Today’s Newsletter Includes:
A tiny island you’ve probably never heard of, which is exactly how they like it.
Rainforests, empty beaches, cacao and enough ocean to make your group chat jealous.
Where to sleep, eat and wander when your ideal vacation involves being blissfully unreachable.
It sits almost exactly on the equator, about 130 miles off the coast of West Africa, the smaller half of the nation of Sao Tome and Principe. It is an old volcanic island, roughly 31 million years old, covered in rainforest and surrounded by an absurd amount of ocean. Fewer than 9,000 people live here. The entire island and surrounding islets are a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
I’m betting you’ve never heard of it.
We’ve become very good at loving places to death. We find a beautiful spot, build an airport, then the hotel companies arrive, import the Wagyu and Bollinger Champagne, and then wonder what happened to the reason that made us want to go there in the first place. Principe has escaped this cycle.
The interior is genuinely wild. Forest-covered volcanic peaks rise above the beaches where the jungle practically falls into the Atlantic. There are endemic birds, sea turtles, cacao trees and fishing villages. Santo Antonio, the tiny capital, feels like a town rather than a product. You can still eat grilled fish and octopus in small restaurants where what is available depends entirely on what somebody caught that morning.
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