Travel misadventure: our ATV tour in Cape Verde, all was well until we found ourselves stuck in the desert.

Our vacation in Cape Verde was going very well. With an all-inclusive tour package at one of the resorts on the island of Boavista, the wildest island in the archipelago. The vacation was marked by the most typical philosophy of the area, “No Stress!” welcomed with great satisfaction by both me and Chiara.
However, after the first few days of decompressing from the stress outside spent entirely on the beach sunbathing but not too much, we were wondering if there weren’t more fun activities to do, aside from wading kite surfers do sea evolutions….

An ATV tour in Cape Verde

Just as if we had called it in, we get word that ATVs can be rented in Cape Verde from a local company (run by Italians) and that the price per day to use a vehicle is very honest! This was just what we wanted. Some healthy exploration! We then decide to book one for the following day. We make a nice plan: to wander the entire island, which measures only 40 square kilometers, to discover the most interesting natural sights.

Day X arrives. The first recommendation is not long in coming: in fact, we are warned that there are only two gas pumps on the entire island and that they are both located at the main town, Sal Rei, located a few kilometers from our hotel. Therefore, they advise us to bring a spare tank of gasoline so that we can fill up on the way-okay!

We have no experience with ATVs, it is the very first time for both of us but, they reassure us, it is very easy to drive. When we arrive at the rental they briefly teach us how to use it, nothing extremely complicated in fact, but just to be safe we take a few rides around the rendezvous area.
Last recommendation: do not exceed the speed limit.

Ready, set and go!

The island of Boavista opens us up to a thousand different landscapes, first somewhat bumpy roads, then swamp, moonscapes and rocky landscapes and finally sand dunes, dunes as far as the eye can see. The wheels hold the road perfectly despite the ground changing so often beneath us. It is really a lot of fun.
We get as far as the famous “Santa Monica” beach, an expanse of golden sand 20 kilometers long, and there in front, the ocean. Like seeing an oasis in the desert. We resume our march to return but not before taking a few photos in the midst of that priceless view!

Nothing in particular had happened up to that point, we were extremely happy and relaxed, and we never thought that the situation would escalate into a really disturbing misadventure.

We get back on the ATV and Chiara warns me, the engine won’t start anymore! We try again and again, but our means of locomotion gives no sign of life, not even the slightest noise.
We are lost in the desert, with incessant wind, the sun was setting and no one within miles!

We try to call the car rental company. We explain the problem. Nothing, they can’t figure out what could have happened, they try in vain to give us technical assistance by sifting through different hypotheses, but they talk hastily and we are afraid that we will drop the line. We don’t have a phone enabled for this kind of call. We have no Internet. We are alone. We try to ask them to pick us up but they don’t understand what our location is. Endless minutes pass. We don’t know what to do.

At one point we spot a caravan of quad bike riders rapidly approaching; we attract their attention by flailing around like shipwrecked Titanic. After a very quick glance at the vehicle, they reassemble and drop us off there.

More time passes…

We think of other solutions making a thousand hypotheses, thoughts overlap confusingly, they are all equally unfeasible ideas–we panic.

Finally saved

Two hours or so later, it seems to us that we have been standing there for an eternity. We certainly didn’t expect that a vacation in Cape Verde would hold this nasty surprise for us. The wind continues to blow very hard, has become irritating, and the beautiful landscape takes on a distressing glow.
Suddenly, the phone rings. We are contacted again by the car rental company: they have set out to come and find us. Another hour passes. We finally see someone coming over the horizon, there they are!

A man and a woman, they get off the ATV, not even looking at our faces, despite our frightened but veiled expressions of gratitude. The guy lifts a flap under the handlebars, presses a button we hadn’t really seen, our quad immediately unlocks and starts up again….

“It works! Finally!!!! Thank you very much, thank you very much! But – and the question comes to us -: why didn’t you report this button to us? Why didn’t you tell us to press it?”

We would have saved ourselves the fear, the lost time and enjoyed the day! Both are silent, no response. Stirred, they climb aboard their vehicle and precede us on the trip back to Sal Rei.
Arriving at our destination, the two managers finally speak to us. Yes, to ask us for money for picking us up… What????? Adding insult to injury!

Touring the island Di Boavista by ATV in Cape Verde, is actually a fun experience, the scenery is really amazing, but if you want to experience this thrill, get a good explanation of the operation of the vehicle they rent you. If they had told us earlier, we would have certainly gone on to have a great day and not experienced this misadventure.

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