Cape Verde - Boavista

Milan - Sal

The TACV flight (a rather dated Boeing 757) arrives punctually at the island of Sal. In no time we reach the Djasal village where we spend the night and then set off again for Boavista. For us who have never been to a village the impact is tremendous: a load of entertainers who brand you (with the all inclusive bracelet) offer you drinks and inform you about all the week's entertainment programmes…we are happy to have to leave again in a few hours. And then the bungalow: nice and cosy in itself, but the internal temperature touches 40 degrees. Practically an oven. Not even the blade fan provides relief. Are we mad? Sleeping is practically impossible. We wake up destroyed and very sweaty. A piece of advice: if one day you go to this village, which in itself I believe is one of the best on the island, I advise you to ask for a room with air conditioning.

Sal - Boavista

After a very rich breakfast, we take a tour of the village and visit the large beach in front. A splendid warm sea and white sand as far as the eye can see. What a shame that it is the beach overlooked by all the largest villages on the island, so in no time it gets chaotically crowded with people grabbing loungers and settling wherever they happen to be. All seasoned with disco music from the nearby village that is at the very least annoying. By all means I understand that young teenagers or groups of friends might like the place, but I realise that it really isn't for us. In the late morning we take the TACV flight (an equally dated propeller atr 42) which in 20 minutes takes us to Boavista. Already the arrival at the “airport” makes us understand that we have landed on an island still far from mass tourism.

It is a concrete hut of 50 square metres where the luggage is delivered to us literally “thrown”. There are no belts, there are no signs, there are no computers. Even the check-in counter, which we will get to experience on our return, consists of a desk and one of those mechanical needle scales. The tag is handwritten. We really like imagining that we have arrived on a wild island. The short stretch from the airport to the hotel makes us aware that although Cape Verde is a rather rich state compared to other African countries, here too poverty is widespread. The small village we pass through (Rabil) is made up of crumbling or incomplete concrete houses. Along the streets a load of barefoot children greet us with smiles that fill your heart.

And here we are at the hotel, the Parc Das Dunas, directly on the most beautiful beach of Boavista and, it is said, of the whole archipelago (Chavez beach). It is a small hotel made up of about forty spartan, cool bungalows 50 metres from the sea, directly on the beach. There is no entertainment except for some local folkloric show scheduled in the evening. Imagine arriving on a wild island, with very little tourist accommodation and staying in a bungalow separated from a light blue sea only by 50 metres of beach 6 km long and made of golden dunes. Imagine seeing here and there a few palms and in a corner a small brick chimney that in the sun takes on the colour of clay and that was used in the past for baking bricks. Imagine the wind that ripples the sea and continually changes the morphology of the dunes.

Imagine, then, that this beach, despite it being mid-August, is practically deserted. Just a few tourists strolling or someone local swimming or fishing. This is the impression we had of Boavista. First of all we take a very long walk on this splendid beach, we swim, alone, and lie in the sun, isolated from the world. A splendid sensation. We have dinner at the hotel and find out how best to visit the island. They advise us to rely on Pipino, a big local lad who has set up a small excursion business and who with his pick-ups takes the few tourists around the island. You can also rent cars or scooters, but since the island has practically no roads (only dirt and sand tracks) and many places, such as the most beautiful beaches, are unreachable without a pick-up, we decide to rely on him and book some excursions that we will do in the following days.

Boavista

We dedicate the entire day to relaxation, also to recover from the exertions of Iceland. Silence, sun, sea and walks up and down the dunes of our beach. An unforgettable day. In a single day the pallor we had accumulated in Iceland the week before is a pure memory. We eat at the hotel.

