The rainforest of Principe is so lush and verdant that describing it merely as “green” does it a disservice. It is a kaleidoscope of mint, crocodile, olive, pine, emerald, shamrock, sage and jade. Peppered between the fronds, leaves and grasses are bright bursts of yellow cacao pods, hanging heavy on branches and testifying to the agricultural dominance they held centuries ago.
From the moment you arrive – as jetlagged and travel-worn as you’re likely to be after a two-day odyssey from Canada – you realize this place is a tourism unicorn. It’s hidden in plain sight off the shore of a continent dismissed by travellers over the centuries as a place synonymous with savages or safaris.
