Sao Tome and Angola (2/2)
This post is part 2 of the "st-ao-2024" series:
I spent nearly 3 weeks exploring Sao Tome and Angola. It was a pretty good trip overall, despite requiring 8 separate flights (round trip). What follows is the time that I spent in Angola, see the first part for Sao Tome.
Day 7
I slept really well until around 7:30am when I was awakened by banging construction sounds from the property next door. Breakfast was pretty similar to Sao Tome, although there were also hard boiled eggs. Some weird old nut job was also eating and debating the 'privilege' of refugees living out of tents on the beach, so that was fun. It's very cloudy this morning, although it might just be carl paying a visit.
I did a whole lot of nothing today. I watched a movie in the afternoon. Then went for a walk to the end of the peninsula (about 25 minutes). It was kinda bleak. Alternating luxury & slums. Huge guarded apartment complexes with fancy SUVs patked outside, then shacks with people sitting on the street, then famcy restaurants, then garbage filled empty lots, then beach clubs with bouncers, then fishermen cleaning their catch on the beach. On the walk back there was a police check point for cars, and when they saw me they made stop too. After demanding my passport, and telling me how much they love California, they attempted a shake down for money. They gave me a sad story about how hungry they were and how they hadn't been paid in a long time. Once they returned my passport I wished them a good aftetnoon, and walked away.
I decided that tonight was Angolan pizza night. 15 minutes walk was an italian place on the beach. Other than being expensive, it was actually pretty good. i got chicken and pepper. they even accepted my card to pay.
Day 8
I slept until around 7:30, and then gave up due to lots of street noise. The sun actually came out this morning. Breakfast was mediocre. I got an extra hour (1pm) before checkout, to hopefully reduce the possibility of the next hotel not letting me checkin early (before 2pm).
The 40 minute walk to the other hotel went about as well as I could have hoped. I was a sweaty mess by the time that I found the hotel. I tried to checkin, but they had no clue who I was. I gave them the tour company emergency phone number and that got it sorted put. Except the room they took me to initially had no AC, and no bathroom towels. I complained, and after a few minutes, they gave me a different room which had working AC amd towels, but no hand soap. I also had to argue with them to get the wifi password. After all that drama, then I wanted to exchange USD for kwanza. Other than making me wait in thr lobby for nearly a half hour, that part went ok.
Dinner was a 'beef' restaurant, creatively called Biefologia. I chose it mostly because it was a 3 minute walk from the hotel, and had decent reviews. I got a beer (Cuca, the local one) empanadas, and a 'mush burger' (i think they meant smash burger) which had cheddar & mushrooms. it was ok.
Day 9
I went to bed last night at 10pm, because I had a bad headache. After lying in bed for a while, I started to feel nauseous too. Eventually I managed to fall asleep. I feel ok this morning. Although there was tons of noise in the hotel this morning (slamming doors, power tools, etc), so I've been awake since 7am. I got breakfast which was very sad & pathetic, and played the "is this person on the tour?" game. Nearly everyone looked old enough to be my parents, except one woman. Turns out, they all are on the tour. The younger woman is Chelsea, who works for NativeEye.
Including me, its 10 people (apparently one canceled 3 days ago due to some health problem).
We split into two vehicles, and headed out for the city tour. First stop was the original 16th century portuguese fort from when the colony was first established. While there, the military decided to test fire the large cannons 17 times.
Next we went to the national museum of anthropology. it was way better than I expected. they had a huge exhibit of traditional masks which was quite good.
Afterwards, we drove back to the peninsula for lunch, and went to 'Miami Beach' (which was nothing like Miami). I got a salad, as its been forever since i've had real fresh vegetables.
Then we headed to the airport for the 95 minute TAAG flight down to Lubango.
Traffic was kinda crappy, and then there was the chaos of checking in 11 people for the flight.
I used a decoy disposable water bottle to get my full reusable water bottle past security.
We had nearly an hour to kill waiting for boarding. I blew several people's minds when they learned how old I was
(several thought I was on my 20s). Finally at boarding time, I somehow was the first of the group in line.
But there was no bus and the plane was quite far away. Yet people were walking, so I walked too.
