This month the family travelled to Cape Verde for two weeks of sun and sand. Cape Verde is a group of islands off the coast of West Africa. We stayed on the island of Sal, in the town of Santa Maria (top right corner of map).
Sal is a very dry island but it has beautiful white sandy beaches. Along the beach of Santa Maria the waves are large but the water is shallow, so we found it to be quite safe for swimming and running around in the surf. The water was warm, and the overall temperature during our stay was perfect.
The town of Santa Maria is attractive and friendly. The locals, mostly descendants from West African immigrants, speak a creole language based mostly on Portuguese. There is also a fair-sized population of residents from Italy, Portugal, and other parts of Europe. Most of the population is Catholic, with some Muslims among the West African immigrants. The small size of Santa Maria creates a sense of intimacy and security, for instance it is common to see small children walking by themselves on the streets, even in the evenings. Souvenir sellers are eager and just a little bit pushy, but there was no sign of unfriendliness towards tourists, and we saw no beggars anywhere.
Sal once produced salt from its natural saline ponds. The salt ponds can still be visited today (a roughly 30 minute trip from Santa Maria) and the high salinity of the water makes floating in the ponds a unique experience! The volcanic rock bed of the ponds also keeps your toes warm. Highly recommended.
During much of the year it is possible to see baby sea turtles on the beach near Riu Hotel at the western edge of Santa Maria. We were lucky enough to view hatchlings from one of the last nests of the season which hatched while we were in Santa Maria. We visited the SOS Tortuga office in the center of Santa Maria and received a phone number to call each morning to enquire whether any nests had hatched the previous night. When a nest has hatched, the SOS staff show the hatchlings to the public the same afternoon on the Riu Hotel beach, before releasing them into the ocean in the evening to lessen the threat from predators. The greatest danger to these hatchlings actually comes from people who drive off-road vehicles on the beaches and crush the nests.
To the east of Santa Maria (a 15 minute walk from the center of the city) the coastline is covered with rippling sandstone, round black lava rocks and fragments of conch shells. The beachscape is interesting here.
Santa Maria beach has a policy of no dogs. One of those ideas that looked better on paper, I guess...
On the east side of Santa Maria town, on the street called 'Travessa Patrice Lumumba' is our favorite snack bar, the Boa Vida, run by an Italian couple. I recommend their tasty cachupa guizada (roast beans with egg) and cachupa rica (a
stew with vegetables, beans and meat), both part of the local Cape Verde
cuisine. Also try their flavored grogue made with sugar cane!
Shopkeepers selling souvenirs give tourists free 'welcome bracelets' of various kinds, hoping to entice or persuade them to purchase something from their shop. Here is my collection after about a week. I did try to buy something from each vendor's shop, but I'm not sure I succeeded...
These innocent-looking beads actually have their own story to tell. They are vintage trade beads, made sometime in the mid-20th century in North Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) and sold or traded to West Africa.
Many of the souvenir shops in Sal are run by West Africans from Mali, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. In front of some shops are large wooden bird statues. These are statues carved by the Senufo ethnic group representing the hornbill, a sacred bird connected to fertility and good harvests, and are believed by shop and hotel owners to bring good luck. It is possible to buy a smaller version of these statues in some shops.
No visit to Cape Verde is complete without a game of Ouril (the rules of which your local souvenir vendor will be happy to tell you when he/she sells it to you). It is an interesting game of strategy which I've been told is similar to backgammon. The things that look like pebbles are actually seeds from a local bush, and in the game they also symbolize seeds which are 'sown', 'captured' or 'fed' to one's opponent.
Finally, Christmas day on Sal island is uniquely Cape Verdean, complete with a visit from a surfing Santa...
During much of the year it is possible to see baby sea turtles on the beach near Riu Hotel at the western edge of Santa Maria. We were lucky enough to view hatchlings from one of the last nests of the season which hatched while we were in Santa Maria. We visited the SOS Tortuga office in the center of Santa Maria and received a phone number to call each morning to enquire whether any nests had hatched the previous night. When a nest has hatched, the SOS staff show the hatchlings to the public the same afternoon on the Riu Hotel beach, before releasing them into the ocean in the evening to lessen the threat from predators. The greatest danger to these hatchlings actually comes from people who drive off-road vehicles on the beaches and crush the nests.
To the east of Santa Maria (a 15 minute walk from the center of the city) the coastline is covered with rippling sandstone, round black lava rocks and fragments of conch shells. The beachscape is interesting here.
Santa Maria beach has a policy of no dogs. One of those ideas that looked better on paper, I guess...
Shopkeepers selling souvenirs give tourists free 'welcome bracelets' of various kinds, hoping to entice or persuade them to purchase something from their shop. Here is my collection after about a week. I did try to buy something from each vendor's shop, but I'm not sure I succeeded...
Many of the souvenir shops in Sal are run by West Africans from Mali, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. In front of some shops are large wooden bird statues. These are statues carved by the Senufo ethnic group representing the hornbill, a sacred bird connected to fertility and good harvests, and are believed by shop and hotel owners to bring good luck. It is possible to buy a smaller version of these statues in some shops.
No visit to Cape Verde is complete without a game of Ouril (the rules of which your local souvenir vendor will be happy to tell you when he/she sells it to you). It is an interesting game of strategy which I've been told is similar to backgammon. The things that look like pebbles are actually seeds from a local bush, and in the game they also symbolize seeds which are 'sown', 'captured' or 'fed' to one's opponent.
Finally, Christmas day on Sal island is uniquely Cape Verdean, complete with a visit from a surfing Santa...
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