Islands in the Sun

28 July 2007 - Bournemouth Echo - Peter Koerner

Tourism pundits say the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of west Africa, are likely to be the next big holiday destination. Judging from my recent stay on the islands of Sal and Boavista, that already appears to be happening as new apartments and hotels are taking shape on these islands.

The island authorities are certainly doing their best to encourage tourists to this archipelago off the west coast of Africa. Astraeus has been flying from Gatwick to Sal for more than a year, and work has begun on extending the airport on Boavista to allow long-haul flights to touch down and refuel there for the homeward flight.

The new terminal has been built and the runway extended, but the international flights cannot reach there yet despite the timetable for completion having been earlier this year. The revised date was July and now stands at October, but it might not even happen then. I’m sure one person who particularly wants to see the new airport opened up is the poor woman who was trying to shepherd passengers on to the plane returning to Sal and Santiago, the largest island, the evening I and my companions arrived.

A number of passengers were taking refreshments from the van parked outside and she was reduced to imploring “Passageiro,” wearily.

The waiting area resembled an ante-chamber rather than a modern terminus. When we checked in to fly back to Sal, our bags were put on a weighing-machine that reminded me of the scales seen at the front of FW Woolworth in my childhood.

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