Cabo Verde: West Africa’s Closest Archipelago
The island nation of Cabo Verde, just off Senegal on Africa’s west coast, was the final port of call on our voyage through the South Atlantic last spring. Arriving at Cabo Verde’s Fogo Island was a bittersweet time – soon, we would be leaving Seaventure, our home for 34 days. We’d be saying goodbye to new friends and the wonderful expedition team and ship’s crew that made this adventure so unforgettable. But we had one more captivating, out-of-the-way destination to explore, and Cabo Verde did not disappoint.
Before we disembarked on Sal, Cape Verde’s largest and most touristic island, Seaventure made stops on the islands of Fogo and Santiago. After leaving the ship, we elected to spend a few extra days on Sal before flying to our next destination, Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands.
Here’s everything that fascinated us about the Cabo Verde Islands.
Cabo Verde Factoids
Cabo Verde consists of 10 volcanic islands located about 600 km from the West African coast. It’s named for the Cap-Vert peninsula on the Senegalese coast, a name derived from the Portuguese for “green cape.” But honestly, Cabo Verde is a very dry island group and “green” does not spring to mind when describing it.
Cabo Verde was discovered and claimed by Portugal in the 15th century and became an important link in the transatlantic slave trade. The island group gained its independence from Portugal in 1975, and today is known as one of the most stable democratic governments in Africa.
Cabo Verde islanders have a blend of African, Portuguese, and Brazilian heritage, and it’s reflected in their music, dance, and cuisine. Although Portuguese is still the official language, Cape Verdean Creole is widely spoken and considered a symbol of national identity.
Cabo Verde is the birthplace of powerful hurricanes. One of the first times we heard about Cabo Verde was while we living in Florida. If a hurricane was headed our way in the Atlantic, the meteorologist would often say that it began as a tropical wave in the Cabo Verdes. Cabo Verde hurricanes are often the largest and most intense storms of the season, since they have the entire Atlantic to cross and build up strength.
Cape Verde is a sunny, windswept place, which makes it a perfect spot for renewable energy. As such, the country is investing heavily in wind and solar power, with a goal of becoming 100% reliant on renewable energy by the end of 2025.
Fogo: Life on an Active Volcano
We spent an interesting day on Fogo, Cabo Verde’s highest-altitude island. Fogo is the Portuguese word for fire, a moniker that suits this arid, rocky island. It was created by Pico do Fogo, an active volcano that rises to 2,829 meters, and was first occupied by Portuguese settlers in the late 15th century.
Santiago: The Capital Island
Home to Cape Verde’s capital, Praia, Santiago is the largest and most populous island. We spent another day exploring the historic sites in Praia and also visiting Cidade Velha, Cape Verde’s oldest settlement.
Cidade Velha
A UNESCO World Heritage site, Cidade Velha has a colorful and sad history. Both Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus made stops there before continuing their quests to colonize the “New World.” Later, the settlement was an important port for processing enslaved people brought from mainland Africa before shipping them on to the Americas.
Praia
Cape Verde’s capital and largest city is filled with beautifully preserved colonial buildings. A visit to the municipal market was a big highlight for us.
Sal: The Tourism Center
Most visitors to Cabo Verde arrive to and stay on Sal, the island with the best infrastructure for tourists. We moved ashore in Sal and rented a car, which allowed us to cover the island’s many points of interest in only a couple of days. Sal is named for the two large salt ponds of Pedra de Lume and Santa Maria, which powered a thriving salt trade from the early 1800s until the 1980s. The southernmost town, Santa Maria, draws tourists from all over the world and boasts beautiful, white sandy beaches. Cabo Verde’s constant and consistent winds have made Sal a mecca for kiteboarders.
Bucarona and the Blue Eye Cave
This incredibly scenic spot is popular with locals and tourists alike. Its main attractions are the natural swimming pool carved into the rock and the Blue Eye, a seawater-filled cave formation with a circular opening to the sea. The opening lights up with a blue glow when the sun hits a certain angle (usually mid-morning). The Bucarona site is well-developed for tourists, with paved walkways, an observation deck, and a restaurant/gift shop. The entrance fee is about €3.
Salinas de Pedra de Lume
Pedra de Lume village, on Sal’s northeast coast, is the site of a salt mining operation that began in 18th century and still operates, albeit on a small scale for cosmetics and tourist items. The salinas (salt evaporation ponds) lie in the crater of an extinct volcano, surrounded by a dramatic lunar landscape of volcanic rock. For a small admission fee, visitors can swim in the ponds. With a salt concentration 26 percent higher than that of the ocean, the ponds allow swimmers to float effortlessly as if they were in the Dead Sea.
Shark Bay
To the south of Pedra de Lume is Shark Bay, a rocky beach with shallows that extend far out from shore. These conditions provide ideal breeding and nursery grounds for lemon sharks and offer the babies protection from predators and other deep-sea dangers. The young sharks will come right up to visitors standing calf-deep in the water (no worries – they’re not dangerous, just curious). For a small fee, you can rent fat, cushy white Crocs that are ideal for wading into the rocky shore.
