São Tomé e Príncipe

tickets terms & conditions

Neuter Campaign + Emergency lectures + traveling in the most beautiful country, not yet found by tourists!

Dates:

May 30 -June 7, 2026 - tickets will open soon!

This mission will be limited to 8 people, if you want to be one of them, join the waitlist!

Educators:

A Specialist in Internal Medicine will deliver emergency CPD/CE.

Mafalda Iria (DVM) and Helda Neto (DVM) will teach you spay/neuter techniques.

Program:

May 30 Saturday: Fly with TAP at 10.30 from Lisbon to São Tomé, arriving at 17.30. A 4x4 will be waiting. Drive 1h to Mucumbli, where you will sleep 2 nights.

May 31: Visit the area around Santa Catarina and enjoy the empty beaches!

June 1: Visit Lagoa Azul and Praia dos Tamarindos. Enjoy 2h of live CPD/CE online at Monte Mar Restaurant. After lunch, drive 30min to Zuntapata. Head vets Mafalda and Helda will explain how the campaign will work. Sleep at Hotel Praia for 4 nights.

June 2 to 4: Neuter campaign from 8.00 until ~17.30. Every evening you will ddine at a different restaurant.

June 5: Neuter campaign until 13.30. After lunch, drive 30 min to Eden Valley where you will spend the night. Enjoy the pool and waterfall!

June 6 Saturday: Drive 35min to Monte Cafe and have lunch at Casa Museu Almada Negreiros. Shop at the capital and fly back at 22.25 with TAP, arriving in Lisbon at 5.00 the next day.

June 7 to 9: Travel to Porto (1h by plane, or 2h40min by train), enjoy Lisbon, or somewhere in between (like Óbidos - Batalha - Fátima - Tomar).

June 9-14: Practical Ultrasound course in Porto (Intro and Advanced). Airbnb is booked from the 9th until the 14th. Info about this course.

You can attend only the neuter campaign, only the ultrasound course, or both!

What is included in the ticket?

- 7 nights in great hotels: Mucumbli, Eden Valley (both are boutique hotels) & Hotel Praia, click on them to view

- 7 breakfasts

- 30h of neutering high numbers of dogs

- surgical education

- 3h of lectures on Emergencies

- CE/CPD certificate

- 4x4 rental for 4 days

- sightseeing planned and prebooked for you

- 24h support (local and online)

Room options/cost:

All this for £600 in a room for 2 people (cost per person; single beds or double bed & private bathroom) or £880 in a private room for 1 person. The cost is the same for vets, nurses, students and non-vet professionals.

Hotel Praia is simple, as are most places in this country. If you prefer, for an extra £230 (room for 2 people) or £390 (room for 1 person), I can book you in at Omali, a beautiful high-end hotel located at walking distance from the campaign. This would be the extra cost per person to stay at Omali, instead of Hotel Praia, for the 4 nights of the campaign.

What is not included in the ticket?

- Lunches/dinners (not possible to prebook)

- Flights

Flight tips:

You can only fly to São Tomé from Lisbon and a couple of African countries. There are no direct flights from any other airport in Europe, America or Asia. You have two airline options: TAP and STP Airways. The cost is similar, but STP flies only on Saturdays and frequently delays flights by 24h. I advise you to book with TAP. TAP flies in and out on several days, but flights on Saturdays are 2h shorter! The country consists of two islands. If you’d like to visit Príncipe, STP is the only airline flying there, with fares from £65 each way when booked months in advance.

Do you need to organise anything?

Only your flights. Ohana organises everything else!

What are the most beautiful places in this country?

- The ones we will show you!

- The South. We prebooked the best airbnb from 28th until 30th May, in case you wish to come earlier.

- Príncipe island. Very similar to the South and just as beautiful (but more costly); unless you have lots of time, you don't need to visit both. We prebooked the best airbnb from 25th until 27th May.

You need a minimum of 2.5 days (beyond our 7-day mission) to visit the South or Príncipe!

We will email you the best places to stay, restaurants, contacts of trusted drivers, etc :)

How will the campaign work?

Vets will learn the best spay/neuter techniques and work independently without an assistant. Vets with surgical experience will neuter dozens of animals, building surgical skills and confidence! Students, vet nurses and techs prepare the dogs for surgery, injections and post-op.

Students can't operate solo in São Tomé (but they can in Ecuador! See here!). Unlike our Ecuador campaign, dogs in São Tomé are not on oxygen, inhalant anesthesia, or monitoring, as these are unavailable in a country facing poverty. Surgeries need to be fast for the dogs' safety. Students (and vets with little surgical experience) can assist the surgeon, and do part of the surgery. But if your goal is to do many surgeries and develop surgical skills, our educational Ecuador campaign is better for you!!

I'm not a vet, nurse, tech or student, can I join? Can I bring my family or friends?

Yes! Non-vet professionals are always welcome in our courses & missions - you don't need to have a vet friend in the campaign. You can help in the campaign, recovering animals from anesthesia and removing IV catheters; or if you prefer, you can explore the island during the day, then reconnect with the group in the evening. The principle is the same for everyone: the ticket covers your expenses and a donation towards the neuter campaign.

Is São Tome e Principe safe?

Yes, the country consists of two islands and you can walk around alone in both.

Why are we doing this?

There are thousands of dogs starving to death in São Tomé e Príncipe. With rare exceptions, people do not give them food of water. They also suffer horrific acts of cruelty due to lack of education. For example, the locals believe they can beat up animals or throw boiling water at them, because animals don't feel pain and don't have feelings. We want to change that! With the profits from our 2025 courses, we printed nearly 2000 copies of a children's book that teach children to treat animals with kindness and respect. We joined the local charity AMA in delivering the books and interactive presentations in schools. Many of these children had nothing, now they have a book! We also covered the annual salary of a teacher who joined the local charity to visit schools full-time, teaching children to be kind to animals. In 2026, we want to print books for more children, continue to educate children in schools, and fund a mass neuter campaign!

Where can I see footage from previous missions?

Our 2024 and 2025 missions in this country were INCREDIBLE, click here to view the highlight folder 'Africa' on our instagram @ohana.animalcharity.

Are the tickets or deposit refundable?

They are not, as we have to pay expenses in advance and these are not refundable to us. But we can resell it for you (there are always people who couldn't get a ticket) or you can transfer it to a friend, so your money won't be lost! Remember that all money received will be used in the neuter campaign.

What are the payment options?

Google pay, debit card or transfer. Bank transfer results in more money for the animals (compared with payment via the website) because there are no fees. See details for bank transfer.

Thank you!

We are beyond grateful for the support offered by Servive (Grupo Nuzoa). Without them, we would not be doing ultrasound courses, which are funding all of our work in Africa! They are incredible people who care about helping people in developing countries and their animals! If you too would like to support this mission, email us or donate.

Welcome to our Ohana Family!

Carolina Albuquerque,

DVM MSc MRCVS CertAVP DipECVIM-CA EBVS and RCVS Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine

Proud co-founder of Ohana Animal Charity