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Sun-baked… and booming!

The big talking point for holidaymakers in search of undiscovered beaches – and for property developers seeking emerging tourist markets – is Cape Verde, the former Portuguese colony hailed as the new Seychelles, only much nearer to home. Holiday Villas asked Ron Toft to pay a visit and give us his assessment of this new destination

Despite all of the recent publicity about the Cape Verde islands, many UK holidaymakers would be hard-pressed to pinpoint their location on a map or a desktop globe. I’ll tell you where they are: they’re in the Atlantic Ocean, 280 miles off the west coast of Africa and about 620 miles south west of the much more familiar Canary Islands. Once a speck on the map of the Portuguese empire – it’s now an independent and democratic republic – Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten tropical islands and assorted islets formed from molten rock blasted up from the bowels of the planet.

Game fishing is a popular activity in and around the islands, along with windsurfing

Game fishing is a popular activity in and around the islands, along with windsurfing

Island choices
I visited four of Cape Verde’s most popular islands – Sal, São Vicente, Fogo and the largest, Santiago.

Sal – with the most developed tourist industry – has been endowed by nature with beautiful beaches, as if to compensate for its otherwise flat, featureless and largely arid terrain. The most fascinating tourist attraction – apart from the beaches, where surfing, fishing and diving gear can be hired – are the Dead Sea-like Pedra le Lume saltpans, where you can float like a cork on the surface of the ultra-dense saline water.

Pico de Figo, the archipelago’s highest point

Pico de Figo, the archipelago�s highest point

Rugged Fogo is dominated by the 9,280ft Pico de Fogo, which erupted in 1785 and in so doing became Cape Verde’s highest mountain. It can be climbed, but beware: it’s arduous and takes about seven hours to get to the top and back down again. Vines are grown inside the caldera and some 50,000 bottles a year of five different and very good wines are made by a local co-operative. The island’s main town, São Filipe, has pretty Portuguese squares and esplanades. Unique to Fogo is a race of fair-haired, light-skinned people – descendants of Francois Montrond, a French nobleman who arrived on the island in 1872, and who had – at least – three wives and 11 children.

São Vicente has average to good beaches – try the spectacular São Pedro for speed windsurfing – but its capital, the port town of Mindelo, has been a magnet for the artists and musicians who’ve helped to make this Cape Verde’s most cosmopolitan island, and one with a lively nightlife. Alone among the islands, it’s also got a strong British connection. Mindelo was once a coaling station for Britain’s transatlantic steamers. Many islanders emigrated to Cardiff on the ships that brought the coal in, and the British legacies in Mindelo include sport – golf and cricket – architecture and an English cemetery.

‘The islanders love to party – to dance, play and listen to live music, and to parade . . . Festivals are big events’

The first of the islands to be settled – in 1462 – Santiago has half of the country’s population, its modern capital, Praia, and its international airport. I enjoyed strolling around the historic streets of the old capital, Cidade Velha, which was attacked by Sir Francis Drake and an army of 1,000 men in 1585 in search of gold. Buildings of interest include a hilltop fortress, centuries-old stone-and-thatch cottages and the tombs of knights set in the floor of the 1495 Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosario church. The island’s coast has white sand beaches and black reefs, while the interior offers verdant valleys, mountains and arid plains.

Beaches… and parties
Cape Verde’s greatest assets are the sun and the sea. The archipelago has delights for almost all visitors – from the holidaymaker who enjoys doing nothing more energetic than turning the pages of a book while baking on the beach, to those who want to dive, sail, surf and swim. But take note of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office travel advice about Cape Verde: sea conditions around the islands are sometimes treacherous.

Festival procession

Festival procession

The islanders love to party – to dance, play and listen to live music, and to parade. All of the bigger towns have a variety of pubs, nightclubs and restaurants where an eclectic blend of Cape Verdean, African and Brazilian music can be heard. Festivals are big events. I was lucky enough to be in Fogo for its annual party in April – the Bandeira (Flag) de São Filipe, which is an almost all-night riot of dancing, horse racing, processions and fireworks.

Fish… and rum!
If my experience is anything to go by, the quality, quantity and variety of food in Cape Verde is truly exceptional. I prefer fish to meat, so I was in my element – the ocean around the islands is teeming with them. In Sal and São Vicente, I watched as they were brought ashore and gutted before being bought by local families and restaurants. My favourite fish was wahoo, which has a delicate, white flesh. The staple dish of the multi-cultural islands is cachupa rica – a slow-boiled stew, the contents of which vary according to availability but can include corn, pumpkin, sweet potato, greens, fish, meat or chicken. I paid £15 for a three-course dinner with red house wine. Worth mentioning on the drinks front are Fogo wines and grogue, a potent but extremely palatable rum-like spirit produced locally from sugar cane.