‘Reaching the lip of the crater made it all worthwhile’ – Done the Canaries? Try a hillwalking holiday in Cape Verde

From lava fields to tropical wildlife, this collection of islands southwest of the Canaries is a hillwalker’s paradise

Conor Power reaches the crater of Pico do Fogo volcano in Cape Verde

Conor Power

The first thing many Irish people think of when one mentions Cape Verde — the small group of islands set 500km off the west coast of Africa — is its dubious honour of being the last great El Dorado of foreign property investment before the Celtic Tiger came crashing to an end.

For my three French travelling companions, however, I learned that their association is completely different. For them, Cape Verde is a hillwalker’s paradise and also the home of the late great singer Cesária Évora, a woman whose worldwide hit Soldade encapsulated the romance of these far-flung islands in a song about emigration — traditionally the lot of Cape Verdeans in a way that resonates very strongly with the Irish experience.