Monday, 16 April 2012

Visiting Fogo in Cape Verde

Most of the tourist developments in Cape Verde are on the islands of Sal and Boa Vista, and it would be easy to spend your whole holiday on these beautiful islands, but several of the other islands are well worth a look, and offer unique travel experiences. One such island is Fogo which is the fourth largest island in the archipelago; it is remarkable for having the only active volcano, and its name is the Portuguese word for fire.

Fogo has the highest peak in Cape Verde, and the volcano has seen several small eruptions since 1785 although the last eruption took place in 1995, with the last major eruption being in 1680. These smaller eruptions have all taken place within the crater, and have created smaller craters in the floor of the original crater which is 10 km long and 7 km wide.

Not surprisingly the soil around the crater is extremely fertile, and coffee is grown on the slopes, while grapevines are actually growing inside the crater and produce Fogo wine. The scenery on the island is quite dramatic and almost lunar as it consists of black sand and rocks.

The main town on the island is called Sao Filipe, and it's easy to see the Portuguese influence amongst the cobbled streets and pastel coloured houses, many of which are decorated with tiles and woods from Portugal. It's worthwhile taking a hike up the volcano, as there's even a restaurant at the top and the views are breathtaking. Fogo is also remarkable for being one of the few Cape Verdean islands to receive any significant amounts of rainfall, although it's still a very dry island.

No comments:

Post a Comment