SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE – a feast of little-known endemic birds on two beautiful Atlantic islands

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers, boatmen and accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include these flights: São Tomé-Príncipe-São Tomé.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 1  Our São Tomé & Príncipe birding tour begins this evening at São Tomé airport. We will spend the night in a nearby hotel.

(The shortest and easiest way to reach São Tomé is by a flight from Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal, but other flight routings are possible.)

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 2  This morning, we will take a pelagic out into the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, where our main target will be an as yet undescribed form of Hyrdrobates storm petrel in the ‘Band-rumped Storm Petrel group’. The distinctive form has a very narrow, crescent-shaped, white rump band and is likely to be described as a new endemic: Gulf of Guinea (or São Tomé) Storm Petrel. While looking, we may well see a number of other species, such as White-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Sooty and Bridled Terns, and Brown and Black Noddies.

In the afternoon, we will take a flight across to the island of Príncipe for a three-night stay. Following our arrival, we will commence our explorations on Príncipe.

São Tomé & Príncipe: Days 3-4  Much of our time on this stunning island will be spent visiting the productive forests of the south, which may only be reached by boat. As we travel south by boat along the coast, providing the weather is clear, we will see the high, impressive and rather tepui-shaped mountains of the interior, formed from eroded volcanic plugs and craters, with their heavily forested slopes.

Once at our destination, we will initially explore the forest close to the shore. Here, we will already be in the thick of the island’s endemic birdlife. The brightly coloured Principe Weaver can be seen nest building in the trees, whilst the Principe Sunbird is fairly common too. The delicate and beautifully marked Principe Speirops is thinly distributed, but we should find them gleaning in the canopy or working the mid-stratum much like their close relatives, the white-eyes. An explosive ringing song will reveal the presence of Dohrn’s Warbler (formerly Dohrn’s Thrush-Babbler, a most unusual bird which is quite unlike any other African passerine and is nowadays thought to belong to the sylviid babblers). Less common is the Principe Starling (which is sometimes out-numbered by the similar Splendid Starling) and the Príncipe form of Velvet-mantled Drongo (a potential split), whilst along the coast itself, we should find the Príncipe form of Malachite Kingfisher (another potential split). The diminutive Principe White-eye can also be a little tricky to find, but we should encounter them in mixed flocks, whilst the toughest of the diurnal endemics is the Principe Thrush, which may require a tough walk to find it. The numbers of this attractive species appear to be very low and perhaps declining, and consequently, it is classified as Critically Endangered. We are also likely to see the shared endemics, namely Sao Tome Spinetail, Island Bronze-naped Pigeon and Principe Seedeater.

We will also make a concerted effort to find the recently discovered Principe Scops Owl. This usually requires a fairly long and moderately demanding hike in order to be in suitable habitat as darkness falls. Once there, we have a good chance of finding this scarce and little-known owl.

Other species that we are likely to find in the island’s forests include African Green Pigeon, Lemon Dove, Blue-breasted Kingfisher (the local form seems to be particularly common and confiding) and Olive Sunbird, whilst in more open areas and along the coast we may find African Palm Swift, Eurasian Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Western Reef Heron, Laughing Dove, Yellow-billed Kite, Bronze Mannikin and Common Waxbill. Príncipe also holds a healthy population of African Grey Parrots, which has caused some controversy. A genetic study suggested that the birds on Príncipe are more closely related to Timneh Parrot of the southwestern region of West Africa, and indeed, the IOC includes Príncipe in the species’ range following that study. However, as the birds on Príncipe look almost exactly like African Grey Parrots, and there are African Grey Parrots on the other Gulf of Guinea islands, most authors now consider this endemic subspecies to be part of African Grey Parrot.

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 5  After some early morning birding, we will catch a flight back to São Tomé airport and begin our exploration of this island in earnest.

In the afternoon we will explore some open country and savanna close to the airport. Yellow-billed Kites are extremely common overhead, and here, in the open grasslands or among the crops, we should encounter the localized Golden-backed Bishop as well as a plethora of mostly introduced species (the exact status (native or introduced) of some species is still questioned). These include Black-winged Red Bishop, White-winged Widowbird, Southern Masked and Village Weavers, Red-headed Quelea, Bronze Mannikin, Pin-tailed Whydah and Yellow-fronted Canary, and we may possibly flush a Harlequin Quail or Red-necked Spurfowl.

