Chã das Caldeiras

Chã das Caldeiras is the village that lives inside the volcano. Sitting at about 1,700 metres on the floor of Pico do Fogo's ancient caldera, it is the highest village in Cape Verde and one of the most dramatic inhabited places in the Atlantic. The caldera wall — the Bordeira — rises a thousand metres above it on all sides, creating a world entirely enclosed by volcanic rock.

The village is divided into two neighbourhoods, Portela and Bangaeira, both established in the early twentieth century by settlers who recognised that the volcanic soil inside the caldera was extraordinarily fertile. They were right: Chã das Caldeiras now produces Cape Verde's best wine and coffee, grown on vines and bushes rooted in ash and lava. A visit to the local winery is essential.

The village is the base for climbing Pico do Fogo and also the start point for a shorter circular hike around the crater floor that takes two to three hours at a moderate pace.

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A story
The 2014 eruption buried most of the village under lava flows within a few days, destroying the winery, the church, and hundreds of homes. The Cape Verdean government urged residents to relocate permanently. Almost all of them came back. They cleared the lava, rebuilt their houses, and planted new vines in the volcanic ash. The wine they now produce — from vines grown in the debris of the eruption that destroyed the old vineyard — has become one of the most unusual agricultural stories in the Atlantic.

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