| Page Views: 166 Last Visit to Ilha do Sal: October, 2008 | NO STRESS by DAO - last update: Oct 12, 2008 |
Sal is essentially a desert island with no trees, few resources or people. It has mostly just huge tracts of sand in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near the Equator which guarantees hot weather year round. In other words – a property developers dream. In fact the developers are literally changing the landscape of the island at an incredible rate and should be able to completely destroy the natural beauty of this island by the year 2015.
So why did this become a tourist destination in the first place? Because it is somewhat midway between Portugal and Brazil as well as midway between Cape Town and London, it’s a great place to have a place to refuel and land planes. Also there aren’t many places in the Atlantic to stop if a plane needs to land suddenly. Remember, it has essentially no inhabitants and it’s flat. So the airport was built, strangely by Italy, while Cape Verde was still a Portuguese Colony. During Apartheid South African Airways used it because many African countries would not allow them landing or overflights.
Today the town of Santa Maria in the south has all the tourist hotels, but plans have been approved to destroy natural areas in the north for new mega-hotels. |
|  | THE FLIP-SIDE OF SAL Click on the photo for a better look. For some reason the best photo I could get of my Virtual Tourist flip-flops on the sand was one that was upside down. Some of my tips explore the flip-side of life here, as do many of my tips on other pages. Well, someone needs to report the weird and wonderful things that go one here. Hope you enjoy my page as I work on it. |
| | FLYING THE FLAG FOR VT
I took with me, and used, every known VT product except my VT boxer shorts. From pens, to luggage tags, flip-flops, VT business cards, beach bag, flag and T-shirt. All worked just fine.
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> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Pros: | "ALWAYS HOT" | | Cons: | "BEING OVERDEVELOPED BEFORE YOUR EYES" | | In A Nutshell: | "AFRICA FOR EUROPEANS WHO DON'T DO AFRICA" |
DAO's Ilha do Sal Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 3 - Photos: 14 | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | | Transportation | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips
Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 |
 Comments for DAO about Ilha do Sal | | | | |
diosh Sun Aug 9, 2009 14:17 UTC
I love the 'message in a bottle' idea. Wonderful.D x | craic Thu Dec 11, 2008 17:02 UTC
fabulous - and wierd - which is fabulous | risse73 Tue Dec 9, 2008 04:25 UTC
Thanks for these tips! Love the "message in a bottle" tip most of all. -Marissa- | SLLiew Sun Oct 26, 2008 21:28 UTC
Thanks for much from here. Was looking for a pic of the local post office :) |
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