Part of my last trip to Cape Verde was a one-week trekking on Santo Antão island. The highlight was to hike up the Top de Coroa, at 1979m the highest point of the island, which had been on our wish list for a long time. The trekking was excellent – challenging and beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone who likes an intensive hike and doesn’t mind spending a week in very basic facilities (think: bucket showers and very limited electricity). The only thing I would not recommend was our guide for the week. Despite the research and email communication upfront with the guide’s wife, we had the bad luck of ending up with a fisherman-wannabe-guide who didn’t speak French as promised, but only local Creole. My recommendation, in hindsight, would be to do the trekking on your own. Route finding is relatively straightforward, provided your map reading skills are on point and you have a walking GPS or other tracking device and accommodation can easily be organised. Whatever you do, don’t use Arlindo Trek.
DAY 1: TRAVEL DAY AND PICO DA CRUZ
We arrived at our destination, and the start of the trek after close to 24 hours of travel. Our flight schedule was not the most efficient, but we had planned it in function of catching the last boat of the day from Mindelo on São Vicente island to Porto Novo on Santo Antão island. The boat made for a relatively pleasant one hour crossing, although the day was overcast and we didn’t get a good view of the island as we approached. In the harbour, we were met by our guide and an aluguer driver (so far so good). After some quick shopping for food supplies to take on the walks and setting ourselves up with a local sim card (which I found invaluable), we took on the 90 minutes drive to Pico da Cruz. This is the one-but-highest peak of Santo Antão and measures 1585m in elevation. The settlement with the same name is not quite located at the summit and only consists of a handful of houses, but the views were pleasant nonetheless.
We settled into a small hostel with five beds and considered whether we would take on the walk to the summit before dinner. However, we were tired from the journey and the weather was closing in, so we decided against it. Not the best choice, since the weather was even more misty the next morning! I guess this was a reminder not to put of what you can do straightaway.
The lady of the house served a lovely Cape Verdean dinner (expect to eat rice, various root vegetables and chicken or fish most evenings), but once our stomachs were full we were so relieved to get in our sleeping bags and get a nice long night’s sleep. There was a storm during the night, the fallen branches the next morning were there to prove it, but I noticed strictly nothing until the alarm went off at 0600 the next day.
DAY 2: DESCENT TO CIDADE DAS POMBAS AND DRIVE TO CRUZINHA
Our first real walking day involved around 1300m of descent and hardly any climbing. Piece of cake, one might say. Wrong. I paid the price for going into the heavy descent on cold muscles over the next three days with an immense pain in my calves at every step.
We started off in our raincoats and long trousers, but as the elevation dropped the weather improved and the views got better too. The lush green landscape with fruit trees and terraces that surrounded us was exactly how I remembered Santo Antão from my previous visit and a typical view for the mountainous islands of Cape Verde. The walk took us mostly along cobbled farmers’ paths. We occasionally met a few local people, but did not see one other tourist.
Our destination was Vila das Pombas, a coastal town, and we reached it shortly after lunch. Our driver from the day before picked us up in the outskirts of town to bridge another 90 minutes drive to Cruzinha at the northern side of the island. This was where the real adventure, a five day trekking to the remote northern part of Santo Antão, was due to begin. Accommodation for the night was once again comfortable. We stayed in a B&B (by the looks of it the only accommodation option in Cruzinha) with several rooms and private bathrooms. We spent a good hour exploring the village and watch the fishermen working on their boats, but then scooted inside as it started raining. Cape Verde does not have a significant wet season like many places in the tropics, but in September, when we travelled, you do get showers and storms. For dinner, an excellent freshly caught lobster was served (we were lucky as the closed season for lobster was due to start a couple of weeks after our visit).
View my Relive.cc recording of the walk here.
DAY 3: CAUGHT BY THE SPING TIDE
The first full trekking day was supposed to take us from Cruzinha to Ribeira da Cruz. Depart from the B&B was foreseen at 0600. We packed our bags, which would be picked up by a collectivo (shared taxi), and set off with only our day rucksacks. As we found out afterwards, the reason for the early start was to complete the first section of the walk, along the beach, before the tide came in. However, as breakfast was served late, the collectivo arrived late and the combination of the recent storm and the spring tide made the sea particularly rough, we were unable to pass the critical point.
