Boa Vista Experience

jak · Senior Member Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 912

Camels in Cape Verde?! It might seem like a ridiculous idea, but such a scenario has become reality on the island of Boa Vista, the brainchild of two Italian men and a Cape Verdean woman who have now put it into practice. A caravan of fifteen camels hailing from Mauritania is now on Boa Vista. They take their rest in a gully near the village of Estância de Baixo, where they are undergoing adaptation to the local climate and being trained to get accustomed to the presence of people. Camel excursions are scheduled to begin by the end of October.

The idea was born three years ago in the minds of three ambitious youths, two Italians and one Cape Verdean, who dreamed up a new tourist “product” for the Boa Vista market. Mario Marianni, Andrea Perotti and Nádia Delgado joined forces to outline this irreverent project: bring camels to take tourists on excursions over the sand dunes of Boa Vista.

The initiative began three years ago. Nádia Delgado, the Cape Verdean partner in the initiative, tells how it was to enter into a world none of the three was familiar with. “When we got the go-ahead from the Ministry, Andrea and Marianni made the first trip to get to know the territory and the animals, because we had no knowledge whatsoever on the subject. It began three years ago, and everyone made fun of us. They thought it was a crazy idea to bring camels to Cape Verde,” she recalls.

The three associates are now waiting for their license to provide tourism services. The innovative project encompasses the construction of a restaurant and an esplanade, offices, a disco and other structures. A tent is already on its way, straight from Morocco, to be transformed into an esplanade. But the three associates’ ambitions go even further. 32 more camels are scheduled to arrive in the coming months and will be stationed in the Lacacão zone of the island in time for the opening of the Riu Touareg Hotel in 2011.

A Semana

PAUL · Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 63 Location: Warwickshire

Sounds fun...........is that one hump or two?! Laughing

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PAUL

andre · Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:47 pm Post subject:

Who cares! Camels belong in the Sahara or desert plains of Africa. They are not indigenous to Cape Verde. These camels are for the commercial exploitation of tourists! It reminds me of when some idiots thought of introducing tigers to South Africa. Tigers are Asian, not African!

Boa Vista is famous for turtles, dolphins, whales, eagles, other birds of prey, game fish, donkeys..... please don't make a farce by introducing camels!

PAUL · Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 63 Location: Warwickshire

Andre,
I would much prefer to see 20 camels walking past my apartment than 20 noisy quad bikes wrecking the dune on cabral beach! !

Ban all quads!!

Bring on the camel train!!
Think of all that fertiliser! put it on your rhubarb,or do you have custard on yours Laughing

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PAUL

andre · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:21 pm Post subject:

Paul,

I believe quads need to be controlled - SERIOUSLY. They have uses on desert islands, however certain testosterone junkies have over-stepped the mark, probably because inadequate policing has allowed this!

Camels, they may be the ship of the desert, ( if you know the joke!), however they are out of place on Boa Vista. I prefer to see the indigenous donkey with the sad look on its face!

Andre

PS Camels are known as the ship of the desert because they are full of arab s _men!

andre · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:55 pm Post subject:

We met up with the camels today on Chaves beach. Took some photos. I still don´t like the idea! Out of place. In my unprofessional opinion they don´t look well/comfortable.

Watch this space!

Andre