Santa Maria, Cape Verde – Soak up the sun, go for long walks on shimmering beaches and laze around on loungers – that is exactly what Uli and Heike are doing before the cold winter months begin.
The pair from Munich were not keen on flying to the Canary Islands again and so they chose a more unusual destination. ‘The Canaries get pretty full in the winter unlike the Cape Verde islands,’ said Heike.
Even in the main winter season there is little sign of hectic activity on Sal and neighbouring Boa Vista – even though these two are the most popular islands in the entire archipelago, which lies off the coast of West Africa.
Compared to the other eight inhabited Cape Verde islands, Sal, with its largely barren landscape, seems to have little of cultural or geographical interest to recommend it.
Santo Antaos boasts rugged mountains and fine hiking territory, Santiago is thoroughly African while Fogo has huge volcanic craters and the picturesque colonial town of Sao Filipe. Sal’s attractions are easily summed-up: Endlessly long white beaches lapped by a turquoise sea.
The island reminds 32-year-old Heike of Fuerteventura. The sparkling white beaches are certainly similar and the parched interior of volcanic cones, stony outcrops and shimmering red salt marshes reminds some well-travelled visitors of the Spanish-speaking island in the Atlantic. ‘The difference is that here it is not crowded and there are no architectural eyesores,’ said Uli. ‘The Cape Verde islands look like the Canaries must have done 60 years ago.’
This applies to the other Cape Verde islands but only to a certain extent to Sal. The international travel industry took some time before discovering the archipelago but it is now firmly on the tourist map. Sal already has its first high-rise hotels.
At the same time, Santa Maria can hardly be compared with established holiday resorts in Spain or Italy. The colourful housefronts in orange, yellow and turquoise are a legacy of the Portuguese colonial past, which has produced a colourful and enduring mix of Africa and Europe.
A good place to get acquainted with the locals is down at the harbour. The fishermen nudge up to the quayside in their boats and toss their catch straight onto the wooden pier. The area lies close to the handsome beach of Praia de Santa Maria which stretches more than two kilometres to Ponta do Sino. Thanks to the strong Passat wind, the south-west tip of the island as far as Ponta Preta ranks among the best of the world’s surfing spots.
Visitors who admire the lonely beaches on Sal will probably fall down in their knees in joy when they catch sight of the sandy expanses along the coastline of neighbouring Boa Vista. Around 80 per cent of the tourists venture no farther than the broad Praia da Chave beach, where two large holiday complexes have been built. This leaves the remaining Boa Vista beaches almost completely devoid of visitors. At Praia da Varandinha beach for example, the solitude is almost unnerving.
There is a logical reason for this. The unsurfaced tracks to most of the beaches behind dunes are difficult to negotiate. There are few signposts to go by and those without a good sense of direction and a robust set of wheels will simply not find them. Praia de Santa Monica, regarded by many as the most beautiful Cape Verde beach, is only reachable by four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Boa Vista has been dubbed Atlantic Sahara on account of Deserto de Viana with its huge shifting sands. Further inland the eye roves over a rocky desert with no sign of human life. The landscape is made up of eroded rocks and the stumps of volcanoes worn down by the eternal winds.
