R. Doug Wicker — Author

On Monday I left you with a single image of our next Praia Micondo. I told you then that I found this beach even more fun to photograph than Praia das Sete Ondas. In addition to the image above, here are a couple more reasons why:

Okay, back on the bus and continuing south along the east coast of São Tomé to Cascata de Praia Pesqueira (Waterfall of Pesqueira Beach). A word of caution: the hike down to the waterfall is steep, slippery, and treacherous, especially for us older folk or, as with Ursula, someone who had recently received a new knee. We got off the bus in a small village with many rustic homes:

And eventually arrived at the waterfall:

Being on a praia (beach), there are, of course, other beach scenes at the waterfall:

Making our way… carefully… back up the slippery rocks, we once again boarded our tour bus turned inland. Our next destination was perhaps São Tomé’s most iconic feature, Pico Cão Grande (Big Dog Peak). We alighted from the bus at an overlook, whereupon we were greated by the ubiquitous souviner stand:

But we weren’t here for trinkets. We were here for:

Pico Cão Grande is a massive volcanic plug that juts 1,215 feet/370 meters above surrounding terrain, towering over the many palms below. If this rock looks like a difficult climb, you would be correct. Moss makes the rock slippery, and São Tomé island forest cobras make any attempted climb adventurous, to say the least. Indeed, the first known attempt to reach the summit occurred in 1975, but success only arrived in 1991.

After this week’s Fun Photo Friday look at São Tomé favorites, it’s time to head north to Abidian, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)