Cabo Verde

The new, thoroughly updated eighth edition of Bradt’s Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) remains the most detailed and extensive English-language guidebook available to this alluring Atlantic archipelago, described by some as ‘Africa light’. Stable and peaceful, quietly isolated by its mid-Atlantic location, malaria-free, and with year-round sun, Cabo Verde’s appeal to independent travellers is a natural one – with its unique island geography making it somewhat of an adventure to navigate beyond the more conventional single-island visit of the increasing numbers of package tourists.

The archipelago is diverse, particularly in terms of its tourist infrastructure. Sal and Boavista, the oldest of these volcanic islands, boast white-sand beaches that rival those anywhere in the world, and are complemented by dream windsurfing and kitesurfing opportunities, courtesy of strong breezes and powerful Atlantic waves. Consequently, these two islands attract 95% of Cape Verde’s visitors, leaving the other seven inhabited islands undeveloped – and awaiting discovery.

Hikers, music-fans and those curious to experience something more authentically Cabo Verdean are drawn to these seven islands. Lace up your walking boots to trek amid the jaw-dropping mountainous landscapes of Fogo or Santo Antão. Or take time out in tiny Brava or mellow Maio. Or let your internal culture-vulture revel in the fusion of African, Portuguese and Brazilian influences that courses through the cities of Praia and Mindelo, with their constant backdrop of seductive music (or February’s raucous carnival!) – the aural thread that ties together these islands scattered across the mid-Atlantic.

Although Sal and Boa Vista’s all-inclusives dominate the tourist market, they are increasingly joined by small, independently owned eco-lodges across all islands, complemented by an upswing in the quality and accessibility of traditional pensão and homestays. Throw in coffee and wine, and an authentic culture of organic food, and you have a recipe for well-catered relaxation. So whether you are an Africa afficionado or an ecotourist looking for nesting loggerhead turtles and unusual birds, a digital nomad enticed by long-stay visas or a member of the USA’s sizeable Cape Verdean diaspora, Bradt’s Cape Verde provides the perfect guide to getting the most out of these unexpectedly rewarding islands.

Aisling Irwin (aislingirwin.com) is a journalist and writer who specialises in the environment, the developing world and science. A former correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, she has won several prizes for her writing. Co-authored with Colum Wilson, her Bradt guidebook to Cape Verde – the first ever English-language travel guide to the islands – was initially published in 1998. When Irwin first visited Cape Verde, it was an obscure destination with just a few tens of thousands of tourists each year. Although the tourist volume is now approaching seven figures, she believes that Cape Verde is, at heart, a place not to be consumed, but to be treasured and understood. Irwin and Wilson have co-authored one other book (In Quest of Livingstone: a Journey to the Four Fountains, about their retracing of David Livingstone’s last journey), and she has contributed to books on various subjects, including Bradt’s guide to solar eclipses.

Colum Wilson is a relief worker. He worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and now works for the UK government’s Department for International Development, specialising in providing humanitarian aid to west Africa. Together with journalist Aisling Irwin, he has lived in and written about a range of countries including Zambia and Angola. They have co-authored two books: Bradt’s Cape Verde and In Quest of Livingstone: a Journey to the Four Fountains, which retraced David Livingstone’s last journey. During the time that he has been visiting Cape Verde, Wilson has seen it change from a country with little tourism to one definitively on the tourist map.

Murray Stewart has written or co-authored five Bradt guides, and has been published in national travel magazines. He updated the sixth and seventh editions of Bradt’s Cape Verde guidebook, building on his understanding of Portuguese and a network of island-based contacts to convey the changes in this fast-developing country. He notes that Cape Verde does not have a wealth of obvious ‘treasures’, possessing few museums, no art galleries, a mere scattering of historical sites. Accordingly, he recommends ‘travelling as an anthropologist such that little treasures appear and quickly turn into big treasures – treasures to store in the memory’. Although loving the Fogo volcano, Santo Antão’s craggy peaks and the glistening beaches of Sal and Boavista, what won him over was ‘the gentle patience of the archipelago’s inhabitants, their ability to intimately share both time and space with each other (and me), and their commitment to live life communally’.