Sao Tome and Principe are two small islands close to the coast of West Africa. They are very beautiful and hardly see tourists. That should be enough reason to go there, don't you think.

Sao Tome is a small island, and the capital city, also called Sao Tome only has 25,000 inhabitants; Principe is even smaller.

Sao tome is of volcanic origin and the cloud capped volcanoes, thick jungle and empty beaches are stunningly beautiful. Principe is flatter but the beaches are somewhat better and the chances of meeting fellow foreigners are even slimmer.

The little-discovered islands of São Tomé e Príncipe provide unspoiled beauty and isolation from the world now rarely found anywhere else. The islands lie on an alignment of once-active volcanoes, with rugged landscapes, dense forests and palm-fringed beaches, 250km (155 miles) off the coast of West Africa. Exotic birds inhabit tropical jungles on islands that form Africa's smallest country.

The picturesque town of São Tomé lies exactly on the equator, with colonial Portuguese architecture and attractive parks.

The history of the islands is dominated by the slave trade and slave-worked plantations. The islands form one of the smallest countries in Africa.