Príncipe, São Tomé and Príncipe

I was pretty sore from riding the quad bikes most of yesterday. It didn't seem like any work at the time. We figured a short trek that started from the lodge would be best, so talked with Minette about the options. She suggested walking to Makaira and having lunch there. She called ahead to Makaira so that they would be expecting us (it's a small island).

We had a guide on the way there, just to help us through the forest areas. Minet said if we felt comfortable then we could let the guide know that we'd find our own way back.

We started by descending the 100m + down to Praia Banana. This was probably the hardest part, it's inclined at 45* at times. We then followed the same trail we had been quad biking, through Palm trees parallel to Praia Caju. We walked by a small fishing village on Praia das Burras, saw the boats being pulled up on shore on rolling logs. The fishing nets and boats made good subjects for pictures so I took a few. We also saw salted fish drying on the beach, on top of large leaves. It was a very photogenic village.

Makaira was on the next beach, separated from the village by a ridge about 50m tall. First we had to cross a small stream. We thought about trying to jump over but ended up just removing our shoes and socks. Then up the ridge we went. The trail was actually marked, so we'd have no problems on the way back on our own. The trail would have been extremely slippery if it had rained last night - probably not passable for us.

We walked into Makaira Lodge, feeling a bit like shipwrecked people stumbling across an oasis. They were very welcoming. We relaxed in the shade, and later had lunch. Lunch was whole grilled fish with rice and peas. It was pretty tasty, I felt like I could have eaten twice the amount, but maybe that's because we had walked over.

After lunch we retraced our steps back to Belo Monte. We debated taking the shuttle back up the hill at the end but ended up walking, it wasn't too bad.

So that was our day. We relaxed and stretched back in our room. Dinner was on the lower deck from the dining area, on the edge of the valley. There was a quick breeze and we thought it might rain, but it was really quite pleasant.