The journey

“I'm sorry, sir, you can't board the flight,” the employee at the check-in counter tells me. I had been looking forward to freshly grilled fish in the Atlantic. Moritz and Karen look surprised as I explain that my passport, which is only valid for another four months, is not sufficient for Africa. “Africa? We thought we were flying to a Portuguese island.”

The Cape Verde Islands have been their own republic outside the EU since 1974, right in the middle of the Atlantic. Moritz and Karen take off from Munich Airport without me. With a new passport, I fly to Cape Verde a day later. After an hour of winding roads, we reach Tarrafal on the island of Santiago. From here, we want to explore the island with our bikes. The trails often end at the beach. Cape Verde is more known for windsurfing, but the geological conditions on Santiago promise good mountain biking trails. The highest peak is Pico da Antónia at 1394 meters.

Day 1

Our first day begins with a shuttle ride to the highest pass on the island.
But Cape Verde is not Finale Ligure. You can tell as soon as you get into the shuttle. Loud reggae music blares from the speakers while we load our bikes onto the bed of the pickup truck.

The wooden bench next to it is our seat. The number of bikes and passengers isn't limited.

Don't worry, they jump off in time. Once we reach the top, there's a high five, and we discuss the next pick-up point with our shuttle driver.

Bruno and Adelson are our two guides today. Bruno is Swiss and the head of the bike station in Tarrafal. Adelson is a local who only started biking two years ago. He rides really well and speaks the local Creole language.

Our day begins in the "Serra de Malagueta", the island's national park. Several tours start from here. The first part of the route goes uphill along a gravel road. The view to the right and left is overwhelming: a hilly landscape with distinctive cuts and canyons stretches down to the ocean. Up here, the vegetation is dense and reminiscent of a jungle; further down, it becomes more barren and volcanic. Before we switch to descent mode, we greet the rangers politely, and then we head into the freshly cleared trail. A few weeks ago, Adelson and his crew were in the mountains, using machetes and saws to free the trails from their winter coat.

The descent is even more fun now. A few switchbacks keep the speed in check, but then it's full throttle. The trail cleverly winds along the ridge and has plenty of flow, combined with a few technical sections. This is what mountain biking should be. We pass by a few solitary, dilapidated-looking huts, but people live here. They have cultivated a few square meters of land around them, allowing them to be mostly self-sufficient. They always plant the same crops: corn, beans, and Pumpkin. These three plants live in symbiosis with each other and require very little maintenance. Practical.

At one of the huts, we turn left onto a small singletrack. Here it gets more technical: stone sections block the way, and there are a few tight turns to master. At the bottom, the trail spits us out onto a small gravel road that leads us to the village of the Rabelados. Rabelados means 'rebels' in Creole. The inhabitants here have lived autonomously for years, not submitting to Portuguese colonial rule or the Catholic Church. Even today, they live in a community with pigs, animals, and agriculture, remaining independent of society. They are, and have always been, rebels.

Back at the hotel, we check out the surf spot next door. Paxiola, one of Adelson's fellow guides, lives here with five other young people in a straw hut. Today, he invited us to see this social project: the Surf Cabana. Paxiola himself has no parents and was taken in here. Every day, someone different has kitchen duty. The residents make jewelry from beachcombing finds to supplement the community funds. Otherwise, they go surfing or biking. In the evenings, there are campfires and relaxed sunsets.

Day 2

Today is our Epic Day. The Kingfisher Trail is a true adventure: up with the shuttle, across the island by bike, and back by boat. We ride through steppe-like terrain, with some flat sections, followed by several fast passages with no major technical challenges, until the trail leads us down into a canyon on the left. Adelson warns us and says "Care," meaning "Be careful," as we rattle into the loose stone desert. A short section is very technical, then there's a brief moment to catch our breath. Adelson tells us about a guy who lives out here in the middle of nowhere and grows drugs, when suddenly a few peacocks try to attack us.

Quick, get out of here. The trail runs along a descending ridge over rough, rocky terrain, with steep drops on both sides. The sun is scorching us, and the landscape becomes more and more barren with every meter of elevation we lose. Our goal is the sea, more specifically the beach, from where there is no turning back.

Unless you have a friend with a boat. I ask Adelson if he was able to reach his friend Nelito with the boat. “Yeeh” is the sparse answer, and we interpret it as a clear yes. Reassured, we continue rolling, but suddenly we find ourselves at a precipice with no trail in sight. Adelson points down into the gorge and nods. I decide to try my luck first; a few goats jump out of my way, monkeys laugh loudly from the trees, and we’re in the middle of the jungle. The vegetation is different, the river makes the canyon around us glow green, and the trees provide cooling shade for us overheated bikers. Soon we have to shoulder our bikes. We need to climb down a rock face. Made it. Now the narrow path winds over sandy ground towards the ocean and spits us directly onto the beach, a breathtaking sandy bay lies before us. A scene straight out of Robinson Crusoe unfolds before us. We rip off our sweaty biking gear and run into the cool water.

Just at this moment, the colorful fishing boat enters the bay. Nelito waves warmly and greets us while positioning his boat at the right angle to the beach so we can load up. The sea has picked up, and it’s not so easy to secure the bikes on the boat. For that, the life vests are put to good use.

Once everyone is aboard, Nelito hands out fishing rods and says we have an hour to catch our dinner. "Wild" doesn’t even begin to describe what unfolds before us as we leave the sheltered bay and head toward the open sea.

Karen is terrified; I can see it in her wide-open eyes and feel it in the tight grip she has on me. The waves are really high, and the boat is quite small. But Fisherman Nelito seems to have everything under control.

As an experienced surfer, he knows every bay and every wave by name. An hour later, he safely steers the boat back into the bay of Tarrafal. We didn’t catch any fish; the boat ride was too exhilarating for that. As a farewell gift, Nelito hands us a huge fish he had already caught on the way out. Looks like grilled fish for dinner tonight!

INFO

Santiago is the largest island of Cape Verde, a volcanic archipelago off the west coast of Africa. It is particularly known for its beaches, its Creole Portuguese-African culture, and its role during the slave trade.

In the south of the island lies Cidade Velha, a significant settlement of the Portuguese colonists. The marble pillory (Pelourinho) still serves as a reminder of the place where slaves were once chained. The current capital, Praia, in the south of the island, is the largest city on Santiago with a population of 127,000. The highest point on the island is Pico da Antónia, which rises to an elevation of 1,394 meters.

Currency
Cape Verdean Escudo 1€ ≈ 110 CVE

Language
Creole

Bike Shop
Bike Station The Place

Trip
Scott Travel Die Rasenmäher

Accommodation
Hotel Kingfisher Village