Cape Verde, or: one week of hiking on Santo Antão

For my very first trip of 2020, I decided to go to a sunny (and warm) destination: Cape Verde! 😀

Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde in Portuguese, is an archipelago of ten volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. It is located off the coast of Senegal, Northwest Africa. The archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonised the islands. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants and pirates.

The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration. Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. The islands continued to campaign for independence, which was achieved in 1975.

You are probably used to my travelling solo... well, you'll be surprised! This time, I was travelling with a French travel agency called Terres d'Aventure. We were a group of 15 people, from 26 to 74 years old.

On the very first day of our holiday, i.e., Sunday 12th of January, we met at 4.30 am at Paris airport. Aoutch! 😉 I'm not used to waking up that early... We took a direct flight (6 hours) from Paris to Mindelo, São Vicente island. I had no neighbour and thus managed to sleep a couple of hours! 😀

As soon as we landed, we discovered a very welcoming country. The best way to characterise Cape Verde and its inhabitants? "No stress", for sure! 😀 Our guide for the whole week, Tatiana, was waiting for us at the airport. We took a minibus to check in and drop our backpacks at the hotel - note I got fairly lucky as I ended up in a single room! Eight of us then walked to the beach and ordered a delicious grilled fish.

And here a little video or... me having fun with my new toy (GoPro camera)!

I then went for a little solo walk in the city of Mindelo. A couple of things surprised me: 1) streets were extremely clean, and 2) people were very respectuous and nice, despite my being a white woman alone.

São Vicente is one of the Barlavento islands, the northern group of islands within Cape Verde. Due to its lack of water, the island was initially used only as a cattle pasture.

Mindelo is a port city, located in the northern part of São Vicente. The city is home to 93% of the entire island's population, and is known for its colourful carnival celebrations. It was also the hometown of the famous singer Cesária Évora, nicknamed the "barefoot diva".

In the evening, we all together went to a little family restaurant. I got to chat a bit more with other members of the group, and also to taste the traditional cuisine, made of fresh fish, vegetables (including carrots, cabbage, manioc, sweet potatoes...), and rice. Every single plate was delicious. We also got to taste the homemade "arranged rum", Cape Verde being host of many sugar cane fields. Yummy! 😀 The whole dinner was accompanied by a small band playing traditional music, such as Cesária's songs.

And I also took a short video (don't forget to turn on the sound).

Before starting our second day of hiking, we drove for an hour to reach the Cova crater, a volcanic caldera in the eastcentral part of Santo Antão. The diameter of the caldera is about one kilometre, and forms a part of Cova-Paul-Ribeira da Torre Natural Park. The Cova formation dates from between 1.4 million and 700,000 years ago. Our driver stopped a few times on the way for us to do like Japanese tourists! 😉

Once Tatiana explained us the flow of the day, i.e., about 4 hours of hiking, with an elevation of + 400m and of - 450m, we started to walk in a pine forest. Landscapes were completely different than those of the first day, yet very nice as well. The weather was perfect for hiking, as the sun was hidden.

A few of us were starving past noon, but I would say that Tatiana chose the perfect spot for lunch. We indeed stopped at the top of a hill, with an amazing and peaceful view. As for the picnic, we all carried a box of rice salad, with a few vegetables (and coriander), which was very good. We also had fruits.

Our afternoon walk was surprisingly short, and we were (almost! lol) ready to keep on with walking before getting on the minibus. We drove along some scary roads, with extremely steep and dangerous hills. Points of view were impressive, but even the ones who did not have vertigo did not feel comfortable! 😉

After a short drive, we reached the city of Ribeira Grande and our guesthouse for the coming couple of nights. We discovered a small city coloured with street art, as well as a tiny bar where we had apéro! 😉

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant where we had - again - some delicious grilled fish, fresh veggies, rice, French fries, perfect desserts, and homemade arranged rum... 😀

I had a very good night of sleep and, good news, my thighs and calves don't hurt anymore! 😀 Also, as you may have noticed on the previous pictures, I borrowed some hiking sticks from Claudine as she was not really using hers. After checking out from our guesthouse, we drove towards Cruzinha, a little fishing village. But, before that, we stopped for a few pictures! How cute do I look with my knee plaster??? 😉

The plan for the day? A 15-km hike along the coast! Elevation +: 640m, elevation -: 680m. Let's go! 😀

I really enjoyed the landscapes (you might know that I am a big fan of the ocean), and it was great to not suffer from muscle aches anymore. For lunch, we stopped at a little restaurant, once again with a great view.

Let's play a little game! 😀 On the last picture, you need to find 3 things: me, a cat, a dog.

The afternoon hike was fairly intense. We indeed walked along a Way of the Cross, going higher and higher, in the sun. It fell like it would never end... The landscapes totally worth it, though! After a few hours, we started to see the city of Ponta do Sol, our destination for the night. In total, we walked 5-6 hours.

Fairly sad news when we reached the city, there was a problem in our guesthouse: water was not working! We had all dreamt of a warm shower after this intense day... 😉 Luckily enough, we all managed to use Tatiana's shower, one by one. For dinner, we got a delicious chocolate cake as it was Christine's birthday.

What a day! 😀

Saturday 18th was supposed to be our last day of hiking, but I decided not to join the group given the state of my ankle. To be honest, it was barely swollen, but it was painful to walk on it. So, we packed and left Ponta de Sol and drove to a tiny village. There, we found a wheelbarrow and I had fun with Alain... 😉

I spent the day at a local bar, with local music, reading my book, feet in the swimming pool.

The others met me around 2 or 3pm, after their hike. Our driver took us back all the way to Porto Novo, where we took the ferry to head back to Mindelo, on São Vicente island. In the evening, we went for dinner at the exact same place where we went on our first day, and stayed in the same hotel. It felt like nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. We were now bonded thanks to a great week of hiking.

We were ready for (what we thought was...) our last night in Cape Verde.

- I discovered a very beautiful country, both in terms of landscapes (as you saw on my pictures) and way of life (diversified culture, music, welcoming inhabitants, etc).

- I enjoyed traveling with a group and a guide (an amazing guide, shall I say!), in spite being used to traveling on my own.

- It's very nice to travel to a sunny and warm place in January, for a real Winter break!