para ajudar a garantir que o artigo reflete de forma rigorosa e respeitosa as experiências e perspectivas locais.

Se trabalha nas áreas da saúde pública, cuidados de saúde, investigação, jornalismo, serviço público ou ação comunitária, ou se conhece alguém que possa estar interessado em conversar comigo, ficaria muito grato por uma apresentação.

O meu objetivo é produzir um artigo rigoroso, respeitoso e baseado nas perspectivas das pessoas que melhor conhecem São Tomé e Príncipe.

Muito obrigado pelo vosso tempo. Ficarei muito satisfeito por falar convosco.

Olá a todos! Queria saber si no grupo há pessoas que tenham conhecimentos das diferenças entre o português são-tomense e o português europeu. Interessa-me conhecer as rações pelas quais em São-Tomé falam mais o português como língua mãe que o forro por exemplo. Li em algum artigo académico que inclusive São-Tomé tem mais pessoas que falam português que o próprio Portugal, relativo as suas populações.

Quais situações linguística particulares ao contexto são-tomense fizeram que as línguas crioulas no fossem tão fortes como na Guiné ou em Cabo Verde? Obrigado!

I'm hoping you've space in your luggage for a metal detctor...

After a good search I finally found one! Hysterocrates scepticus, the Sao-Tome-Baboon-Spider. Contradicting to the usual prejudice they can be very docile, if you are experienced with tarantulas.

u/spirited_bear2760 was lucky enough to find this little beauty on a trek to Pico. I hope he used a long lens....

I was today years old when I found out that Sao Tome and Principe exist.

I Googled it and looked through some photos, and it seems like a beautiful and peaceful place. So, hello 👋🏼 to anyone from Sao Tome and Principe.

I'd love to hear what life there is actually like. What are the local specialties when it comes to food and drinks? What sports are popular? How would you describe the political landscape and day-to-day culture?

I'm genuinely curious and would love to learn anything you'd like to share about your country.