We retraced our steps to Cruzinha. The plan was to try and get a boat that would take us across the headland to a point where we would be able to continue the walk. However, due to the rough sea and the rickety state of the fisher boats, my friend and I decided against this option and a plan was made to get to Ribeira da Cruz various collectivos (there was no direct road, meaning we had to return to Porto Novo and then take another route to Chã de Morte. On a funny note, I never fully understood whether the place is called Chã de Morte (“plateau of the dead”) or Chã de Monte (“plateau on the hill”). The locals use both and even on maps you find both ways of spelling.
Even though we had barely walked three kilometres in the morning, we felt weary upon arrival at our destination. The shaky, crowded collectivos are an interesting, but not particularly comfortable way of travelling. We were spending the night in a homestay, at the house of Zia Rosa (“Auntie Rosa”). Auntie seemed pleased to have visitors, sat us down at the table and showed off the photos of her family spread around the living room. We got a bedroom to share, which was comfortable, despite the fact that mosquitos annoyed us for a good part of the night.
DAY 4: HIKE TO ALTA MIRA AND THE SEASIDE
As a result of the screw up in Cruzinha, plans had to be altered. The new plan for the day was to do a walk to the ribeira of Altamira, all the way down to sea level. This would cover most of the route that we’d missed out on the day before. We took off at dawn and walked in a pleasant temperature uphill for about two hours, until we reached a saddle in the mountain range where we started the descent. This is when the damage done by the heavy descent two days ago really became obvious as I was much slower than my walking partner and clenched my teeth at every step. The path was again a cobbled farmers’ path, typical for Cape Verde and making the trekking in between villages very straightforward.
Soon we reached the Altamira I hamlet, and a couple of kilometres later, Altamira II. Our guide pointed us to a small café annex general store where we sat down for a break and had a cold guava juice. As we were walking through the villages, we realised what a wealth of natural foods this ribeira has to offer. We picked some guavas off a tree that we had as a snack later in the afternoon.
We reached Altamira III (they are actually numbered like this!), which was also our lunch spot. We were not carrying any pick-nick for a change, instead we stopped for lunch with a local family (arranged upfront through our guide). As we sat on the patio of the modest house, waiting until the food was ready, locals started chatting and asking us question. Unfortunately, the combination of my basic Portuguese and the heavy Creole made for a difficult conversation.
An aluguer picked us up in the next village and drove us back to Chã de Morte for another night at Zia Rosa’s house. We felt extremely privileged as auntie had cooked cachupa. This is one of Cape Verde’s classic dishes that can best be described as a thick soup on the basis of cornflour that included various kinds of meat and root vegetables. It is rather hard to find in restaurants as it takes the best part of the day to prepare: the soup is left to stew on the hob for several hours until the meat is tender. It is then served with rice. Usually you will get the leftover for breakfast the next day as the mixture dries out overnight and is fried in the morning.
View my Relive.cc recording of the walk here.
DAY 5: THE BIG DAY – TO TOPE DE COROA
After a hearty breakfast of… fried cachupa, we once again set off in the dark. Today was going to be the highlight of the trekking – the ascent of Tope de Coroa, with 1979m the highest point of the island. Tope de Coroa classifies as an ultra-prominent peak, which is a mountain summit with a drop of minimum 1500m on all around (so not typically part of a mountain range). There is another ultra-prominent peak in Cape Verde, namely Pico de Fogo which we climbed later in the trip.
The first hours of the trek were not great for me, as I didn’t digest the fried cachupa particularly well (I’m not one for heavy breakfasts), but as my stomach settled down and I started to enjoy the walk and the views, I was impressed. The scenery had completely changed compared to the previous days. The lush terraces were replaced by an eerie, deserted moon-like landscape. It is said that a couple of decades ago the northern side of Santo Antão was as green as the south, but the rains have stopped and water has become scarce. Today, people live off herding goats and making cheese. Not surprisingly, many of the remote villages are becoming more and more empty as the inhabitants seek opportunities to improve their livelihood with jobs in Porto Novo or Mindelo.
The early starts do have advantages. We beat the heat of the day and by 1100 we reached a plateau and an easy, flat route let us to the hamlet where we would spend the night. We were welcomed to the homestay by Antoninha and shown to our room. Up here in the remote part of the island, with only limited road access (a collectivo calls at the village two times per week) the situation was more basic. We had gotten used to cold showers, but tonight would be our first bucket shower. Also the variety of food available was clearly much more limited. This didn’t reduce in any way the hospitality of Antoninha who was gentle and welcoming.
