Wildlife Holidays in Sao Tome And Principe

These two idyllic islands, lying 150 miles or so off the coast of Gabon, are often called the ‘African Galápagos’ due to the high number of endemic birds present in such a small area. This little-known corner of the world is home to at least 25 endemic bird species (depending on which taxonomic rules you follow), along with many of the West African mainland specialities. Besides being a birders’ paradise, they also host a small number of endemic reptiles, amphibians and several plants!

Lying some 250km off the mainland of west Africa in the Bight of Benin, São Tomé and Príncipe is an independent archipelago state of under a quarter of a million people, and one of the richest biodiversity hotspots on the planet for its size. Rainforests cover nearly three-quarters of the country, and they hold almost a thousand plant species, many endemic (i.e. found nowhere else on Earth), including the world’s largest Begonia which stands four metres tall!. Given that these are true oceanic islands, it is amazing that there are also endemic mammals (a shrew) and amphibians (six frogs and an incredible bright-yellow, worm-like caecilian, the 'cobra bobo'): these creatures’ ancestors got here by rafting on huge vegetation mats disgorged by the Congo River many millions of years ago.

Birds are well-represented, although, as is typical for islands, not as diverse as on the mainland, but the hundred and fifty or so regular species include a spectacular twenty-eight endemics, unique to the archipelago, and so they are naturally some of the most sought-after and desirable species for any world birder. They include endemic swifts, scops owls, pigeons, thrushes, starlings, orioles, paradise-flycatchers, shrikes, kingfishers and white-eyes.

Even more excitingly, the endemics include: no fewer than three endemic sunbirds, including the São Tomé Sunbird, the largest in the world, and one of the smallest, Newton’s Sunbird; the world’s biggest weaver (the Giant Weaver), among three endemics in the genus; the São Tomé Short-tail, once of totally mysterious origins, but now known to be a highly aberrant wagtail (it climbs trees!); Dohrn’s Warbler (once thought to be an African babbler, but now known to be the closest relative of Blackcap and Garden Warbler, neither of which it resembles!); the critically endangered São Tomé Ibis, one of the smallest ibises in the world, which incredibly lives in the rainforest canopy (!); and perhaps most excitingly of all, the São Tomé Grosbeak, also critically endangered, which was of unknown taxonomy, until it was recently found to be the world’s largest canary! The last species was once known only from very old specimens, and was believed extinct until it was rediscovered in 1991. Our tour offers a realistic chance of seeing all of these incredible species, many of which have been seen by a mere handful of birdwatchers.