But when I looked behind me, no one else was following me. I started to question if I was even going to the right plane,
but the people ahead of me kept walking, so I continued. I looked back once more, and there was a bus parked at the terminal.
I ended up on the correct plane after a solid 10 minutes of walking down the apron.
I guess they didn't have a spare bus at boarding time, but then it arrived.
Everyone else in the group took the bus and was shocked that I had to walk. It was a tiny prop plane, just 4 across.
The person sitting beside me could not figure out how to use her seat belt, and I had to give her a brief tutorial.
The flight was fine, and we landed at 8pm. They forced everyone through passport checks when entering the terminal.
Thankfully bags came out quickly, and then we were on our way to the lodge.
Day 10
I got a bad headache during the night that kept waking me. I slept mostly ok, and was up for the day at 7am.
breakfast was a large, elaborate buffet.
the lodge/resort is huge and has deer/buckbuck wandering around, plus waterfowl and rabbits. Its quite dry & dusty down here,
with small cactus and lots of small, brown brush.
We split into 4 SUVs and departed just after 9am. We're relatively close to the Namibian border (about 5 hours drive). We drove for about an hour southeast from Lubango. Half the drive was on a decent paved road, but then we turned onto a dirt track that was fairly bumpy. We stopped at the village of Kimbo, home of the Muila tribe. We met the chief. The women all wear multicolored bead necklaces and belts, are msotly topless, and have mud butter in their hair. They danced and sang for a while. They seemed to enjoy it (it wasn't just for show). Then there were opportunities for photos, which felt forced and awkward.
Next we drove back on the dirt road for a while, then turned onto a field for a lunch stop. They rolled out an awning, setup a table, and there were sandwiches, chips, drinks & bananas.
After lunch we drove an hour further south to Chibia, to visit the local market. This was crazy bonkers. Its a long way down a very rough road, out in the middle of no where. Yet hundreds of locals viait this market for everything. As soon as we arrived, a crowd started to form around us. Kids, adults, Muila in traditional dress, people wearing modern clothes, and everything in between. We were pre-warned not to photograph anything or anyone, as someone would get upset, and demand money. We wandered through the market, and it was the usual assortmemt of clothes. fabric, food, tools, and other random items. Everywhere we went, a crowd followed us. Eventually we split into smaller groups which helped disperse the crowds a bit. There were random drunk guys wandering about in bizarre outfits (one guy had no shirt, a black cowboy hat, a skirt, and 2 machetes). After an hour of the chaos, we left for the long drive back to Lubango.
The final stop of the day was Tundavala, a 6500ft chasm that opens to a sheer cliff. I'd seen photos from a few trip reports, so I had a rough idea of what to expect. But the drive out gives few clues of what is at the end of the road, because its mostly approaching from the top. We parked, and could see there was an open expanse ahead. But its basically not until you're nearly at the edge that it all comes into view. Its as if the north rim of the Grand Canyon was replaced by a huge, green valley. It is truly spectacular. Plus we arrived just before sunset, so the light was gorgeous.
Day 11
I was awake at 3am for no reason. Eventually, I fell back to sleep, but was up for the day at 6:30. We were supposed to depart at 8:30, but it was after 9am before we actually left.
We drove southeast on relatively good roads for hours. It was fairly monotonous scenery, quite dry, with short trees and thorny bushes. We saw a bunch of baobab for a while. At noon we stopped in a small town to pickup beer and use the toilet.
At 1pm we stopped in a tiny speck of a town for lunch. Nearby, there was a large, old, crumbling colonial era building that was covered in lizards doing push ups. We had a salad with fresh tomatoes & onions, tuna, and canned peas, carrots & potatoes, with bread. It was quite warm at this point.
After lunch the good road ended immediately, and we started on 3 hours of rough road. Initially it was just gravel, but eventually turned into large rocks, and plenty of dry river crossings (but no bridges). We were told that this road is impassable mud in the wet season. Now its bone dry everywhere.
We got to the camping area at 5pm. We were about 30 miles north of the Namibian border. The tents were huge 4 person tents, made of bulky canvas, and tall enough to stand inside. Initially, they wanted to build & place all of the tents side by side. Multiple people, including me, objected, and they let us choose where we wanted to be placed. We were also warned about scorpions. The camp area was just outside of a Himba (tribe) village, and random people kept wandering by out of curiosity.
