Cape Verde is an island country in the central Atlantic Ocean, located off the west coast of Africa, with population of about 525,000 persons. The country is comprised by ten volcanic islands and five smaller islets. The official language in Cape Verde is Portuguese, although there are other indigenous languages which include Creole. The capital of Cape Verde is Praia.
There are three ethnic groups that made up Cape Verde; the Creoles and Mulattoes (71%), the African (28%) and the Portuguese and other Europeans (1%). Cape Verdean dress in western styles. Casual dresses can be worn at the beaches, but not allowed outside the restuarants, beaches, hotels. The locals wear a fabric called barafula, which is a two patterned cloth. They also adorned themselves with jewelries.
Cape Verde is famous for its warm tropical climate, volcanic island and many chilling water bodies. Some of the islands features volcanoes, therefore, sea diving is not advised in some of the beaches.
SAL – the island of Sal is known as Cape Verde’s sunniest island, with a close by airport.
SAL REI – it retains a relaxed feel despite being home to more than half of the island population.
RIBEIRA GRANDE – it is a cool and stunning city nestled in a valley on the Santo Antao island.
PRAIA – the capital of Cape Verde, it is the economic and political home of the island.
PORTO NOVO – the city is located on the island of Santo Antao. It is a home to a great royalty museum.
PALMEIRA – it is a busy harbor town responsible for Cape Verde imports and exports situated in a sunny, sandy island of Sal.
VILA NOVA SINTRA – a small town with a lot of beauty. Thought to be the most beautiful on the island of Cape Verde.
MORRO – it has beaches surrounded by palm trees with golden sand, the beaches are idyllic.
MINDELO – it has reputation for being home to a real mix of cultures located on Sao Vicente.
MAIO – a relaxing beach with golden sand. Bird watchers will find this island to be a paradise due to many rare birds that frequent it including larks and courses.
FOGO – it means ‘fire’, is the most prominent of all of the Cape Verde island with maximum altitude of 2,900 metres above the sea level. The Volcano Pico de Fogo is the main attraction in Fogo.
TARRAFAL – it is 20-mile drive from Ribeira Brava. A popular place for beach swimming with black sand which is rumoured to relieve pains due to its mineral contents such as Iodine.
Cape Verde is known internationally for ‘morna’ a form of folk music usually sung in Cape Verdean Creole, accompanied by clarinet, violin, guitar and cavaquinho. There are other music evolving from morna called coladeira, which is more light-hearted and humorous genre, with sensual rhythms. The Cape Verdean in diaspora influenced the traditional Coladeira with Compas to create a version of Zouk called Cola-Zouk. music.
Some musicians in Cape Verde are:
The Island have delicious meals both inter-continental and local dishes to make your visit a memorable one. Meals that will leave you wanting for more.
Canja – a thick chicken soup with rice.
Catchupa – a slow boiled stew of corn, beans, vegetables and marinated tuna or meat.
Percebes – made of seafood, from lobsters to shellfish, often served with buttered toast.
Pastel – it is one of the most fusion recipes, merging West African flavour with Portuguese.
Goat cheese with Papaya marmalade – fresh cheese that is soft, silky, fine taste and creamy.
Morreia – an oil-fried eel.
Milk pudding – one of the popular sweet dishes in Cape Verde that satisfy your sweet tooth.
Jagacida – it contains rice and beans stew, and very easy to prepare.
Doce de Coco – it is made with butter, sugar and coco, cooked for hours and transform to tasty chunks.
Bissap – it is a refreshing Hibiscus juice that can be found almost in all bar in Cape Verde.
Wine from Fogo – superior wine produced in a small village of Cha das Caldeiras on Fogo.
The Cape Verde Islands dry forest is a tropical and sub-tropical dry boadleaf forests eco-region in the Island which make up the country. About 21.2% of Cape Verde is forested, i.e 85,000 ha. Wildlives are also protected in Cape Verde, there are zoos to protect the wildlives, both land and aquatic animals.
Cape Verde is highly vulnerable to climate change, with low capacity to adapt. Models of the future climate change suggest that temperature increases up to 4OC, decreases in rainfall by up to 20% can be expected in decades. This vulnerability can be attributed the lack of arable soil. Only about 10% of the soil the country is arable for agricultural activities thereby not encouraging commercial agricultural activities. This made the country to depend on other countries for agricultural products. Climate change in Cape Verde have resulted to loss of lives and properties from drought and flooding.
Cape Verde guarantees equal rights to men and women as well respect for children’s right and promotion of the rule of law. Women are allowed to hold key positions in economy, political and academic sector.
Terza Lima-Neves – an award winning Professor in Cape Verda.
Cristina Fontes Lima – Cape Verdean lawyer and politician that served as Minister of Justice.
Eunice Silva – Cape Verdean Civil engineer and politician.
Silver Maria Baptista Soares – Cape Verdean Sociologist and a political activist.
Cristina Duarte – Cape Verdean poltician who served as Minister of Finance, Planning ans Public Administration.
Maria Helena Semedo – Deputy Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization.
Eva Verona Teixeira Ortet – former member of the Pan-African Parliament from Cape Verde.
Maria de Fatima – a Cape Verde politician and diplomat, Ambassador of Cape Verde to the United States of America.
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