Sal Beaches
Sal has gorgeous sand beaches, most of which are located on the east and south sides of the island.
A Cabo Verde Treasure: Cesária Évora
The islands might be known as a hurricane incubator, but Cabo Verde has a much bigger claim to fame: singer Cesária Évora. A 2004 Grammy winner, Cesária popularized morna, a music genre native to the islands. Although she mostly sang in Cabo Verdean creole, some of her music is in Portuguese or Spanish. Her numerous Grammy nominations and win launched her into global popularity, and she played an outsize role in raising the profile of Cabo Verde and its music to the world.
Known for performing barefoot on stage (thus her nickname, Cize, the Barefoot Diva), Cesária sang of love, homesickness, nostalgia, and the history of the islanders. She died in 2011, but her music echoes on in the streets, shops, restaurants, bars, and dance halls of Cabo Verde.
Cesária’s music is soulful, reflective, and a little melancholic. After visiting Cape Verde, we bought one of her albums. Listening to the Cesária’s music transports me instantly back to that fascinating place, beautiful in its own way.
Here’s one of my favorite Cesária Évora songs (with some great instrumentals):
Visiting Cape Verde
Getting There/Getting Around
Amilcar Cabral Airport on Sal is the main international airport for Cable Verde, offering connections to many cities in Europe and West Africa. Uber is not a thing on Sal, but taxis and shared minivans are plentiful. The car we rented from Mendes & Mendes was serviceable and not too expensive.
For visiting the other islands, Cabo Verde Airlines offers daily interisland flights. In addition, CV Interilhas offers a ferry service connecting Sal and Santiago.
Lodging
For our four nights on Sal, we stayed in Apartamento Moradias, a small apartment in Santa Maria. The apartment was very basic but economical and clean, in a secure apartment building with a fantastic, huge pool. This apartment’s best feature is its location – it’s just across the street from the main beach and an easy walk to lots of cafes, shops, and restaurants. For a more upscale option, some of our friends from Seaventure stayed at the Oásis Atlântico Belorizonte just across the street and gave it high marks.
Food and Drink
Our favorite hangout in Santa Maria was Palm Beach, a quintessential beach bar/seafood joint where we enjoyed more than one tasty meal and a few caipirinhas. We also had a great Italian dinner at La Trattoria and enjoyed chatting with the Italian owner. Papaya is a great place for a healthy breakfast. And on the beach near the Pedra de Lume salt ponds is Área Docas, offering excellent, local seafood.
Sahara Dust
Depending on the time of year you visit, the Cabo Verde skies might be hazy from plumes of dust blown over from the Sahara. We noticed the dust from Seaventure when we were still far out at sea. On Fogo, it was still noticeable, but it seemed to be dissipating by the time we got to Sal. The dust is seasonal and seems to be worse in the winter/early spring months (we were there in April).
Online Resources
The Cabo Verde official tourism website is a great resource. You can also find good information here and here.
Next Up: Gorgeous Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands
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10 Comments
Beautiful photos, Susan. While I knew of the Cape Verdes from sailors (and even my cousin visited by sailboat on their Atlantic crossing), until recently I was kind of ignoring it.
Seeing your post and talking to my parents who now visited the islands for two winters in a row makes me want to visit one or two of them. They said the sand storms were worse in February. Apparently, there is a lot of construction going on. And I also learned that for some reason or another, many Cape Verde islanders move to Massachusetts.
Thanks, Liesbet. We did see quite a few sailing yachts in the anchorage at Sal, and it struck me that it might be a good stopover for an Atlantic crossing. We did read that there’s a big Cabo Verde diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere. Hope you two can visit Cabo Verde someday – it’s such an interesting place!
We toured the southern islands of Cape Verde last winter, staying on Boa Vista, Fogo and three locations on Santiago (Praia, Cuidade Velha and Tarrafal). The differences between the islands was amazing given their close proximity. Very, very enjoyable trip.
So glad you got to see these amazing islands. Cabo Verde is not a place we would have picked off a map to visit, but we’re really glad it was part of our cruise. And now we can say we’ve stepped foot in Africa 🙂
I love this post since Cabo Verde is a country I rarely read about on the internet. The landscape looks barren yet fascinating, and those tall peaks really make these islands appear even more dramatic. Thanks for sharing that music video of Cesária Évora. To me Sangue de Beirona has this lovely and somehow melancholic feeling to it, which is really nice.
Thanks, Bama. I feel the same about Cesária’s music – it has a dreamy quality that really carries me away to another place and time. Our visit to Cabo Verde was unforgettable!
Fascinating tour of this island! I had never heard of Cabo Verde before so thank you for the introduction 🙂
Thanks, Meg! We didn’t know much about Cabo Verde either, but we’re so glad we got to visit.
Thanks for informing us of Cape Verde’s many charms and its cultural icon. The islands look like a place we’d also love to visit someday.
Glad you enjoyed the post, Annie. Cape Verde is definitely worth a visit.