Boa Vista is one of the flattest islands in Cape Verde, which means the trade winds blow across it without any mountains to slow them down. Those winds pick up sand from the Sahara and carry it hundreds of kilometres out into the Atlantic, where it falls on the island and builds up into dunes. The biggest dune field is called Viana Desert and the dunes can reach 30 metres high.
The colours on Boa Vista are extraordinary — the orange and gold of the dunes, the bright white of salt pans, and the impossible turquoise of the shallow sea. In the morning and evening the dunes glow pink and red. Many photographers and artists visit just to capture these colours.
Even in such a dry, sandy place, there is wildlife. Loggerhead sea turtles come ashore at night to nest on the beaches near the dunes. Hoopoe birds with their stripy crests and curving beaks hunt insects among the sparse scrub. And if you look carefully in the sand, you might find tiny shells and the tracks of ghost crabs.
Local people have lived on Boa Vista for centuries and learned to find fresh water in such a dry place. Traditional houses are built low to the ground to shelter from the wind. The island is also famous for its music — the melancholy, beautiful sound of morna drifts from windows in the small towns near the dunes.