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Within Cape Verde

Which UFO Sightings Were Actually Reported?

Cape Verde's known UFO record is a short sequence of online reports from 2011 onward, each with major gaps in time, place or documentation.

17 sources 3 graphics

On this page

  • The 2011 Sao Vicente lights
  • The 2013 tourist video and 2017 photographs
  • The delayed Atlantic maritime report
Preview for Which UFO Sightings Were Actually Reported?

Introduction

Cape Verde’s UFO timeline is unusually short and thinly documented. Unlike countries with extensive military archives or decades of recurring reports, the public record for Cape Verde consists mainly of a handful of internet-era sightings between 2011 and the mid-2020s. Most are supported only by witness testimony, photographs or videos uploaded online, with little or no corroborating evidence such as radar records, aviation data, astronomical analysis or official investigation.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

Sightings illustration 1

That does not mean every observation has a conventional explanation, but it does mean that the available evidence rarely allows investigators to reach firm conclusions. The chronology is therefore better understood as a small collection of isolated cases rather than a sustained national UFO phenomenon.

Which UFO sightings were actually reported?

The 2011 São Vicente lights

The earliest widely circulated modern Cape Verde case appeared in June 2011, when a UFO website published video said to show two bright linked lights and additional luminous activity over São Vicente. The footage was presented as having been recorded on 5 June 2011, but little supporting information accompanied the publication. The original recording conditions, camera specifications, witness interviews and precise observation location were not documented publicly.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

Because the material exists primarily through reposted online video, later researchers have been unable to establish several key facts that would normally be examined in a credible investigation:

  • whether the published video is the original recording or a compressed copy;
  • whether multiple independent witnesses observed the same event;
  • whether aircraft movements, satellites or astronomical objects were checked;
  • whether any local authority documented the incident.

As a result, the São Vicente lights remain genuinely unidentified only in the limited sense that the available evidence is insufficient for a confident explanation. The lack of documentation also prevents them from becoming a strong evidential case.

The 2012 Praia observation

Although often overlooked in summaries of Cape Verde reports, the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) contains a sighting submitted almost immediately after it allegedly occurred during a holiday on Santiago Island. According to the report, two witnesses observed what first appeared to be a bright star behaving unusually, followed by orange flashing lights and a separate extremely bright object moving rapidly across the sky during the night of 30–31 May 2012 near Praia. The witnesses attempted to photograph the display but reported that their camera could not capture it.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 89322June 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

Several features distinguish this report from many internet sightings:

  • it was filed within days rather than years;
  • it includes a specific island, approximate date and observational narrative;
  • it acknowledges unsuccessful attempts to obtain photographic evidence.

However, important limitations remain. No photographs accompanied the report, there is no independent confirmation from other observers, and no published investigation compared the observations with astronomical events, aircraft or satellites. Consequently, the case remains anecdotal despite its relatively prompt reporting.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 89322June 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

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The 2013 tourist video

A separate internet-era claim concerns footage reportedly recorded by a tourist in Cape Verde during 2013. Like the earlier São Vicente case, the video circulated mainly through UFO-focused websites rather than through news organisations or scientific investigators.

Public descriptions of the recording remain sparse. Exact filming conditions, original video files and independent image analysis have not been made available, making it impossible to determine whether the object represented an aircraft, balloon, optical effect or something genuinely anomalous. The limited documentation means the case adds another entry to the chronology but contributes little robust evidence.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

The 2017 holiday photographs

One of the better-known Cape Verde claims emerged in October 2017, when a British couple stated that they discovered a metallic blue object only after reviewing photographs taken during their holiday near the Cape Verde coast. Unlike a conventional sighting, the observers did not report watching the object move through the sky while taking the photographs. Instead, the alleged anomaly was noticed retrospectively during image review.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

This distinction is significant because retrospective photographic discoveries introduce several possibilities that are difficult to exclude without the original image files, including:

  • birds captured during a single exposure;
  • insects passing close to the lens;
  • motion blur;
  • lens reflections;
  • digital image artefacts.

No publicly available forensic examination of the original image metadata or full-resolution files has demonstrated that these possibilities were systematically eliminated. Consequently, the photographs remain interesting but evidentially weak.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

Sightings illustration 2

The delayed Atlantic maritime report

The most recent addition to the chronology is unusual because it was reported many years after the alleged event. A NUFORC entry submitted in 2025 describes an incident that reportedly occurred during a yacht voyage from Cape Verde towards Barbados in December 2012. According to the account, two bright white spherical objects approximately two to three metres in apparent diameter followed the vessel for several minutes after a tanker had passed before disappearing.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 193255…

The report is difficult to evaluate because several important details remain uncertain:

  • it was submitted roughly thirteen years after the alleged observation;
  • the exact position at sea is unknown;
  • no supporting witnesses are identified;
  • no navigational records or photographs accompany the account.

Although NUFORC categorises the sighting under Cabo Verde because the voyage originated there, the event itself occurred somewhere in the mid-Atlantic rather than near the islands. It therefore belongs only cautiously within a Cape Verde chronology.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 193255…

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How the timeline compares across cases

Viewed together, the reported incidents reveal several consistent patterns rather than a progression towards stronger evidence.

PeriodMain claimPrimary evidencePrincipal limitation2011São Vicente lightsOnline videoMinimal contextual information and no documented investigation.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings observationWitness testimonyNo successful photographs or independent confirmation.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 89322June 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012 videoUploaded videoOriginal files and technical analysis unavailable.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings photographsStill imagesObject noticed only after reviewing photographs; no forensic image analysis published. [Latest UFO Sightings](https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/tag/cape-verde 2025 for alleged 2012 eventAtlantic maritime sightingDelayed witness accountLong reporting delay and imprecise location.[NUFORC]nuforc.orgNUFORC UFO Sighting 193255…

Rather than showing a recurring pattern of similar objects or repeated observations from the same region, the reports differ substantially in appearance, location and circumstances. No two cases are clearly connected.

