Quad Biking in Boa Vista, Cape Verde
Well the end of the year has arrived and I’ve been told I
can’t carry any of my holidays over. So I find myself taking a quick look
through the holiday catalogues. Somewhere hot is what I need but I don’t want,
or have the time for, special injections and I don’t want to spend hours on a
plane. My search leads me to a small group of islands just off the west coast
of Africa.
The Cape Verde
islands used to be part of the Portuguese colonies, but they were handed back
to Africa in the 70’s. They have only been a holiday destination for about the last
5 years and the last 2 on Boa Vista. They are unspoilt and undeveloped.
At our hotel our tour operator gave their normal talk of
this and that and of what there is to do on the island. One of which was a quad
biking trip. They did short excursions or a longer island trip. To my surprise
not only did my wife want to go on the trip but she also wanted to do the
longer of the two rides. I was excited and wanted my wife to ride her own quad
but No! Sue just wanted to be a passenger.
Which was fine with me; we were going riding. We were advised to dress
well and cover up this is because it would be dry and dusty. We were also
advised to take something to cover our faces.
The morning arrived, our pick up was on time, the road to
our destination was fun only half of the road is tarmac it then reverts to the
old cobbled road, some of which has now been eroded away. They had just had the
heaviest rains for years which had damaged one of the old bridges and
completely washed away a new bridge, so we had to divert across country to the
old bridge. Then there were the narrow winding streets through the town. It all
added up to an exciting start to the day.
At our destination we signed our lives away, although they
said they had insurance and were the tour operators recommended choice, the
insurance they had was only third party. We were then fitted with a sort of
helmet and then taken to the quads and given a quick briefing. We were now in
the hands of our guides, we set off first through the town and then a building
site where it looked like new hotels were being erected, we then hit the beach.
We were about halfway along the group the bike rode best on fresh sand if you
try to follow the tracks of those in front the quad just wanted to rail along
the tracks already cut into the sand. There was another reason why I rode just
to one side or the other, and that was to avoid the dust being kicked up by
those in front of me. I did however find it amusing why the rest just seem to
follow the leader like sheep.
We left the beach and headed inland through a moon like
landscape of rust red sand and rock the vegetation, where there was any was
brown and dry. Little piles of rock where place here and there and also along
the roadside, for what reason I do not know. We then came to the cobbled road
for a short blast and where we could take in the view of the distant mountains
and the extinct volcanos we then took a gravel track that lead the way to where
we would take a break, grab a drink and buy some souvenirs.
Rested and refreshed we once again took to the quads, the
track took us through the village along some more rocky sand scape where the
land was cracked and dried out, old stone walls lay abandon and derelict we had
a few little tricky climbs but all was good, and I was pleased I’d covered up
as those who hadn’t were now covered in dust and sand.
The track wound its way
through the rocky landscape and led down to a beautiful white sandy beach with
a lovely green blue turquoise sea, the ocean waves breaking gently onto the
beach. We took a second break and for those who wanted a dip in the sea was on
the cards.
We then turned inland
away from the beach into a desert of white sand. Sand that had blown over the
sea from the Sahara Desert of main land
Africa. It was just after this that we had some fun. The guide had realised
that I must have ridden before and the pace quickened. We were heading up sand
dunes and down again, sometimes having to turn sharply at the top to avoid a
shear drop on the other side. As we raced across the dunes I had the bike
drifting, sideways and almost on two wheels on some of the sharper turns Sue
was hanging on tight Woo-Hooing as we raced our way over the sand. After about
ten minutes the guide took a good look behind then suddenly we came to a stop.
I wondered why so took a look and then realised there was no one else there. We
had lost everyone. Luckily we had a sweeper and our trackers weren’t hard to
follow so over the next five minutes or so the others appeared one by one. Once
we had regrouped we set off for a short ride to a beach where the turtles come
ashore to lay their eggs and to visit a cave on the shores edge.
This was the last stop of the day. We again rode along the
beach then up over a bank and along the rugged rocky coastal path watching the
waves breaking over the volcanic sea shore below. We hit some more dunes but
this time at a more steady pace, them some more beach work, and around what was
the islands main industrial pottery site which now is nothing more than a few
stone walls and a large brick chimney
Then something happened that doesn’t happen that often in
Cape Verde as we were heading back across the final few miles black clouds
headed straight toward us then it happened. IT RAINED. The dust that had settled on us was now being
washed in and off, the rain on my glasses formed droplets then dried out
leaving blobs of condensed dust over the lenses. The rain only lasted a few
minutes and was gone as quickly as it came, the last part of the ride saw our
clothes dry and we arrived back safe and sound if a little bit dirty. We had
had a brilliant day’s ride and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and the looks we
got as we re-entered the hotel were themselves priceless.
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