The Obo national park is a national reserve in the south-west part of the volcanic island of Sao Tomé, a mountain which culminates in Pico de São Tomé (2,024 m) The park offers dramatic landscapes with torrents and waterfalls on its slopes, white and black sand beaches, sheer cliffs over the sea, as well as tropical forest.The native flora (700 species including a hundred orchids) and fauna (birds and marine turtles) are of particular interest as many species are endemic. From October to February, turtles can be observed laying their eggs at Praja de Micolo.
Discovered on St Thomas' day in 1470 by Portuguese navigators, Sao Tomé which was uninhabited, is like a jewel in the Gulf of Guinea off the Gabonese coast. This ancient volcanic cone culminating in Pico de São Tomé (2 024 metres asl), offers dramatic landscapes with torrents and waterfalls on its slopes, white and black sand beaches, sheer cliffs over the sea, tropical forest and extensive cocoa plantations with their beautiful " roças " (colonial houses). The native flora (700 species including a hundred orchids) and fauna (birds and marine turtles) are of particular interest as many species are endemic. The Obo Natural Park was created recently and helps to protect the unique natural heritage of Sao Tome island. From October to February, turtles can be observed laying their eggs at Praja de Micolo.
The Obo Natural Park was created recently and helps to protect the unique natural heritage of Sao Tome island. From October to February, turtles can be observed laying their eggs at Praja de Micolo. The native flora (700 species including a hundred orchids) and fauna (birds and marine turtles) are of particular interest as many species are endemic. Except for a few small mangroves on the south and savanna scrub on the north coast, Sao Tome and Principe’s vegetation was composed of humid forests that covered almost uniformly 90% of the islands territory, from the coast to the summit of the Pico de São Tomé (2024m), and comprise of three categories: the Atlantic rain forest of high altitude "Obo", which lies within the national parks, the secondary forest or “capoeira”, comprised of abandoned plantations that have reverted back to native vegetation cover 31% of the island, and the shade forests which provide shade to the key agricultural crops. In 1988 scientists classified the forests of Sao Tomé and Principe as the second most important in terms of biological interest of the 75 forests of Africa. The Atlantic rain forest of high altitude, Obô, contains the majority of the fauna and flora that gave Sao Tomé and Principe its classification. After recent reserch expedition, the WWF also classified the Sao Tome and Principe forests as one of the world 200 Eco-region, that means as one of the 200 most important biodiversity area in the world. Given that many of Eco-region cover widespread areas (the forest of the Congo basin, for example), the presence of Sao Tome and Principe in this list testifies its exceptional nature. Of the 700 local plant types, about 100 of these are only found in Sao Tome and Principe, including a begonia that grows up to 3 m high, and unique orchids.
The bird life is also other of the natural wonders of the country: with about 1000 km2, Sao Tome and Principe has 28 species of endemic birds. Only Sao Tome island has 21 endemic species. This is an extraordinary number because islands with the similar dimensions usually have 1 to 2 endemic bird species. The number of endemic birds has led the BirdLife International to classifies each island as a 'Endemic Bird Area' (EBA), and both islands are the only ocean small islands between the first 25% EBA’s of the world. This unique natural heritage is being protected for the benefit of later generations in an exemplary manner by an EU financed ONG, the ECOFAC (Programme for Conservation and Rational Utilization of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa). As part of the ECOFAC management plan, a ecotourism strategy has been launched with has lead to the creation in 1993 the protected areas of the Obo National Park (Parque Natural Ôbo) on both Sao Tome and Principe islands, covering about 29,500ha and includes examples of all the different biotopes – the lowland and mountain forests, mangroves and a savanna area. Later, the Tinhosa Islands Nature Preserve was created, covering 15ha, and the Rolas Islet Preserve, covering 6ha. 4 protected áreas in total, covering a land surface of 29,537ha, which correspond to about 30% of the country’s surface. These protected areas were defined to preserve and protect forest, coastal and marine ecosystems and promote orderly zoning and natural resource management so as to guarantee the continuity of evolutionary processes that have been going on for millions of years.
