The archipelago of 30 million-year-old volcanic islands is flung out in the Gulf of Guinea 250km off Africa’s Equatorial West coast.

“African massage” joked my guide, Spencer, as we lurched along an unpaved track, throwing up clouds of red dust behind our Land Cruiser. We were on our way into Príncipe’s National Park and the hidden cascades of O Quê Pipi.

Later, as we walked through the jungle, Spencer, a Santoméan, gave me an impromptu botany lesson, pointing out banana, casamanga and pepper trees. He gave me a taste of a pointed, scarlet red fruit called mangongo with an intense, sugary aftertaste unlike anything I’d tasted before.

When we reached O Quê Pipi, I took a refreshing plunge into a cool pool, Spencer explaining that the waterfall’s name roughly translates as “Vagina Falls”, as it was where women used to come to cool off after work in the plantations. It felt far off the beaten track – and it was.

The dual island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is remote – an archipelago of 30 million-year-old volcanic islands flung out in the Gulf of Guinea, 250km off Africa’s Equatorial West coast.