Dinner was spaghetti with hacked up chicken parts (bones included). It wasn't horrible.
Day 12
Not surprisingly, sleeping sucked. I was warm enough, but there was noise and of course the ground was hard. There were fighting dogs at 2am. A motorbike playing music at 3am. One of the SUVs started its engine at 3:30am for 2 minutes. Then the damn roosters started in, and I gave up at 6am. Everyone else had the same noise issues, plus were cold.
Breakfast was fairly decent omelettes, plus the usual powdered everything (but no laughing cow).
Our first stop today was a Himba village. It wad fine, but felt forced and awkward, as the women stood around posing for photos. After that we drove for a half hour to the big 'town' to see the market. It was far more calm than the market from the other day. Although we saw people from 4 different tribes, who all had distinctive dress.
We returned to camp afterwards for lunch. It was a fish stew with rice. It was ok.
Then we returned to the village from this morning. They slaughtered a cow to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of a village elder's death, and were butchering the cow while we watched.
The final stop of the day was the small village beside the camp site. This was probably the best experience overall, as they were really nice, friendly, and relaxed. They were already cooking dinner when we arrived. They let us sample their equivalent of fufu, and met the oldest woman, and lots of the children.
Dinner was a watery vegetable soup, and some weird, kinda funky boiled goat. There was also a random bottle of south african red wine, which was not awful. After dinner a lot of the children from the village (around 2 dozen) built a fire, and sung & danced. Or at least its what you'd get when kids & teenagers plan a talent show. Some of it was fun, some was amusing and much of it was weird.
Day 13
I slept better last night (no noise until 4am roosters). Breakfast was hotdogs, sunny eggs and stale bread rolls.
We spent the day driving back to Lubango, retracing the route from 2 days earlier. We didn't depart until 10am, and then stopped for lunch at 13:30. It was a fairly sad lunch of ham, cheese and bread rolls, with greenish yellow tasteless apples. The highlight was that we ate beside a 400+ year old baobab whose trunk was easily 12ft across.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent driving back to Lubango.
Day 14
I slept ok mostly because it was a real bed instead of on the ground.
We departed at 9:30am and headed up to their version of the 'Christ the Redeemer' + Hollywood sign combination.
After that we started driving southwest towards Namibe. After an hour, we reached Serra de Leba pass.
Its a road that snakes down over 6000ft to the valley below. Its in the same area as the cliff from a few days ago.
Next we drove over an hour west to visit with a new tribe. The scenery changed a lot, and was full of huge boulders and distant mountains. It reminded me of Joshua Tree in many ways. The young men all had mohawks, to signify that they were looking for a wife. The women had their hair split into 4 large poofs. The younger men & women danced for us after we arrived, and the guys had some fancy dance steps. There was also a huge sheet of sheet metal with a large pile of berries that they were fermenting into alcohol.
Afterwards we drove about 5 minutes back up the road and had lunch. It was rice with tuna, tomatoes & green olives, bread, and salad. While we were eating several people from the village we just left wandered past and gave us that slow stare that implies they want our food. Someone offered them the rice, and as soon as they noticed it had tuna they turned it down and left. Apparently they never eat fish for reasons.
We drove west for another two hours towards Namibe. Gradually the terrain became full desert, with tiny plants, and lots of sand.
It looked much like Namibia. We reached Namibe just before 17:00. Its a cute,
small city with a wide main street full of trees and plants. Also Karl had swallowed the coast, so it was cool & gray.
We swung by the 'best' beach, which multiple Brits said reminded them of home (mostly becayse it was cold, windy & gray).
we headed to the hotel after that.
Day 15
I slept relatively well and was up for the day at 6:45. Breakfast was not the worst buffet, but far from the best. Its still foggy this morning.
We departed just after 9am and drove east back into the desert. The scenery was mostly flat with small distant mountains, and short, dead gold grass. Eventually we came to an area that had a lot of welwischia plants scattered about, and we stopped for a little while.
After that we drove for a few hours through open desert, eventually ending up in an area with huge rocky mountains and boulders, similar to Joshua Tree. The nearest mountain had a small cave with petroglyphs. While waiting for lunch a bunch of people climbed the mountain for some great views. Lunch was Shoprite grilled chicken parts, bananas and chips.
