CAPE VERDE


Fontainhas


Santo Antão


TOPE DE COROA Cruzinha


ARANHAS Chã de João Vaz


Ponta do Sol Pombas


RIBERIA DO PAUL Pico de Antónia


BORDEIRA DO NORTE RIBEIRA DAS PATAS São Vicente MINDELO


CAPE VERDE


MAURITANIA SENEGAL


THE GAMBIA


GUINEA- BISSAU


GUINEA


SIERRA LEONE


ATLANTIC OCEAN 5 miles


GETTING THERE & AROUND The nearest airport to Santo Antão is on Cape Verde’s São Vicente island. TAP Air Portugal flies there from London or Manchester via Lisbon. flytap.com Average flight time: 6.5h. The ferry between Mindelo (São Vicente) and Port Novo (Santo Antão) takes one hour. Both islands can be explored on foot. For longer journeys, use taxis or alugueres (shared minibuses), which leave when full and can be flagged down on the roadside.


WHEN TO GO Cape Verde is warm year-round, with average temperatures consistently ranging from 24 to 30C. The wind is strongest November to March; the bruma seca — when Saharan winds can cause a sandy mist — is most likely January to February. The climate is very dry, with only a short monsoon season from August to October.


I leave Juan and climb to the dizzying viewpoint, with its


wide-angle view over the Patas valley, where dark volcanic crags police arid river channels that run waterless toward the sea. I then descend via that very path, slaloming down the face of the Bordeira do Norte. To walk it now, guesthouse and cold Strela beer waiting below, is thrilling. To trudge along it daily to watch over crops that won’t grow is unthinkable. The next morning, I catch the ferry back to Mindelo


for one last night in Cape Verde — and the relative cosmopolitanism of the town feels almost bewildering after my last few days spent hiking in the wild. As I nurse a final grogue at La Scène M, a cool courtyard music bar twinkling with fairy-lights, my mind drifts back to Juan Bautista high up on his plateau; I hope the rains will be good this year. On the bar’s low stage, a lady steps out and begins to


sing a slow, haunting tune. It sounds filled with love and loss, though, of course, I don’t know any of the words. But maybe that’s as it should be – it’s something only a Cape Verdean can truly understand.


110 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL


WHERE TO STAY B&B Coração, Ponta do Sol. From 10,248 escudos (£80), B&B. coracaopontadosol.com Residencial Raiar, Mindelo. From 4,400 escudos (£34), B&B. residencialraiar.cv


MORE INFO visit-caboverde.com Bradt Guide to Cape Verde, £16.99 Cabo Verde and Miss Perfumado, by Cesária Évora.


Above: En route to the Bordeira do Norte cliff face, the surrounding peaks, and views of the coast, are lost in the haze


HOW TO DO IT Walks Worldwide has a new eight-day self-guided Hiking Trails of Cape Verde trip from £769 per person, including B&B accommodation in traditional hotels and guesthouses, picnic lunches, most dinners, walk notes, private transfers and ferry tickets. Excludes flights. walksworldwide.com


ATLANTIC OCEAN


ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER


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