Boavista

We set off with Pipino and 6 other people for an outing in a pick-up that in one day will let us visit the interior of the island and a few beaches. We sit in the back, out in the open on rather uncomfortable benches in pure Cape Verdean spirit. We stop at Cohral Vehlo beach (old coral) where the sand is scattered with ancient dead coral. We swim, sunbathe, eat a packed lunch and set off again for a tour of the extremely arid interior. The road practically doesn't exist. It's a path marked here and there with white paint amid stretches of sharp stones. We reach the beach where there's a permanent camp studying the Caretta Caretta turtles that come here to lay their eggs. We then reach the three little villages of the north. We stop at Fundo Figheira where we wander through the poor but incredibly dignified alleys.

The children watch us curiously as we photograph them and film them with the video camera. They play ball and seem to be having a really great time. Every now and then a rooster, a hen or a dog crosses the little streets heading who knows where. Towards evening we arrive at the hotel exhausted and covered in dust, but truly satisfied with the outing.

We spend the morning sizzling in the sun on our beach and taking a 9 km walk until we reach the edge of Chavez beach. We even see a small shark. In the distance you can also see the outline of the mega resort under construction and almost finished, which within a year will make this beach less charming and noisier. I think by now only the adaptation of the airport runway is missing to make it suitable for the landing of the international flight. Right after lunch we set off for Cabo Santa Maria beach, which takes its name from what remains of the wreck of the cargo ship that ran aground here about forty years ago. You get there after travelling the "Picturesque Way," a little paved road surrounded by palms built by the women of Boavista. On the way back we stop in the capital of Boavista, Sal Rei, for a wander. Here too the children reign supreme.

Some of our fellow travellers give them markers and notebooks to colour with, and Dany gives them some chewing gum. It's a riot of "ohhh"s and laughter. We also visit the market, which at this hour is closing. The capital is little more than a small village with paved streets and here and there a little guesthouse occupied by tourists. Many are Italians who have moved here and opened tourism-related businesses. We set off again for the Viana desert, known as the white desert. The barren, dark landscape is suddenly interrupted by dunes of the whitest sand that looks as if it had been put there artificially. Instead it's a desert created thanks to the winds that carried the sand from the nearby African coasts. It's sunset and the sun gives the place an atmosphere of peace.

Not far away a small group of Cape Verdean children who have come there on foot start up a game of football on the edge of the desert. We return to the hotel and after dinner we set off again, still in the pick-up, towards a beach where we hope to spot the Caretta Caretta turtles. There's a full moon, there's no artificial lighting, there's no wind and it isn't cold. We lie down in the moonlight and wait. Until 2 in the morning. Nothing. The full moon makes the beaches unsafe and the turtles don't show. But having stayed for 3 hours in the moonlight in silence watching the stars and listening to the sound of the waves was truly pleasant.

Boavista

We rent a quad, one of those four-wheeled motorbikes suitable for climbing the dunes. A local guy (hi Eliseo!) with his quad acts as our guide (it's impossible to get around without someone who knows the way because the trails on the dunes are erased every day by the wind). We first reach the oldest village in Boavista (very colourful and cheerful) then we arrive at Santa Monica beach. Useless to describe it, you have to see it. Here too it's just us and a few hundred giant crabs running along the beach. We zoom up and down the dunes passing through unspoilt and beautiful landscapes. The last stop is an unusual view of Chavez beach. From the hill behind it we realise that what from the sea look like small dunes, seen from above are very tall dunes stretching as far as the eye can see. It's here that we take the most beautiful photo of the trip.

We reach Sal Rei after covering the Chavez dunes by quad (great fun). We are literally covered in dust, but thrilled with what has been the most beautiful outing. After a quick lunch we spend the whole afternoon on the beach reading and dozing.

Boavista

We also dedicate the last day to the sun, sea and wind of Chavez, knowing we have visited all the most beautiful places in Boavista. Tomorrow the alarm will be at 5.00.

Boavista - Sal - Milan

The 20-minute TACV flight on the ATR 42 is terrible. On the previous leg someone vomited and the hostess just couldn't get rid of the smell that accompanied us throughout the flight. And I'm sitting right next to the seat in question... The 6-hour international flight is on time and in the late afternoon we arrive at Orio al Serio. It's the end of a truly exciting summer.