Carnaval in Cape Verde

One of the events that is celebrated in many countries of the world is Carnaval or Carnival.

In this respect, Cape Verde is no exception. Each of the islands, from Sal to São Vicente, celebrates the festival of Carnaval. While the historical details of Carnaval may vary by location all over the world, in general, it was either derived from African slaves celebrating their freedom from slavery, or in other contexts, it was the last fling preceding the stringent religious observances of the 40 days of Lent. These are the general themes of the history of Carnaval.

Whatever the specifics of the history in any particular locale might be, the fact remains that today, residents and visitors, young and old alike can participate in the activities by either officially joining a group of costumed revelers or simply jumping into the non-costumed groups of party-goers dancing in the street.

Participating in the celebrations is perfectly safe and a ton of fun. And as for those who prefer to stand at the sidelines while others have all the fun ... it's an interesting study in the humanity that connects us all. Either way, it is certainly an enjoyable lesson in Cape Verde's history and culture.

Here is a brief clip of school-children participating in the history and culture of their nation.

So, plan to visit any of the islands of Cape Verde for Carnaval and let your hair down just a little.

The creation of a tourism brand

It should be no secret by now, assuming you've read the rest of the blog. Tourist visits to Cape Verde have been growing at double digit pace over the last decade. In 2010, over 400,000 visitors came to Cape Verde for a vacation, primarily from Europe.

Cape Verde has even been highlighted in Conde Naste Traveler, USA Today Travel, Lonely Planet and other travel magazines as a desirable vacation destination. Lonely Planet, a British publication, awarded Cape Verde the number 3 spot on its Best in Travel 2011 guide. And the French association of tour operators, CETO, indicated that the number of French visitors to Cape Verde doubled in the winter period 2010-2011.

Cape Verde is building its brand. And every brand needs an official logo. So a competition was held from March 25 to May 7 in 2010. There were 151 competitive entries and the image you see at the head of this article was the winning entry. The winning logo was created by Rafael Fernandes, a professional architect, who practices his trade on the island of Santiago.

Cape Verde ranked #3 in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2011 guide

Lonely Planet, a British travel magazine, ranked Cape Verde as the #3 world travel destination for 2011. Yes, I know that's old news, but what is new is that their Best in Travel 2011 travel guide is available FREE in Apple's iBooks store from June 1, 2011 till June 14, 2011 after which it will cost about $10.

In case you missed the travel guide when it was first published in November 2010, here is what Lonely Planet has to say about Cape Verde, "Cape Verdeans may have known about the wider world forever, but it seems that the wider world is only just opening its eyes to Cape Verde." And, "Cape Verde looks and feels as if it were born of a Caribbean mother and an African father."

It describes the most bizarre experience on the island of Fogo thus, "relish the excitement of sleeping in a hotel built inside the crater of a live and brooding volcano!" You can read more about Fogo in my earlier post.

The guide offers a snippet of Cape Verde and nine other top travel destinations in its 213 color pages. So what are you waiting for? Whip out your iPads and iPhones and hurry to the iBooks store!

What Americans think about vacationing in Cape Verde

I conducted an online survey of US residents to determine their attitudes about vacationing, and in particular, about Cape Verde as a potential vacation destination.

I looked at attitudes in the following areas:

1. Where do American's go on vacation?
2. Knowledge and Awareness of Cape Verde
3. Perceptions about Travel Time
4. Perceptions about Cost of Travel
5. Impact of Available Vacation Activities
6. Influencing Factors

The survey is still ongoing and I will collect at least 100 responses before I finalize the survey. In the meantime, I thought I would report on the results that I obtained so far.

You'll find the intriguing results and conclusions by clicking on "Read more" below.

How Cape Verde can leverage existing tourism into greater economic benefits

Cape Verde has risen from the world's ranks of "lesser developed countries" into an emerging economic force in Africa. It is now moving toward classification as a "middle-income country". The country receives high marks from the various organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation and the Ibrahim Foundation, which study the social and economic progress of countries across the globe. It is a remarkable feat for a country with few natural resources, bar its natural beauty and its beautiful and talented people.

Yet, it is easy for its government to become complacent with these accomplishments or to cease looking very deeply into the opportunities which remain untapped. This is in fact what appears to be happening in the area of tourism. While tourism into Cape Verde has increased dramatically over the last decade, and is expected to rise at an even higher pace of over 20% in 2011, there is a danger that the government views the current and future expected growth in tourism as a sign of success. No doubt, it is a commendable achievement, however there are significant imbalances in the current state of tourism that cannot be left unaddressed:

The Top 10 reasons Americans should vacation in Cape Verde

Well it only seems fair, given my earlier post on why Americans don't vacation in Cape Verde, to describe the reasons why they should!

So here are the reasons:

The Top 10 reasons Americans do not vacation in Cape Verde

Cape Verde is a popular destination among European travelers. For example, according to statistics from the travel website Expedia UK, Cape Verde is the most popular vacation destination among travelers from the UK. Yet few American vacationers head to the spectacular and enchanting islands of Cape Verde.


Some speculate that it may be the language barrier. Portuguese is the official language of Cape Verde. In my view, language has absolutely nothing to do with it. After all, millions of Americans vacation in foreign lands where English is not the native tongue. Like Mexico. And I'd be willing to bet that the only Spanish word known to 99% of the Americans visitors is "Cerveza!" Guess what? That works well enough in Kriolu too! Say that in any Cape Verdean bar and you'll have a cold Strela or Super Bock in about 10 seconds flat. Plus a few newfound Cape Verdean friends who will at least try to talk to you in broken English. There are lots of multilingual Cape Verdeans!

So why on earth don't Americans vacation in Cape Verde more often, if at all? Now I'm not going to count Americans who are of Cape Verdean descent - they have a natural reason to visit ... friends and extended family.

Here are the top 10 reasons based on my own personal experiences and observations: