Things to Do in São Tomé and Príncipe in March
March weather, activities, events & insider tips
March Weather in São Tomé and Príncipe
Temperature, rainfall and humidity at a glance
Is March Right for You?
Weigh the advantages and considerations before booking
- + March rides the warmer, wetter pivot of the year, and the payoff is colour. Cacao and coffee terraces around Monte Café and the old Roça Água Izé blaze an electric, dripping green. Inland waterfalls, Cascata São Nicolau, about 20 km (12.4 miles) southwest of São Tomé town, run full and loud instead of the thin trickle you get in the August dry months.
- + Sea temperatures stay bath-warm, hovering around 82°F (28°C). Snorkelling off Ilhéu das Rolas, the islet straddling the Equator, and the calm coves near Praia Piscina is comfortable. You surface without the teeth-chatter you'd feel in the Atlantic almost anywhere else on the same latitude band.
- + This is shoulder-to-low season. The handful of plantation-house hotels, roças converted to lodging, and the beach lodges on Príncipe rarely sell out the way they do in July, August. You can often secure a room a couple of weeks out rather than months, and rates tend to run softer.
- + Birdlife peaks in the wet. The endemic São Tomé fiscal, the dwarf olive ibis, and the Príncipe seedeater are all more active and vocal. Forest treks up toward Pico de São Tomé, which tops out around 6,640 ft (2,024 m), reward early risers who don't mind mud.
- − Rain is the headline drawback. Expect roughly 10 wet days across the month. When it falls it tends to come in heavy tropical bursts rather than all-day drizzle. Those bursts can wash out the unpaved interior roads toward Bombaim and the southern beaches, stranding you or your driver for an hour or two.
- − Humidity sits around 70% with highs near 86°F (30°C). Midday exertion turns sticky and slow. Your shirt is soaked twenty minutes into a forest path. Anything strenuous has to happen early.
- − Sea crossings to Príncipe can get bumpy. The short STP Airways flight is the reliable option. Any boat transfer is more weather-dependent in March, and swells occasionally cancel small-boat day trips around the southern islets at short notice.
Best Activities in March
Top things to do during your visit
March's rain feeds the Obô Natural Park's interior. The cloud forest on the flanks of Pico de São Tomé, 6,640 ft (2,024 m), is at its most alive. Moss dripping, streams full, the smell of wet earth and rotting fruit thick under the canopy. The trade-off is mud. This suits travelers who don't mind getting filthy in exchange for waterfalls running hard and orchids and endemic birds out in force. Cooler temperatures under the canopy make the climb bearable compared to the coastal swelter.
The colonial-era cacao and coffee estates, Roça Água Izé, Roça São João dos Angolares, the crumbling grandeur of Roçan Agostinho Neto with its old hospital colonnade, are at their most photogenic in March. Vines reclaim the brick, the cocoa pods fatten on the trees. Indoor-heavy and shaded, these make ideal rainy-afternoon backups when a downpour shuts the beach down.
The islet off São Tomé's southern tip sits exactly on the Equator. There's a marker monument you can stand astride. The surrounding water in March is warm and clear between squalls, around 82°F (28°C). Reef fish, the occasional turtle, and calm sheltered coves make it the standout marine day out. Go on a clear morning. Afternoons are squallier this month.
Príncipe, the smaller, greener, far quieter sister island, is at its lushest in March. The jagged volcanic tower of Pico Cão Grande is visible on the São Tomé crossing. The empty arc of Praia Banana, the one from the old Bacardi advert, is framed by jungle running straight to the sand. Fewer travelers reach Príncipe, so March's low season means you may have a UNESCO Biosphere beach essentially to yourself.
When the rain hits, the covered Mercado Municipal in São Tomé town is the move. The smell of dried fish, ripe jackfruit, and palm oil. The slap of women cleaning bonito on stone counters. March is matabala (taro) and breadfruit season, so the Creole staple calulu and the fish stews taste at their freshest. A guided eating walk threads the market, the cathedral square, and the pastel colonial waterfront.
The drive south from the capital toward Angolares and Praia Jalé strings together black-sand beaches. The towering Pico Cão Grande basalt plug rises 1,260 ft (384 m) straight out of the jungle. Roadside waterfalls only perform in the wet season. March is the month they thunder. Praia Jalé is also a sea-turtle nesting beach, and late-season nesting activity can still be seen with care.
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