October 24, 1979. Tarrafal de Santiago, Cabo Verde. A small town wrapped around one of the most beautiful bays in the Atlantic. This is where Kabungo was born — and this is where he has never left.
Growing up steps from the ocean, the sea was never a destination. It was just home. The sound of waves, the smell of salt, the rhythm of the tide — all of it woven into everyday life long before surfing had a name for him.
1999. Kabungo picks up a surfboard for the first time.
"Discovering surfing was the best thing that ever happened to me. It changed my perspective on life."
From that moment, everything else became secondary. He trained hard. He studied the ocean. He committed to a life shaped by waves — not despite the difficulty, but because of it.
Three national titles. 2008. 2013. 2014. Not because he trained to win — because he never stopped surfing.
In 2015 he became the first Cape Verdean ever to compete on the Rip Curl Africa Tour. In 2016, he finished third. At home. In Tarrafal. In front of the people who watched him grow up.
Competition was never the goal. It was just what happened when someone loves something completely.
In 2005 — years before the titles, years before the Africa Tour — Kabungo started teaching. Not as a business. As a calling.
He created the Kabungo Surf School project to bring surfing into his community. He worked with children for over a decade, completely voluntarily, teaching them to swim, to surf, and to respect the ocean. Environmental awareness was part of every lesson — because if you love the sea, you protect it.
"My society has turned its back on the sea. I never will."
The project didn't always have the support it deserved — no government backing, no institutional involvement, no easy path. But Kabungo kept showing up. Year after year. Wave after wave.
Today, the Kabungo Surf School is still rooted in the same belief: that surfing changes lives. That the ocean teaches you things no classroom can. That Tarrafal has something the world needs — and someone who can share it.
When you book a lesson with Kabungo, you're not hiring an instructor. You're learning from someone who has lived every word of what he teaches.
Your first wave
is closer than you think.