São Tomé and Príncipe - info and contacts (1 Viewer)

[SJThomas]

Hi all,

I'm visiting ST&P this April (I know not the best time weather wise). I've found a couple of trip reports and browsed eBird but I'm having difficulty finding good information and contacts.

I'm on the islands for two weeks and looking to bird independently as much as possible but probably hire a local guide for a a couple of days to try and get the difficult endemics.

Any advice on sites on both islands and on the practicalities of access to sites for an independent birder would be great. As would any contacts for local guides.

Many thanks in advance for any help,
Sam

 

[Mono]

A quick search brought up this informative sounding video.

 

[temmie]

check:

Headed Into the Islands! – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

São Tomé and Principé are two islands off the coast of Western Africa. Together they form the second-smallest and second-least populous African sovereign state. (The least populous being the Seychelles.) The capital city, São Tomé, boasts a population of 53,300, one of Africa's smaller capital...

budgetbirders.com

The Locals Don’t Always Know Best – Principé – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

It is necessary to visit both of the islands of São Tomé and Principé as they each hold a slew of endemics. But after buying our flight to São Tomé, we learned that the flight we had hoped to take to Principé was full. Ross went into full "make it work" mode. We couldn't just

budgetbirders.com

and:

Cleaning up Sao Tome – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

After a brief, but successful visit to Principé, we returned to São Tomé. It was Deja-vu as we landed and essentially repeated exactly what we had done the first time we arrived on this island -- we hiked straight up into the mountains of Monte Carmo. (In case you missed it, I wrote all about

budgetbirders.com

and contact Ross.

 

[foresttwitcher]

I don't know why but those links show up on my laptop as a dangerous webpage that is blocked!

 

[temmie]

I opened the links on both my (pretty secure) work laptop, work desktop and (less secure) macbook, and all 3 don't show any warnings...?

 

[foresttwitcher]

Just tried again and Norton is blocking it, describing it as a malicious site and recommending not visiting. Must be my overzealous security but thanks for responding.

 

[SJThomas]

check:

Headed Into the Islands! – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

São Tomé and Principé are two islands off the coast of Western Africa. Together they form the second-smallest and second-least populous African sovereign state. (The least populous being the Seychelles.) The capital city, São Tomé, boasts a population of 53,300, one of Africa's smaller capital...

budgetbirders.com

The Locals Don’t Always Know Best – Principé – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

It is necessary to visit both of the islands of São Tomé and Principé as they each hold a slew of endemics. But after buying our flight to São Tomé, we learned that the flight we had hoped to take to Principé was full. Ross went into full "make it work" mode. We couldn't just

budgetbirders.com

and:

Cleaning up Sao Tome – ST&P - BUDGET BIRDERS

After a brief, but successful visit to Principé, we returned to São Tomé. It was Deja-vu as we landed and essentially repeated exactly what we had done the first time we arrived on this island -- we hiked straight up into the mountains of Monte Carmo. (In case you missed it, I wrote all about

budgetbirders.com

and contact Ross.

Many thanks for these they are really useful.

Unfortunately I'm not finding any contact info for Ross or Melissa either on their blog or elsewhere online. Their eBird checklists are very helpful but it would be really useful to be able to get in touch with them to get contact details for their Monte Carmo guide Mitu as he sounds much cheaper and better than the alternatives. If anyone has the contact details that would be great.

 

[SJThomas]

A quick search brought up this informative sounding video.

Thanks for this a really interesting watch, used to attend Bangor Bird Group years back

 

[temmie]

Many thanks for these they are really useful.

Unfortunately I'm not finding any contact info for Ross or Melissa either on their blog or elsewhere online. Their eBird checklists are very helpful but it would be really useful to be able to get in touch with them to get contact details for their Monte Carmo guide Mitu as he sounds much cheaper and better than the alternatives. If anyone has the contact details that would be great.

see pm.

 

[SJThomas]

Thanks all for your useful input.

A plan is beginning to come together based on eBird and various trip reports particularly the Budget Birders ones linked above.

Seems that with luck and depending on the weather and hiking conditions I can get all the endemics with the following itinerary

• São Tomé - Monte Carmo - two to three days including jungle camping and relatively hard hiking. This seems to be critical for grosbeak, fiscal and ibis and it seems impossible without a guide. I still need to find contact details for an affordable guide, perhaps Mitu as mentioned by Ross and Melissa on Budget Birders.
• São Tomé - Bom Sucesso, Botnaic Garden and Lagoa Amélia - two or three days with moderate hiking. This seems possible independently and should work for most of the forest endemics other than the really tricky ones
• São Tomé - one day general birding around the north of the island for lowland and dry habitat species.
• São Tomé - Pico São Tomé hike from Neves - requires a guide and an overnight camp and hard hiking. Not sure about this in strict birding terms but could be a good opportunity to spend some more time at altitude on a general tourist trek.
• São Tomé - wander around beaches somewhere with a nice hotel after all this probably very wet, steep and muddy hiking
• São Tomé - tourist wildlife boat trip for a chance at some extra seabirds
• Príncipe - night walk / camp around PNP / Pico Papagaio for the owl as detailed on Budget Birders. Seems like a possibility for getting the owl independently and without expensive and time consuming boat trip to the far south.
• Príncipe walk south from Baia das Agulhas into Obô Natural Park (again as detailed on Budget Birders). Seems possible to get the other tricky Príncipe endemics independently if lucky.
• Jockey's Cap boat trip for the seedeater subsp if time / budget allow.

Very open to any suggestions for improving or changing this or any info on practicalities. I'll update as I get more information

 

[Andy Warren]

Hi all,

I'm visiting ST&P this April (I know not the best time weather wise). I've found a couple of trip reports and browsed eBird but I'm having difficulty finding good information and contacts.

I'm on the islands for two weeks and looking to bird independently as much as possible but probably hire a local guide for a a couple of days to try and get the difficult endemics.

Any advice on sites on both islands and on the practicalities of access to sites for an independent birder would be great. As would any contacts for local guides.

Many thanks in advance for any help,
Sam

Hi Sam, just seen your email and you may be out there already. If not, give me a call, as I've been twice and seen all the endemics except ST Thrush, so I can probably point you in the right direction and have contacts. Tel 07879 848449. Cheers, Andy Warren

 

[Tomeitsparadise]

Hi Sam, just seen your email and you may be out there already. If not, give me a call, as I've been twice and seen all the endemics except ST Thrush, so I can probably point you in the right direction and have contacts. Tel 07879 848449. Cheers, Andy Warren

Hi Andy, we are planning on going next year, September. Would my husband be able to contact you closer the time to have a chat please?