Fogo

Fogo means 'fire' in Creole and is the appropriate name for this active volcanic island, Its centre is a large volcano which shuddered into life in 1995 when it erupted giving spectacular display of red lava emanating from its tip.

The Capital of Fogo is Sao Filipe and it is a wonderful colonial town filled with charming old buildings built by the Portugese. These colourful buildings are remnants of Cape Verde’s colonial past offer a sense of grandeur to Fogo.

One of the wonders of Fogo is its volcano. The drive up to it is remarkable and one can see the craters of eruptions from yesteryear – a reminder of just how volatile the volcano is. The experience is truly inspiring to see such a wonder. The views from the top are awesome and show the history of past volcanic activity, As recent as 1995, the volcano erupted and the vent from its eruption can be seen on the trek to the top.

Away from the volcano, Fogo has lush and fertile lands and these are farmed for bananas, oranges and coffee crops. One of the delicacies of Cape Vede is the Fogo coffee.

Interestingly, Fogo is famous in Cape Verde for producing wine. Cha de Fogo wine is very popular with tourists wanting to try the local wine. It is produced in Fogo and can be purchased on many of the other islands.

Fogo has many black sandy beaches and its black stones retain much of the hot sunshine making it one of the hotter islands in the archipelago.

Fogo has many day trip excursions going from Sal to see the volcano. On the island itself, there are guided volcano tours by foot or by horseback as well as seeing the locally produced wine and coffee.

Fogo has not become one of the main touristic islands of Cape verde, but it does benefit from people visiting the island to see its wonders. Getting to Fogo means taking an inter-island flight via TACV and most flights depart Sal, Santiago or Sao Vicente islands.

Fogo is an island that will provide plenty of surprises to visitors.