96 Sao Tome - Lome
20. March 2011
I was planning of spending 2 days in San Tome, but at the Santana resort, there was no internet connection - and no mobile phone connection, so I felt a bit lost there. It also seemed, that I was the only guest t, so I decided, that Sunday was not a day to go sightseeing on the island.
I also had a couple hours of work ahead of me, transferring fuel from the ferry tank to the wing tanks, so I returned to the airport first thing Sunday morning.
After paying a fee of no less than 200$ (on top of the 130$ I had to pay for the landing permit), I got to work with the fuel transfer.
With the tanks almost full, I departed Sao Tome for the estimated 3.5 hour-long flight to Lome in Togo. I soon spotted CB's (thunderclouds) ahead. I had a line of lighting symbols showing on my MDF just right of my track.
I managed to navigate in among the clearly visible clouds, and soon after, I was in for a very smooth ride for the remaining trip. After saying goodbye to Sao Toma control, I was able to communicate with Accra some 350NM away. Pretty impressive. and I wondered if they have a remote transmitter on Sao Tome?
Arriving in Tome, I parked in front of a derelict building to clear customs etc. I got a 7 day visum for the sum of 30 $. An impressive visa, with no less than 5 different rubber stamps, and 2 stickers.
50 minutes later, I taxied to the clubhouse of the local flying club, where I should be able to get avgas. I was put in touch with Knud Peter, a dane living in Lome. He came around the clubhouse, and gave me a lift to hotel Sarakawa, a hotel with am impressive Olympic size pool.
