How to get around Sal, Cape Verdes

Travel within Sal is simple by taxi, which should cost no more than £4 by day or £6 at night. Until recently taxis would not cheat customers who do not speak Portuguese but reports suggest that this may be changing. So check the price first in euros. Alternatively you can flag down an Aluguer - usually a Japanese minibus or open pick-up with seats in the back. These cost no more than 60p for a journey and can be found waiting where the main highway starts at Espargos and Santa Maria. They depart when full up, which can take a while, especially at night. It is difficult to find one plying to Palmeira, which depart from a side street next to the largest minimarket.

Travel around other Cape Verde islands

On other Cape Verde islands, Aluguers are less common than on Sal. They usually travel between outlying villages and the main town early morning and late afternoon carrying commuters.There may not be a service at all at midday It is best to enquire of a driver, when he may be coming back or you could get stranded in some remote spot. Try asking "Quando voces va volta?"

Sao Vicente and Santa Antao

Sao Vicente has a regular scheduled bus service around all the main parts of Mindelo as well as aluguers. In Santa Antao there are often aluguers in the main squares of towns like Ribiera Grande or Ponta do Sol, which are usually much cheaper than on Sal.

But negotiate before you enter.

Boa Vista

Unlike on Sal aluguers do not like to accept European passengers. They expect you to hire one yourself and take the full charge which can be as much as £20 or £30 for even a short journey. It is absolutely essential to haggle in advance. A half day trip visiiting one of the remote beaches will set you back by at least £40 to £50. But do not even think of attempting this yourself in a hire car, even a good 4x4 unless you are an experienced desert driver. You will get stuck in the sand drifrts that plague these poor roads.

S from Yorks found Boa Vista a bit rough

"The new airport at Boavista does not look as if it is going to be ready in July. Maybe they are going to lay the inaugural stone of the new terminal building in July- there is nothing that looks like any prep work for it yet. Some work however does appear to be going on the runway. The current terminal building can't cope with more than 8-9 people in a queue- you are out the main door after that. Transport around the island is by 4X4 (including taxis) as roads (other than to VentaClub) are very bad or dirt tracks or cobbled. On the flight back to Sal I was given the same seat on my boarding pass as a German tourist - fortunately the flight wasn't full so neither of us got bumped off. "

Fogo

In Fogo the aluguer driver tried to make us pay for the whole vehicle and then managed to fill it up entirely with other people. As we were able to speak Portuguese, we were able to enlist the aid of the other passengers to help us stop him from cheating us. Best to take a taxi from the port and stick to it if you find a good one.

Problems with booking locally

T from London has some advice

"If you want to arrange transport within the islands do not use the phone as you will almost certainly be at cross-purposes, with whomever you are talking to, This is still the case face to face. It requires a trip to the airport which is 15 minutes by taxi. Take a numbered queuing ticket from the machine and watch carefully since despite the high literacy rate, they cannot count, when it comes to queuing. Check in times and flight times are flexible and it is best to be early. Do not rely on being called"

Maio

The aluguers are very rare here and you may end up paying for a private one. If you can find where they stop in Vila do Maio by the local grocery shop and after a long enough wait you can share to be driven up the Coast past the airport.

Brava

The bench ijn the back of Manuel Burgos` Toyota Hiace pickup is the only possible transport here. Aluguers meet the boat with a planned schedule that usually excludes Faja, so you must phone him.

New Santiago airport

At this airport someone will grab your bags and run off with them. Stop them. Otherwise you will be taken to a rogue taxi driver who will cheat you. Another trick is they seat in the cab iwth the engine running and when you pass over a high denomination note. they will screech off with your money. W from Yorks found out the hard way.

"This is NOT an International Airport. Having just returned this week, I have serious concerns over security. There is none. Even when the bleeper goes off - they just pass you through. No Food - No facilities. One and a half hours to get in through Immigration. They do not know the procedure - compared with Sal. The Airport is swarming with locals as soon as you go out of the building - hassling tired passengers for cigs, money, taxis etc.The runway appears to be very short. As soon as the plane has braked it sweves to catch onto the slip road to park up. Again on departure, as soon as you know you are wheels off the ground, you look below and find that is the end of the runway. No room for a single error of metres. I for one, and my travelling colleague will never use this airport again in its present state. This is an airport heading for trouble."

capeverdeinfo.org.uk