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Why none has become a landmark UFO case

Internationally recognised UFO cases usually acquire significance because they combine several independent forms of evidence, such as multiple witnesses, radar data, contemporaneous documentation, physical traces or extensive official investigation.

None of the known Cape Verde reports meets those standards. Across the available chronology, investigators face recurring obstacles:

  • original media files are often unavailable;
  • witness information is limited;
  • independent corroboration is absent;
  • aviation and astronomical comparisons are rarely documented;
  • no publicly available government investigation has examined the incidents.

These weaknesses do not prove that the witnesses were mistaken, but they substantially reduce the evidential value of the cases.

Sightings illustration 3

What the timeline actually tells us

The available record supports a modest conclusion. Cape Verde has produced a small number of reported UFO incidents since 2011, demonstrating that unusual aerial observations have been recorded there, as they have in many countries. However, the chronology does not indicate a national wave of sightings, a geographical hotspot or an escalating pattern of unexplained events.[Latest UFO Sightings]latest-ufo-sightings.netLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO SightingsLatest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings

The country’s UFO timeline is therefore best understood as a collection of isolated and unevenly documented reports. Some remain unidentified because the available evidence is incomplete, but none currently provides sufficiently strong documentation to rank among the most compelling or best-investigated UFO cases in the wider international literature.

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Endnotes

1. Source: latest-ufo-sightings.net
Title: Latest UFO Sightings Cape Verde Archives • Latest UFO Sightings
Link:https://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/tag/cape-verde

2. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=193255

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 193255...

3. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=89322

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 89322June 5, 2012...

Published: June 5, 2012

4. Source: nuforc.org
Title: Below is a collectio
Link:https://nuforc.org/gallery/

Source snippet

Gallery | NUFORCApril 18, 2022 — IMAGE GALLERY While detailed photographs of UFO’s remain stubbornly elusive, many witnesses have submitt...

Published: April 18, 2022

5. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=104327

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 104327November 11, 2013 — NUFORC UFO SIGHTING 104327 Occurred: 2013-11-09 19:44 Local Reported: 2013-11-10 12:06 Paci...

Published: November 9, 2013

6. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=100475

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 100475August 30, 2013 — NUFORC UFO SIGHTING 100475 Occurred: 2013-05-15 00:00 Local - Approximate Reported: 2013-07-2...

Published: May 15, 2013

7. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=84528

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 84528October 19, 2011 — NUFORC UFO SIGHTING 84528 Occurred: 1981-07-10 22:00 Local Reported: 2011-10-14 13:45 Pacific...

Published: October 14, 2011

8. Source: nuforc.org
Link:https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=82452

Source snippet

NUFORC UFO Sighting 82452July 17, 2011 — NUFORC UFO SIGHTING 82452 Occurred: 2011-07-12 20:00 Local Reported: 2011-07-14 06:06 Pacific Du...

Published: July 12, 2011

Additional References

9. Source: ufotimelineproject.com
Link:https://www.ufotimelineproject.com/ufo-photos

Source snippet

UFO PhotographsUFO PHOTOGRAPHS Famous Images From the History of the UFO Phenomenon From iconic saucer photos to controversial close-up i...

10. Source: sentientorbs.com
Title: Black Triangle, 5 white lights over Goleta | Sentient Orbs
Link:https://sentientorbs.com/explore/sightings/NUFORC-80711

Source snippet

March 20, 2011 — Anomaly Intel / Dossier View NUFORC report Case NUFORC-80711 Copy Link Back to exploreOpen NUFORC UAP Triangle NUFORC Ha...

Published: March 20, 2011

11. Source: thephenomenon.app
Title: The Phenomenon | Portugal Flashing swarm of objects
Link:https://thephenomenon.app/portugal/

Source snippet

Vale do logo (Portugal), Portugal Formation [Button: View Details] NUFORC_134637 NUFORC UFO Sighting 134637 Occurred: 2017-06-17 23:00 L...

Published: June 17, 2017

12. Source: ovni.blogs.sapo.mz
Link:https://ovni.blogs.sapo.mz/2011/11/01/

Source snippet

sapo.mz1 de Novembro de 2011 - Portal OVNINovember 1, 2011 — ovni,moçambique,extraterrestre,2012,avistamento,africa,maputo,tete,matola,be...

Published: November 1, 2011

13. Source: youtube.com
Title: the UFO Case Hidden for 30 years | Close Encounters 105
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac6kW72aZPI

Source snippet

the most shocking New UFO Files: Forensic Expert Analysis...

14. Source: youtube.com
Title: RECORD CABO VERDE: dessins gigantes en plantation intrigue
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsILO7aj1Ts

Source snippet

record CABO VERDE: Influencer mayk Leão habla a BAND...

15. Source: youtube.com
Title: record CABO VERDE: Luciano Tigre visitando Curitiba
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aA6EsbsbE

Source snippet

the UFO Case Hidden for 30 years | Close Encounters 105...

16. Source: youtube.com
Title: record CABO VERDE: Influencer mayk Leão habla a BAND
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiuc7_xPvng

Source snippet

record CABO VERDE: Luciano Tigre visitando Curitiba...

17. Source: youtube.com
Title: the most shocking New UFO Files: Forensic Expert Analysis
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PRiBt9mLh4