On the islands of Cape Verde you can find lush valleys and mountains, long stretches of white sand, smoking volcanoes and dusty deserts, and pretty towns with coddled streets. Additionally, there are Portuguese wine and local liquor, songs that are sad alongside those with a frenetic Latin beat, and exciting and windsurfing, hiking and fishing. lslanders mix up African, Protuguese, Mediterranean and Latin influences and come out with a flavour that’s distinctly ‘Cabo’.

August to October

Vanishing into the verdant valleys and forests of beautiful Santo Antao island Gorging on Cape Verde’s delicious fresh fish or famous lobsters Losing yourself in the colour and chaos of Mindelo’s Mardi Gras, the country’s most vibrant festival

Plunging into the open waters of the Atlantic and seeking out sharks, manta rays and whale Huffing and puffing to the top of Mt Fogo, an active volcano, still spouting its stuff Cooing over a coladeira or two sung by a talented local singer

Read poet Jorge Barbosa’s Arquipelago, which melancholic reflections on the sea, and longings for liberation

Listen to the undisputed star of mornas and coladeiras Cesaria Evora

Watch O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno (Napumoceno’s Will), a comedy about social and sexual mores among Cape Verde’s bourgeoisie

Eat the national dish, cachupa (a tasty stew of several kinds of beans plus corn and various kinds of meat, often sausage or bacon, or fish). Or try a tasty pastel com diablo dentro (pastry with the devil inside)-a mix of fresh tuna, onions and tomatoes, wrapped in a pastry blended from boild potatoes and corn flour, deep fried and served hot

Drink grogue (grog), the local sugar-cane spirit; ponch (rum, lemonade and honey), or Ceris, a decent bottled local beer

Bom-dee-ah (‘good morning’ in Crioulo, a Portuguese-based Creole)

Portuguese cultural legacy; volcanic islands; high literacy rate; mornas; coladeiras and funana music

The razo lark (Alauda razae) is one of the rarest birds in the world (only 250 specimens are thought to remain). Many indigenous inhabitants have left Cape Verde and now expats outnumber the islanders.

Despite the islands’ name (meaning ;green cape’), when Charles Darwin visited them more than 100 years ago, he noted that such ‘an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil.’