Sao Tome and Principe: The paradise islands that tourism forgot

How had people been so careless with their things? Or had the islands simply been forgotten? A few months earlier, I’d put this to the STP man at Rainbow Tours. Few operators go there, and the country gets only 13,000 tourists a year. “It’s not forgotten,” he said. “It’s never been discovered.”

They’re like great blue fangs, covered in a rich velvet of forest and cloud. One of these peaks – on Principe – is so sheer that, until recently, it was thought it had only ever been climbed twice in 31 million years. It’s ridiculous to describe anywhere as a Lost World now, but this one got seriously mislaid.

Meanwhile, in the old railway sheds (now known as CACAU), we found an unforgettable exhibition. The sculptures weren’t of hero soldiers, but the city’s stray dogs. Everywhere there were traces of the Portuguese - in the language, the colours, and the NGOs. During the colonial era (1470-1975), Sao Tome was first a slaving port and then the centre of a chocolate empire. Portugal’s pretty, cream-painted fort, Sao Sebastiao, is still there. Inside, the country’s entire history is told in five small rooms, beginning with shackles and Madonnas, and ending with a faith-healer’s cures and his lucky skull.

Around us, a beautiful world unfolded. We drove to the west coast first. The forest thinned, and baobabs appeared, like cartoon trees. Near the end of the road, we reached Mucumbli, our tiny eco-lodge, high above the bay. Overnight, hundreds of dugouts would assemble in the water below, and, at dawn, they’d all be there. One morning a boatman took us out through the fleet, and on the other side was a school of dolphins.

Back in the car, he drove us south. The great rocas, or plantations, were always a feature of these mini-adventures. In 1908, STP was the world’s biggest producer of cocoa, and there were 800 of these places. Now, they’re magnificently crumbly, some with grand old churches or the outlines of a railway system. Agua Ize had once operated more than 30 miles of track, and there are still traces of it, snaking through the ferns. Meanwhile, at Agostinho Neto, we clambered up through its hospital’s glorious ruins. Once one of the best in Africa, most of its roof is missing now, and a village has appeared among the wards. Further south, the jungle opened out, and we were on the ocean again.

On our last morning, we went whale-watching. For a while we saw nothing but flying fish, but then there was one last great Santomean surprise. Just ahead of us, a humpback burst out of the water and, in mid-air, it turned and seemed to give us a flippery wave. Then it was gone again, disappearing deep into the volcanic roots of this remarkable land.

Rainbow Tours (rainbow tours.co.uk) offers an 11-day tailor-made tour to Sao Tome and Principe from pounds 2,745pp based on two sharing. Includes flights from London, four nights’ B&B at Omali Lodge, six nights’ half-board at Bom Bom on Principe, transfers and domestic flights.

TAP Portugal (flytap.com) flies from Lisbon three times a week. Expect to pay around Dh3,500 return including all taxes and surcharges.

Pestana Sao Tome: Stylish five-star hotel, aimed at business travellers. The Sao Jeronimo fort, dated 1530, sits in the grounds and there is a superb saltwater pool overlooking the bay (pestana.com; doubles from Dh842).

Telegraph Group Ltd London 2017