Going to Cape De Verde islands with your girlfriends is not like other holiday resorts. Us girls felt unsafe the first days in Cape De Verde because everything is so different from regular exploited charter destinations like Canary Islands or the Mediterranean. Cape De Verde islands and Sal is a friendly place, but it took a few days getting used to the poverty and poor choice of foods.

Me and my girlfriends are in our early 20s and this was the first time for us outside Europe. West Africa seemed exotic and exiting. We are all very happy about this trip to Cape De Verde islands but we wish we had known more about Cape De Verde and Sal before we spent our holiday here. For example, there are no clubs or good bars, just a few small ones in Santa Maria. There is no need to pack your high heels or best designer dresses, Cape De Verde and Sal is not the party place you might be used to charter holiday traveling. There are no shopping malls or designer stores at all. People don’t shop for fun here because it’s so poor. There are only a few tourist shops in Sal -Santa Maria, selling souvenirs from the west African main land.

Cape De Verde islands and Sal, Santa Maria is a great holiday destination, but not for clubbing or shopping. Go here for the sun, the beaches, water sports, diving and sun bathing. There are different restaurants in Santa Maria, some fancy ones but most of them serve basic simple foods. “Fish of the day” is a common dish at about 10 euros. There are a few supermarkets, but sometimes they have poor choice of foods or no food at all on some shelves. We lived in an all inclusive holiday hotel in Santa Maria, Sal, thank God for all inclusive!

About the safety in Cape De Verde islands as for 3 traveling young girls, there is a few things to be said. Just outside Santa Maria, and also outside Espargos, there are chocking poverty and people living in slum and shantytowns. We stayed inside of Santa Maria for most of our holiday to feel safe. As soon as you get outside of Santa Maria there is desert landscapes and no people around. It is easy to feel unsafe as a young foreign girl.

How ever, the southern beach of Santa Maria is just fantastic. The water is turquoise and the beach is spectacular and it goes on for miles. In the daytime it is completely safe to walk around the whole south coast of Santa Maria. The beach is not crowded and it is easy to find a good spot, and even feels ok to sunbathe topless. But there are no palm trees or anything to give you shade. A few hours is enough. Use SPF! The west, and up towards Ponta Preta is probably more fun than the east which has no people at all. The west side offers horseback riding, and there are a lot of professional surfers in Ponta Preta. Cape de Verde islands is a common holidays resort for water sport lovers and surfers!

Cape de Verde islands and Sal is a perfect holiday resort for sun bathing, the beaches and different water sports. But if you easily feel unsafe and are still curious about Cape de Verde islands, then simply choose an all inclusive holiday hotel resort inside of Santa Maria. Cape De Verde islands is the perfect destination for a relaxing sunny holiday on the beach resting and filling up your energy! Go here to experience something different and learn to appreciate your life seeing the reality of poverty.

// Julia & Samantha, Germany