During lunch, some weird huge fly with black & white spotted wings bit my toe and drew blood.
In late afternoon we were supposed to go on a 10 minute walk to the local tribe. In reality it was 45 minutes in the afternoon heat.
The village was very crude, with dried mud teepee like structures, and lots and lots of goats. They were goat herders.
And they had lots of baby kids just a few days old. There were also guinea fowl! We saw the women grinding corn meal.
The walk back was actually quite pleasant as the sun set.
Dinner was vegetable noodle soup, and pork with peas & rice. It was ok.
Day 16
I slept ok in the tent until 4:30am. Then at 6am some local on a motorbike rolled into camp with music blasting, and screamed 'bom dia', waited a few seconds, screamed again, then left. I gave up at that point.
Breakfast was a pepper carrot omelette, sunny eggs, & hot dogs.
The entire day was spent retracing all of our travels since Luanda. First driving back to Namibe, then driving back to Lubango, then flying back to Luanda. We got into Namibe at 2pm, and stopped for lunch. Once again it was foggy there, and it kinda had a Luderitz feeling of sitting at the end of the earth. We departed for Lubango at 4pm. We were racing the sunset much of the way. It was a gorgeous, deep red sunset.
The flight to Luanda was 8pm, and we barely made it, arriving at 18:50. Got boarding passes, then flew through security. Waited maybe 6 minutes in the gate area, then sent to a holding room for less than 5 minutes. Outside onto the tarmac for a short walk to the prop plane, and we boarded. We pushed back 4 minutes early. I don't think I've ever felt so rushed to depart for any flight before. The flight was very warm but otherwise ok. It was a bus gate because all of Luanda is a bus gate.
Day 17
I mostly slept fine. The AC is very loud. Also the wifi doesn't work from my room, and cell data works for about 5 seconds out of every minute.
We were supposed to depart at 9am. Instead we sat in the hotel lobby until 10 when we were told it would be 11am. We didn't depart until after 11am. We drove nearly an hour south to see the National Museum of Slavery. The museum is housed in a 17th century church. The tour was good, but dragged on and on. Then we walked across the road to one of those awful tourist markets, and wasted time.
Afterwards, we drove south for an hour to go on a boat cruise on the Kwanza River. It was actually quite enjoyable.
Most of the river is lined with dense jungle. We saw blue monkeys, parrots, fish eagles and crocodiles.
At the end they followed the river out to sea, which was not fun. Thankfully, they turned back after a few minutes.
We stopped for sundowner drinks once we returned to shore, and I had a gin & tonic. There were several cats there,
and one came over for head scratches.
For dinner, we went to a Medeira restaurant along the drive back to Luanda. It was ok, but not great. I got steak with a tomato salad.
Day 18
I didn't get to bed last night until nearly midnight, because we didn't return from dinner until after 11pm. I slept fairly well, but was still up for the (very very long) day at 6:30am. Breakfast was the same mediocre crap as yesterday, plus they couldn't manage to use a clean tea cup. I got checked out and left my bags at the hotel.
Shockingly, we actually departed at 9am this morning. We drove east out of the city past lots of shops and strip malls for much of the first hour. The road was pretty good until we reached a turnoff for Muxima, 65km. Then it was lots of pot holes, but nice scenery with huge numbers of baobabs for the remainder of the drive. We arrived just before noon.
The town sits along a wide curve of the Kwanza River, about 50km further inland than we were yesterday. Its very green. There's a hundred year old church, and a 460 year old Portuguese fort sitting on a hill above town. The church is fairly basic. The fort is small, and had nothing remaining inside the walls. The drive back to Luanda took 2.5 hours.
We had a late lunch on the island in Luanda, at Cafe Del Mar (another of the fancy overpriced places on the beach). I got chicken feta pasta, since it seemed safest. It was ok.
I got a ride to the airport at 18:30 with 6 others for my flight to Lisbon. The airport was a chaotic mess, but no real problems.
Overall, it was a good trip, to a part of the world that I'd never visited before. I wouldn't rule out returning to either country, but its not high on my list.
A GPX map track from the trip is:
All trip pictures are posted HERE
This post is part 2 of the "st-ao-2024" series: