Furna is a tiny settlement at the northeastern coast of Brava, facing Fogo, its bigger brother, but even though less than 1.000 people call Furna their home, it is an important place for Brava in general, because it is the only decent port on the island. Founded at some point in the first half of […]
Schlagwort: Natur
Salinas do Porto Inglês
Between Cidade do Maio and Morro, the 5 km long and 1.5 km wide saltpan is the most important feature of the island, because historically it had brought some wealth to Maio, at least for some time. A line of dunes separates the pan from the sea, and it is only at high tides that […]
Cidade do Maio (Cidade do Porto Ingles)
The capital of Maio is located at the southwestern tip of the island and has the only decent port. Some 3.000 or 4.000 people are living there, and all the island´s students attend high school in town. Maio had been discovered in 1460 but was of no further interest because of being barren and hostile. […]
Monte Batalha
Monte Batalha (294 m) is situated in the hinterland of Calheta close to the west coast of Maio, and it is the second highest mountain on the island. In the wet season, its foothills are used for agriculture, and the higher ranges are good for grazing livestock. On sea-level, there is the forest of Calheta […]
Calheta
Calheta is located at the west coast of Maio and with more than 1.000 inhabitants the second-largest settlement on the island. It consists of two different villages, Ribona a bit inland and Baxona right at the sea. Most of the people live in Ribona where there are at least half a dozen informal bars, a […]
Maio
Maio is the easternmost of the Sotavento islands (“under the wind”) of Cape Verde and besides Sal the oldest island of the archipelago. Its 269 km² are quite flat except for some old volcanic mountains in the interior of which Monte Penoso (436 m) is the highest. The island is dry, barren, hostile, and the […]
Pedra de Lume
Pedra de Lume is a small settlement on Sal´s northeast coast that has grown around a tiny port. After long years of only being a stopover for turtle hunters, the interest in the island began to rose when Manuel António Martins started the exploitation of the salt ponds in the nearby crater in 1796. Water […]
Espargos
Espargos is a small, lovely desert town in the centre of Sal, right at the International Airport. It is the official capital of the island but of no further interest for tourists – if it wasn´t for the impressive volcanic desert landscape surrounding it. To fully enjoy this stunning scenery, one must walk up 107 […]
Santa Maria
Santa Maria is truly a non-place, a place that was not meant to be, an absurd place living only through and because of the people who are going to leave that place within a matter of ten or fourteen days, which gives it an atmosphere of elusive briefness. It once had been a small fishing […]
Serra Malagueta
Serra Malagueta (Chili/Pepper Mountains) is a mountain range located in the north of Santiago, and together with the one around Pico da Antónia (1394 m), the highest peak on the island, it is an important rain catcher. Because of its mountainous interior, the biggest island of the archipelago with the most inhabitants receives more rain […]