Sal is an island in the Republic Of Cape Verde, which is a group of sub-tropical islands lying about 500 km off the west coast of Africa.
The three eastern islands, of which Sal is the northern one, are known as the sandy islands, indeed the centre one Boa Vista is advertised as ‘The Island of Dunes’.
Sal boasts 350 days of sun annually and the temperature throughout the year varies by only a few degrees either side of a pleasant 26oC. These days rain is a rarity; indeed the first thing you notice on leaving the airport is how arid the island is. The tour guide said they had not had any decent rain for 25 years. Much to everyone’s surprise we did have an hour or two of rain on a couple of days.
Whilst this lack of rain water could have posed a problem for the island’s economic development they seem to be tackling it well by building a number of desalination plants. Our hotel did however provide bottled water and recommended drinking it in preference to the tap water.
Being situated in the NE trade-wind band there is usually a fairly fresh breeze. Whilst this is refreshing when you are in the sun, a wind-break comes in useful on the beach to keep away any loose sand.
To the north of a line from the port Palmeira in the west, through the main town Espargos, more or less in the centre of the island, to Pedra De Luma in the east, the landscape is mostly sandy desert, hills and rocky coast.
Development of hotels and villas is therefore mostly at the southern end of the island around Santa Maria. This is a town in transition. A mix of the old, like the market, and the modern like the post-office. When I visited there was considerable work going on to improve the infra-structure.
One of Santa Maria’s main attractions is that the town centre is only about 200m from the beach and harbour.
Visit Cape Verde Properties to find a number of properties available in Sal.
Roger Crews
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Tags: cape verde