Friday, April 3, 2015

Things to do Cape Verde, island of Sal

To be honest Sal is a very relaxing island, you will get easily get around and see much of the island in less than one day in a Jeep. It's not much vegetation and it can look a little bit like the moon sometimes, but there are some interesting places that we would like to recommend. Apart form discovering the island by car you can rent bikes, go hiking with a guide, ride horse on the beach, kite and wind surf and much more.

We recommend that you go by Jeep, since you will have to drive off road. Use your common sense and turn around if you dont trust the path you are trying to go. Throughout Sal, as soon as you leave the main road, there are basically no signs, and there is no maps covering the hundreds and hundreds of small off road tracks, don't get lost, especially not in an area without cell phone reception :)

Pedra de Lume is a village just by the capital Espargos. The village is tiny, and it's not much to see, except for the old salt ponds. They are located in an inactive vulcano and they started to produce salt in the 18th century but are now inactive. However you can go there to have a look, go swinning in the very salty water that will make you float very easily and buy some salt for cooking or for body treatments.

It's quite difficult to find the way, but when you see a white and blue church you are supposed to leave the road and drive passed the church and continue behind it, off road.


 
The old salt mines are located in an inactive vulcano
 








You can basically pic up the salt from the ground


The salt lake where you can take a refreshing swim


Salts for sale
 
 
Salt cristals
 
 

Since this is very close to Espargos, the capital of Sal. We recommend that you quickly drive through it, you can always stop for a lunch and some photos if you want to since it is a nice and colorful city.

Buracona and the Blue Eye. West of Espargos you will find Burancona. When you leave the roads (ask the locals since this one is also diffcult to find) you will have approx 5 km to drive off road. It's a nice bit of coast with a natural pool where you can swin if you want to, and if you are lucky with season and sun, you can spot the "Blue Eye". 






From Buracona we did exactly opposite to what the car rental recommended us, and instead of driving back the normal way back we continued north off road for some adventures. The landscape is facinating and you can spot Monte Grande which is approx 400 meters in altitude. We where driving on the many small tracks, trying to head for Espargos, we ended up in the townships outside Espargos and finally reach the main road without any trouble.


Back to Trip Guide Cape Verde


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