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Cabo Verde

Cape Verde


Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) is a group of islands 570 km off the west African coast, almost at the Equator. This uninhabited group of 10 volcanic islands was discovered and colonized by Portuguese explorers during the 15th century. It was an ideal starting point for the trip across the Atlantic Sea to America, and was thus of great strategic importance. In 1975 the islands became independent of Portugal.

The islands are of volcanic origin. The volcanism started during the early Miocene and reached its peak at the end of the Miocene. Caused by a hotspot named Cape Verde Rise, which is a bathymetric swell in a semicircular region of 1200 km². The islands were formed during the last 20Ma, with the oldest islands in the east and the youngest islands (~8Ma) in the west. The volcanism of the islands is still active, Pico do Fogo, the largest active volcano in the region, erupted in 1995 the last time.

The island offer the chance for numerous volcanic caves. But it seems the islands tourism is still rather undeveloped. The only caves which are advertised are the numerous small sea caves which are advertised for cave diving. This is not the same cave diving we are normally talking about on showcaves.com. Here they mean the tourist diving into small underwater grottoes with lots of corals and fish.