We removed the weight from our rucksacks, leaving most items in the homestay and upwards and onwards we went toward the Tope de Coroa summit. The next two hours were extremely tough, as temperature started to rise and we worked our way up primitive paths and loose stones. I was soon getting peckish, but pushed through and by 1300 we were rewarded with lunch at the summit. At 1979m, the temperature had dropped quite a bit and sitting down for a rest was extremely pleasant. After a tour of the crater rim, we took on the descent. This was much easier than the way up and the sections of scree slope that were such a struggle on the way up, made for a swift run down. We reached the plateau back by 1500, meaning we had a few hours spare before dinner. This was the first time that we were completely cut off from modern facilities – no not only there was no data connection, but also no telephone signal and no electricity. We had gotten into the habit of sorting out photos and notes of the day, but this time we decided to save battery power and we strolled around the village. The village was small, so we soon ended up at the general store where we found our favorite guava juice and joined the villagers sitting outside to watch the sun go down.
View my Relive.cc recording of the walk here.
DAY 6: DESCENT TO MONTE TRIGO
As we woke, we prepared for another intense day with mostly descent. Luckily, my legs had recovered and this descent was not so painful. We made our way down Ribeira de Monte Trigo along more cobbled farmers’ paths. This walk was very interesting, because we got the time and opportunity to contemplate the landscape and consider how different the Western part of the island is from the rest – dry, arid and desolate, but nonetheless peaceful and welcoming. We also had the opportunity to observe local life as we got to take a peak in a local school and a clinic and sample freshly made goats cheese from a farm on the way.
Despite our early start, the sun soon started to burn and there was very little shade to be found. We pushed through and reached Monte Trigo by 1300. We were totally expecting to be put up in a homestay for the night, but instead we arrived at a very nice B&B, seemingly constructed by a German fishing club and managed by a local family. Hot, running water and electric lighting seemed a luxury and we were very excited at the promise of a freshly caught fish for dinner. Since we arrived so early, we once again had time for a walk around town and to watch the fishermen come in with their catch and prepare their nets for the next day.
View my Relive.cc recording of the walk here.
DAY 7: SEASIDE WALK TO TARRAFAL
The final day of our trekking was an easy and pretty coastal walk. We followed a cobbled path with some gentle up and down. This is the only path that provides access to the town of Monte Trigo. Indeed, no cars can reach the village and the only options for locals to get their supplies are walking (4 hours) or taking a boat (1 hour) to nearby Tarrafal. From there, aluguers (jeeps, not the regular taxi vans) will take passengers over a rough road to main town Porto Novo.
As we approached Tarrafal, the arid landscape once again changed and we entered what looked like an oasis of terraces with maze and cassava plantations. We expected Tarrafal to be a tiny village with not a lot going on, but it was a surprisingly lively town with several accommodation and food options. We arrived by 1300 and lunch was arranged for us at a nice restaurant with a terrace overlooking the hills. When we finished, we were driven back to Porto Novo, where we conclude our trekking experience and were reunited with our luggage. We walked into the ferry terminal satisfied – we conquered the main summits of Santo Antão during our trekking and it was an excellent sequel to our 2015 visit.
View my Relive.cc recording of the walk here
EXTENDING YOUR STAY ON SANTO ANTAO
Santo Antão offers so many more great hiking opportunities that one can easily spend 10 days without getting bored. If your map-reading skills are good, you have a GPS and you’re not the type to panic if the route is somewhat unclear, you don’t need a guide for any of these. Of course, you should go through all the normal preparations like making sure you carry enough water (and purifying tablets as a back-up) and food to keep you going and leaving details on where you are hiking to.
On a previous trip to Cape Verde, we explored the following parts of the island (indeed, without a guide):
- Ponta do Sol: we stayed here two nights and walked along the coast to Cruzinha (taking an aluguer back). Ponta do Sol is a pleasant village with many eateries and a nice holiday vibe. We adid a nice mountain walk to Coculi, taking an aluguer out and walking back via farmers’ paths;
- Ribeira de Paúl: we stayed in a rather remote hostel offering breakfast and communal dinner and did a hike to the top of Pico de Cruz as well as a hike to Cova, an old volcanic caldera of 1500m elevation. You can combine this walk with an ascent of Pico da Cruz. The
Check my other blog post about Cape Verde for more information on getting around and tips on where to stay on Santo Antão.
Closing comment: our experience with Arlindo as a guide was simply awful. I have not elaborated on the multitude of hostile situations we’ve been in, as to not distract from the essence – the beautiful Santo Antão and its excellent hiking opportunities – , but I discourage readers from using this guide. He presents a particular risk if you are not a native Portuguese speaker who is able to understand the local dialect as his French is inadequate for basic communication and efforts to speak elementary Portuguese (like mine) are met with impatience and even disdain.
