The islands of Cape Verde are quite a distance apart, and you really need at least a week to see more than one. I had just less than a week, and the island that appeared to be the most accessible was Sal.
The islands have different ecosystems due to their different geographies. Some are lush and tropical and some like Sal are desert islands.
Cape Verde was uninhabited and ‘discovered’ by Portuguese sailors in the 1400’s. They brought slaves from Africa and the population is now of Portuguese and African descent.
Flying into Sal the island looked to be a desert wasteland. What had I come to? I wondered. Sal is a small island and only has a few towns.
There is only one sealed road at the moment, though this may change. The road runs from the main town of Espargos near the airport to the coastal town of Santa Maria on the south coast. It was to Santa Maria I was headed.
The town of Santa Maria has gone from being a small colonial village to becoming a major tourist hub in the islands.
Largely centred around the fantastic beach of Santa Maria. There are beaches both in the town and to the east and west of the town centre.
They each have different character. The town beach is a mix of locals and tourists and is by far the most lively. There are a number of hotels in the town and this is the easiest beach to get to if you are based in the town.
To the east of the town centre is a quieter beach with not much going on. If you walk along it you come to a beach of used and broken conch shells.
The beach to the west of the town caters to the more upmarket resorts along that stretch of coast. The beach gets quieter as you head away from town and comes to a kite surfing beach before reaching a small lighthouse.
In the heat of the day the lighthouse is probably too far to walk to, but you could get there at a cooler time of day. One option is to get a taxi to drop you off at the far end of the beach road and then walk back along the beach. It’s a beautiful walk. You can stop off at one of the beach bars for a drink if you get hot. The hotel beach bar I went was happy to serve me.
The town has a good number of restaurants some by the beach and some set further back in the town. If you choose one with a local menu you can get Cachupa the islands main dish. This is made up of corn and beans but you can get it with fish or meat. I liked it best with fish.
The island does very good fish dishes generally as it isn’t imported like most of the meat. The grilled tuna was so much better than the tinned tuna you get in the UK.
You can get out of the town as there are taxis, but if you really want to see the island you need 4 wheel drive. Pickups with benches in the back are one way to travel but it looked very hot to me. Maybe best to book on a tour and they will take you to some of the islands sights in a more comfortable 4 wheel drive.
During the day the island is too hot for hiking but you might be able to hike early morning or going into evening.
The local drink is Grogue, a type of rum. It is made from sugar cane. The islands don’t produce enough cane for making sugar but there is enough for Grogue.
Where you choose to stay is up to you. There are the big all inclusive resorts to the west of the town. If you just want to lounge around on the beach or by the pool this might work for you.
If you want to experience local culture, better to stay in town. You might not get a pool but you will get a far more authentic experience, and it feels a lot more like Africa. The resorts could be anywhere, not much different to Tenerife really. The beach by the resorts though it has to be said is really beautiful.
Cape Verde can be reached from Portugal or other European countries. Tui flies from the UK, it takes around 6 hours. 6 hours is a mid range flight and this is quite a distance for a short holiday. Whether you would want to go for longer depends on what you enjoy doing on holiday. For me a week on Sal was enough.
The real draw for me was going back to Africa after a very long absence. Seeing how it has developed in the intervening years. Certainly very different from Zanzibar in the 90s.
Africa has come a long way but still a complicated region with many issues. Cape Verde and in particular Santa Maria may not be representative of the region as the wealth from tourism has not been felt right across Africa. Cape Verde has gone from being one of the poorest West African countries in the 1970’s to one of the richest, but even that wealth is not spread evenly across the islands.
As a toe in the water of Africa it might give you a sense of whether you want to go further into Africa. How do you cope with the heat of the day, or a street hustler following you, and how do you feel when the phone network and internet go down for three hours.
A next step into Africa could be one of the resort towns of Morocco or a similar north African country, through a tour company. It’s something to consider and not so far to travel from Europe.