The coastline of the island is dotted with small fishing villages surrounded by coconut palm plantations, and as we drive south, we should also find Reed Cormorant, Western Cattle Egret, Striated Heron, Common Greenshank and Common Moorhen, and at a river we will pause to look for the São Tomé form of the Malachite Kingfisher (sometimes split as Sao Tome Kingfisher). Overhead groups of African Palm and Little Swifts forage and are joined by the occasional fluttering Sao Tome Spinetail.

Most of the low-lying areas and coastal perimeter of the island have been settled except for the inaccessible southwest. Consequently, for our remaining time on São Tomé, we shall be concentrating our efforts in the central highlands and in the southeastern portion of the island, in order to find as many as possible of the endemic birds.

We will make our way to São João dos Angalares, in the south of the island, for an overnight stay.

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 6  Early this morning, we will begin our forest adventure as we head to Monte Carmo, the bird endemic hotspot in the south of the island. We will drive through the oil palm plantations to the trailhead and make our way into the forest, covering a few kilometres of undulating trail to our campsite, where we will stay overnight (unless you have opted to stay overnight at the hotel and have a day trip into the area – see the Overview page).

Initially, in the open forest and old plantations, we’ll find our first endemics, which are likely to include Sao Tome Prinia (with its strange clicking display flight), the attractive Newton’s Sunbird and Black-capped (or Sao Tome) Speirops. The old overgrown cocoa plantations and lush forests covering deep valleys are cut through by rushing streams and are accessible along narrow tracks. It is along these paths, in a mysterious habitat that is so often wreathed in mist, that we shall look for the São Tomé form of Lemon Dove, Sao Tome Thrush, Sao Tome Oriole, Sao Tome Paradise Flycatcher, and Principe Seedeater. (The job of creating names for all these fabulous endemic birds must have proved no great task for the early ornithologists!). In the denser tangles, we should find small groups of Sao Tome Weavers as they cling, woodpecker-fashion, to the moss-covered trunks. Examining any flowering tree, especially the beautiful wild yellow hibiscus or red Erythrina, should reward us with views of the rare Giant Sunbird. To see this huge sunbird as it probes its long, decurved bill into a flower is a truly incredible experience.

Our main reason for visiting this remote area, however, is to give ourselves a very good chance of seeing all four of the hardest São Tomé endemics to find: the shy Sao Tome (or Dwarf Olive) Ibis that forages on the forest floor, the bizarre Sao Tome Short-tail that favours rocky stream beds and is now classified as an aberrant wagtail, the Sao Tome Fiscal (no other fiscal in Africa is black, white and yellow or lives inside the rainforest) and the rare Sao Tome Grosbeak (rediscovered in 1991 after a gap of 100 years and since then only seen by a small number of people, including participants on recent Birdquest tours). We will also have our first chance to look for the endemic Sao Tome Scops Owl.

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 7  We will have most of today to look for any species that we have not yet seen before retracing our steps and making our way back out of the forest and returning to São João dos Angalares for an overnight stay.

Late in the afternoon, we will explore some old-growth cocoa plantations and more open stretches of rainforest, where Red-headed Lovebirds are often to be seen, and where we will look for Island Bronze-naped Pigeon and Sao Tome Green Pigeon feeding in the fruiting trees or perching high in the canopy. This is also the realm of the Giant Weaver, and we will look for their often well-concealed football-sized nests, which are twice the size of any other African weaver! We may also come across the attractive African Emerald Cuckoo here.

In the evening we will make a concerted effort to see the small, dark and distinctive local race of Western Barn Owl, another potential split!

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 8  Today, we will set off early and drive to the central highlands, where we will be based at Monte Café for an overnight stay. Although we may have already seen them, this area is often the best place to find the smart little Sao Tome White-eye, and the increasingly rare, through hunting, Sao Tome Olive Pigeon. Also, in this area, we are often able to find the tiny and exquisite Sao Tome Scops Owl by day, which is always a treat! Here we will also have another chance to find the impressive Giant Sunbird, and other possibilities include the São Tomé form of Chestnut-winged Starling (another potential split) and more impressive Giant Weavers.

São Tomé & Príncipe: Day 9  After a final morning in the highlands, looking for any remaining birds we have not yet seen, we will make the short drive to São Tomé airport, where our São Tomé & Príncipe birding tour ends this afternoon.