Backpacking In São Tome And Principe 🇸🇹: A Random Visit To Bobo Forro – Top 4 Sights

“There we were; now here we are” – Noel Gallagher.

After a wild month, which was supposed to be a quiet one (March 2024), saw me visit Poland, Italy, Romania, Moldova, Gagauzia, Belgium, Morocco, Cameroon and Gabon, I ended up landing in São Tome, capital of São Tome And Principe. I was tired but got checked in to the excellent Casa De Ferias where my host Bernilda welcomed me with aplomb and I met long term Polish biker and backpacker Marek Bladowski.

A day later, Marek and I decided to visit the nearby town of Trinidade, and of course that we did – we toured the sights of Trinidade! But that’s not the full story. We got lost on route and ended up in a loftier jungle area bereft of village life and full of trees and tropical forests. On that trip, we passed by a little village.

Sight 1 – The Jungle / Forest

And so, by mistake or by default, or by the grace of God, we decided to stop off here anyway as we spied a wee bar open in this remote settlement.  We thought we had arrived in a suburb of Trinidade but actually, this was a separate village of Bobo Forro, which we found out later! So any videos I made and linked below, if I refer to being in Trinidade, I was wrong – those videos are from wee Bobo Forro!

Sight 2 – The Football “Stadium”

On the way back down into Bobo Forro from the jungle part, we stopped off to check out a “football stadium” and probably this is where the local team play. It was such a textbook old style ground. Grassy, bumpy pitch, wooden goalposts and a grandstand!

Then it was time to backpack downtown Bobo Forro so we drive to the central junction, the hub. Bobo Forro is a village in the north-eastern part of São Tomé Island in São Tomé and Príncipe, it is part of Mé-Zóchi District. Its population is 715 (2012 census). It lies 3 kilometres southwest of the city centre of the capital São Tomé, and 4 kilometres northeast of Trindade. The adjacent village in the Água Grande District is also called Bobo Forro! Wild. We park up and have a quick look. Nothing much is happening here. But there are three bars open, we choose the one with a balcony where two other customers are already having a beer. And just to give you an idea as to where we were, there is a third sight to see in behind us, the local market in Bobo Forro, known as Mercado de Bobo Forro. There wasn’t much happening, so we skipped it and stayed in the bar with no name! Which will be sight 4, of course, and the highlight!

Sight 3 – The Local Market

In the above image, you can see that the building beside our wee bar with no name is the village’s main fast food restaurant which is Baigs Fast Food, one of very few places in Bobo Forro that made it onto Google Maps by name. There is another bar/shop on the same street and opposite us is a bus stop which takes you all the way back to Sao Tome city.

Now it’s time for the highlight. The beer with no name in the bar with no name.

Sight 4 – The Beer With No Name In The Bar With No Name

This is a “bar with no name” but it has a green roof and a Super Bock advert, this was our wee local bar below in Bobo Forro! In behind is a school – Escola De Conducao. To the right is a shop/bar with a small seating area and to the right of that again, is Baigs Fast Food.

Now that we have seen all the sights, we sit down in “the bar with no name” to order a beer! When we order a beer, Marek and I also call it “the beer with no name” as they don’t print labels, yet the brewery is Rosema and the crates say Rosema on them, but you just ask for a “Nacional” and they serve you up this fine, cold cerveja! However, here is proof that these are Rosema beers…yet the bottles don’t have labels.

We just sit down to relax here in this cool bar. Marek and I. This is actually my second day in Sao Tome, but my first time to try the local beer, Rosema, Nacional, The Beer With No Name, The Beer With No Label!

We meet a Portuguese guy who emigrated here 20 years ago and he says he prefers Sao Tome. Then we meet a guy from USA whose girlfriend is from Sao Tome and he has a job contract working here. We just relax and watch life go by here in the calmness of Bobo Forro.

These are the moments of travel I love. Who else went backpacking in Bob Forro? Who else went for a beer with no name in the bar with no name? Marek and I did it! Here are a few more photos from Bobo Forro before we headed out of town, for the last time, in this lifetime.

Here are some of mine and Marek’s videos from our trip to Bobo Forro: