Edgar is the best ( half day island tour) - We booked the half day tour through Edgar at the light house on the beach at riu palace hotel, Edgar is amazing I will send you so much information on WhatsApp about all the tours etc, our Driver was Grace and he drove superb and told us about the island and took some great photos for us.

Private Island tour at it's best! - What a fabulous way to have seen the 'Real Sal' with a knowledgable tour guide and private tour experience. As this holiday was for both of our birthdays, we wanted this trip to be special and it ticked all the boxes. From the moment we met Edgar by the lighthouse to the arrival back at the Riu hotel following our trip, we could not fault a thing! We were fortunate to have Tey, Machoo and Eugene with us, pictures were snapped during the day, with no pressure to purchase however the moments were captured perfectly and meant we came away with permanent reminders of our day out. Lunch at Ka Lika was delicious, great value for money and organised so well. Experiencing the sites of Sal and the surreal 'floating' in the Salt Lake kept us talking about our trip for days afterwards. The Lemon Shark experience was so 'up close and personal' whilst they remained in their natural environment. The weather was glorious which meant we saw the 'Blue Eye' at it's best and the 'Mirage' didn't disappoint, what a bizarre trick on the eye! It is our wish to return to Santa Maria and we will definitely find Edgar for another trip when we do.

Perfect private tour, guide - individually addressed our needs, explored the highlights of the island at our own pace - Private tour, just the two of us with Paulo and a pick-up truck - perfect. We saw all the highlights of the island at our own pace. Paulo - top guide, friendly, knowledgeable about the area and flexible!

Cabo Verde holiday. Rui Palace Sal - Met Edgar by Lighthouse after being highly recommended to make contact with him prior to our holiday. Thoroughly impressed by Edgar. So very friendly, funny and very professional to deal with. He arranged our full day Private Tour of the island along with our Catamaran and quad tours as well. No detail missed whatsoever making each experience so enjoyable. Along with the above he sorted out our taxi from the airport on arrival and also return journey. We cannot speak highly of him enough, and anyone visiting Rui Palace or nearby accommodation I would highly recommend you seek out Edgar, to make your holiday more enjoyable. Top Top Man

Amazing Day, full of wonder and special experiences - We have just come back from a magical holiday in Sal and this trip was just perfection - we saw and experienced the island from walking with sharks to swimming in the salt lake, the blue eye and amazing swimming lake, the desert and a fabulous lunch! our guide was so helpful, experienced and just down right lovely. I have a bad knee and he even helped me into the sea and down the rocks so that I could swim in beautiful lakes. I can't recommend this enough - it was just amazing. Oh and the fact it was just usand we sat outside on a 4x4 made it even more special.

Excellent Edgar - Edgar is the man to book with for no stress trips,😁 I contacted Edgar prior to visiting Cape Verde received loads of useful info before leaving home on what to take and things to do whilst there. I messaged again once in resort, Edgar came to meet me to give more info face to face. Edgar is easy to talk to, no hard sell and reassurance given at every stage, contacting before and after trips to ensure a good time was had by all, Which it was. The island tour is fantastic, you get to travel to all main sights blue eye, sharks, salt lakes, mirage as well as time to stop an swim have a meal and visit the capital and fishing village. we had Elder as our guide who was informative, funny and great to spend a day with to get a real look at cape Verde. Nothing is too much for this group of lovely people, Edgar went above an beyond to make sure we enjoyed our time on the island we booked quads, boat trip and island tour which were all great. I cannot recommend booking with Edgar enough, he is a lovely gentleman with a massive passion for his homeland ❤️

Half day private tour - We are a family of of 4 who wanted to do a tour of the salt lakes, Lemon sharks and the blue eye. It was Very easy to book with excellent communication before hand. The driver turned up promptly in a good quality pick up truck which was clean and tidy. We had the choice to sit either inside or on the back outside seating. The driver was very knowledgeable about the island, and a brilliant safe driver. He was very relaxed and didn’t rush us at any of the sites. We had an excellent day with fabulous memories of Sal, Cape Verde. I would definitely recommend this trip.

Long and Interesting Day! - This whole day tour is well run and is excellent value compared to those offered by the large tour operators. Edgar was recommended to me by family who had visited previously. I got in touch prior to my visit and he sent me lots of ideas and useful information. He is supremely helpful and professional. My friends and I booked the Island tour for 12 of us and it was a really interesting day trip showing the best of Cape Verde, with an excellent lunch ( paid seperately) The pick up trucks are not for the faint hearted but there is space inside the cab for 4 too! Lots of the tracks are quite rough so be prepared for a bumpy ride! On the trip you see the beautiful Buracona ( Blue Hole), and the fascinating geology of Murdeira Bay ( which also provides a view of the Sleeping Lion 'mountains') Another natural wonder is the mirage at Terra Boa.Paddling with baby lemon sharks is also included ( but be careful as access to the sea is across a slippery, rocky shoreline and not easy.) You will visit the beach where the island's own champion kite surfer gives lessons and shows his skills and you'll learn about salt production at Santa Maria Flats and then finish the day floating in the salt rich waters of Pedra de Lume ( a spectacular volcanic crater!) The tour visits the capital Espargos and Palmeira Port and fishing village which give a glimpse of real life on Cape Verde and may be a shock for some. All in all I felt that we saw and learned a great deal. Sal is still unspoiled and is very young in tourism years. This is both a joy (no fast food or naff shops) and sometimes uncomfortable ( litter, shanty towns and sparse shopping opportunities). Most of us were very happily tired on our return to the hotel and had lots to talk about and consider. A few of the group found the day too long and too bitty with its numerous stops. Only you will know whether it will appeal to you or not; but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ten Points for Jairson - Jairson was our guide for the day. He speaks several languages and his German was sufficient to keep my German partner satisfied. The score is based upon his competence and friendliness. We talked about many subjects and his viewpoints were open and helpful for us to gather information, our major reason for the booking. By coincidence I had my birthday and Union went out of their way (their motto could be: we try harder), and sure enough, at lunchtime there was a cake including candles to reflect my special day. Thank you! We saw everything noteworthy about Sal and had synopsis about Cape Verden’s other islands and didn’t feel overburdened with too many details. Jairson is rightly proud of his homeland and we were lucky to meet him.

Photographer scammed us and he was with the Union tour operator - The experience of the trip itself wasn't bad, the vehicles aren't air conditioned and if there's more than 3 people you need to sit in the back of a pick up truck which isn't great. However the main reason for the 1 star review is the photographer, we paid 30 Euros for our photos and I tipped him 10 euros (we knew we were going to buy the photos so we didn't take many with our phones) they were sent through in terrible quality around 190kb per photo. We emailed him back politely asking him to resend them and had no response, I've also messaged the tour operator and have had no response. We are really disappointed because it's basically a scam because they are literally unusable in that quality. Their email address is [email protected]