Santiago Island: 4-Hour Calabaceira Valley Hike & Guided Tour to Cidade Velha

Cidade Velha is well worth visiting if you are going to Santiago, and this tour was a great opportunity to not only see all the main sights but to also walk through the green valley of the Ribeira Grande de Santiago. The lush valley leads straight to Cidade Velha, and walking through it will also give you the opportunity to see the famous baobab tree mentioned by Charles Darwin when he stopped in Santiago. It isn't a hard trek, and it's a nice opportunity to see more than *just* the main sites in Cidade Velha

My guide Erickson was great! He spoke English well and took care in answering any questions. Vehicle was on time.

I was picked up on time. The hike met my expectations. Tour guide was very nice has told a lot about nature and history. A very nice experience.

This was a wonderful hike trough the valley! Seen the kingfisher and seeing the mango's were ripe we had some mango's from the tree! Cicade velha was super interesting and my guide was very knowledgeable! Thank you very much for the tour!

Beginning with wonderful Deise at the end of my emailed questions, Bu Country and the experience they provided were a pleasure indeed. Kind things, and much appreciated things, done by Elton, our guide ... bringing a pristine Cabo Verde flag for fun precipice photos ... including laminated maps and photos to aid our understanding of Cabo Verde as we motored to our destinations ... picking, peeling, and serving the freshest tamarind possible ... climbing a tree and serving us delicious mango, sending a second along with us ... not rushing us at all, turning a four hour tour into six because Elida was very slow on the rocky path ... not cutting anything from our itinerary when he easily could have skipped many things once back to civilisation with the slow rocky path behind us ... caring for Elida and all of us at every step ... and smartly sending his co-guide Lucas along with two others on the tour who were not keen to go so slowly and had an appointment back on the ship. From start to finish it is hard to imagine our day being any better.

Great hike with a great guide. Beautiful views and rich history. Guide had good knowledge of the area and the driver was very accommodating and safe. Appreciated their flexibility.

We did this hike through the Calabaceira (Baobab Valley) with Catia and it was worth it. It was very nice, we saw many plants and animals and the arrival at Cidade Velha was wonderful. After a break there we visited the fort. Very pleasant and personable people at Bu Country Tours. Good contact, reliable. Everything worked out fine.

We had a very nice tour with our guide Ricardo. He told us a lot about the valley and the flora and fauna. The tour was very well organized, we were picked up from the hotel and brought back after the tour. A clear Recommendation.

We had a great time with Ailton hiking the Calabaceira Valley - absolutely amazing! He is lovely and gave us lots of information and history on the way about the plants and wildlife, the region and Cape Verde in general. He patiently answered our many questions. The 400-year old baobab tree is incredible. Cidade Velha and the fort are interesting places to explore - we spent less time there at the end. Nilton was friendly and drove us around. The hike and tour starts early but finishes around midday/lunchtime, leaving you with the rest of the day to do other things. Alex was kind enough to arrange it for us last minute. Would definitely recommend this tour company!

Everything was awesome from the start to the end. We had a good walk and a lot of interesting conversations. Some history, some monkeys, some good food.