Lomé to São Tomé, 12 -15 Oct 07

Small dugout, big fish

The briefing office and the weather office in Lomé were fast and efficient, so Flemming had practically finished when Knud Peter came. There was a 25000 CFA fee for the Togo overflight and landing permit which had to be paid in addition to the very modest landing fee. In the terminal we met up with Angela and soon we got our departure stamps in our passports. Then it was off to the Africa West ramp, where we were parked, in Knud Peter’s car, which had a security sticker to go through the gate.
We were soon loaded up, and ready to start. So were Africa West’s three Antonov 12 cargo haulers, which were dispatching the weekly 747 load of cargo to various west and central African countries. They each had 4 engines to start while we only had one, so we got to the runway first and were airborne just before them. Soon after we were in radio and radar contact with Accra control in Ghana, that controls the airspace most of the way to São Tomé. After the usual 120 NM we lost VHF and radar contact, and we only got HF contact with Accra about 300 NM out. This is a common phenomenon as the ionosphere reflection doesn’t work well if the reflection angle is too steep.
On arrival, a taxi came right up to the plane and drove us to immigration at a nearby office. We were undecided whether to go to the Marlin or Miramar hotel neither of which is by a nice beach. The taxi driver then recommended the Club Santana, which is about 14 km on the other side of town, so we decided to have a look. On the way, we passed through São Tomé town which reminded me of Brazil with its colonial Portuguese architecture.
Club Santana is set in a beautiful tropical garden full of tall palm trees and hibiscus, and it’s by a pretty beach. The price is about the same as the other hotels and we managed to negotiate a 10% pilot discount.