Day 9 – Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands

The Cape Verde Islands are an island country consisting of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic, approximately 350 miles off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania, with a combined land area of approximately 1500 square miles. Together with the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Savage Islands, they form Macronesia.

The islands were uninhabited until the 15th century when they were settled by the Portuguese. Cape Verde became independent in 1975 and since the 1990s it has maintained a stable democracy. Almost entirely lacking natural resources, the developing economy is chiefly service based with increasing focus on tourism and foreign investment.

The total population of the islands is around 490,000, however the diaspora comprises greater numbers than inhabit the islands themselves. The national language is Portuguese although Cape Verdean creole is widely spoken. Sao Vicente, which is the island we visited (capital Mindelo), is the second most populated of the islands with a population of around 80,000. Around 90% of the population lives in Mindelo. The island measures approximately 10 x 15 miles and has a hot desert climate. It is extremely dry with only 5 inches of rain per annum, meaning agriculture is almost non-existent.

On visiting Mindelo today it was clear that the island is struggling to turn itself into a serious tourist destination. Although ranked as one of the most developed of the sub Saharan nations, there is an obvious lack of economic progress and significant poverty persists. This explains why so many Cape Verdeans have migrated elsewhere. Of those that remain many live in poverty with limited access to drinking water, sanitation and other basic services. 41% of Cape Verdeans don’t have access to clean water in their homes and 10% of children are not in school and are instead employed in dangerous child labour. Mindelo is a rather ramshackle, crumbling former colonial town, albeit with attractive colourful buildings and a sense of bustle.

After strolling around the town for several hours and failing to spend our currency (in spite of doing our very best), we eventually stopped somewhere for a very pleasant lunch before heading back to the ship. The temperature today was 23 degrees, with sunny spells, although this was tempered by very stiff onshore winds.

Overall Sao Vicente island felt remote, barren and lacking in infrastructure (we couldn’t get 4G at all and shops lack anything worth buying to the western tourist). There was no sign at all of any tourist amenities, in spite of the fact that the island is attempting to develop a tourist industry, and the only tourists we saw that weren’t cruise passengers were backpackers.
The island could be an attractive, less commercial, alternative destination to other Atlantic islands, but it is going to take an enormous injection of foreign capital and a collective effort to make it happen.