From DR Congo to Angola! - the last of Central Africa

I absolutely love what I've come to learn about Angola!! People have been sweet and kind everywhere. The food is great. It's hard to beat the music. The scenery is extraordinary. And both culture and history is well worth looking into too. A few fun facts include that both dreadlocks and Samba come from Angola. Samba originates from Angolan Semba.

 

 

The local currency is the Kwanza (which sound kind of cool) and the common tongue is Portuguese although Angola, like nearly all other African countries, has plenty of languages to pick from. Regarding the currency then you can trade your USD through the official channels or you can do it on the street. Usually there is no big difference. But like with Argentina and Venezuela (in 2014) you currently get a much better rate on the street in Angola. USD 10 pays out 1,591 kwanza through the bank. But on the street you get as much as 4,000 kwanza! Too fully appreciate that you need to understand that an $80 hotel costs you $32. Or that a $10 meal is only $4 for you. And that is good for visitors because Angola is generally a very expensive country. But then again that statement depends on where you go. I bought 4 mandarins for as little as $0.20.

 

 

Before I reached Luanda I heard someone say that it's very modern. That was followed by a: "It's just like London". Hmmm...Angola is an oil rich country and for a while it had the worlds fastest growing economy. But to say that Luanda is like London is stretching it. I could however understand that sentiment if someone flew in and spent all their time in the downtown area. Downtown is quite modern and hard to compare with any city in Central Africa. Just keep in mind that Luanda is a city of 6-7 million people and that everything surrounding Luanda's large city center is more...not like London.

 

As mentioned my wonderful girlfriend sponsored me a hotel stay. She booked it near the Red Cross office so it was supposed to be easy. But unfortunately the Red Cross has changed location and the webpage hasn't been updated. It's now 25 km out of town. And traffic in Luanda is not something you want to mess around with.

 

Frankly I didn't get to see too much of Luanda besides what I saw from a car being stuck in traffic. I spent some time at the hotel taking advantage of the insanely good internet connection. A connection which has been unmatched since I stayed with Adam in California's Silicon Valley. I don't hate much here in life...but a poor internet connection can surely get me fired up!! Luckily internet is fairly good in at least half the world. I'll update you again on the rest in a few years...

 

I did however spot a local place where I had lunch a few times. They were a bit astonished to see me there as I guess not many visitors are willing to leave their comfort of fancy restaurants and expensive clubs. But surely Angola is more costly than other countries so I cut down on meals. The hotel had breakfast included (a great one) and with a late lunch I could skip dinner for a few days. That's not healthy...but you know...a $20/day budget adds limitations...

 

 

 

A bus was supposed to get me from Luanda to Santa Clara at the border with Namibia. It's a 1,000 km trip but the roads are fairly good and the busses are comfortable so it should have been okay. Unfortunately I boarded the "party bus"? Not really however my seat was in the back along with a group of young people who had alcohol, music and no sense of sharing a common space. That party got louder and louder until they crashed within their drunkeness around 03:00am. One of them even got a little hostile towards me when I kindly asked for them to take it a little more easy. I probably shouldn't have made my request during their rampant stomping and singing though. Bad call. Because one of them pull out an ID card from his bag to prove that he was a government official. Go figure?

 

Then the bus broke down. To be fair I don't think that it happens too much in Angola. The bus company (Macon) looked very professional and modern along with all their terminals. And the busses were also modern. Unfortunately as the economy of Angola is following the oil prices one might argue that maintenance might not be tip top these days. At least the bus didn't have a complete breakdown on the side of the road. The driver noticed that something was wrong and stopped at a nearby terminal. Within an hour we switched to another bus and continued. But the trip had already lasted much longer than anticipated. However it is not a big problem when the scenery is so breathtaking!

 

The bus left Luanda at 8pm and reached the terminal at Santa Clara the next day at midnight. So I spent a night on the bus. The border to Namibia had already closed at 6pm and wouldn't open until the next morning at 07:30am. So the next night was spent sleeping on the floor at the well lit bus terminal. We've had worse before ;)

 

The next blog will start with Namibia. Because now we are done with Central Africa. I do not feel as victorious as I thought I would? I feel more like having left a battlefield and wanting to go back. It's strange. Maybe it's my hat calling?

 

But honestly Central Africa has been extraordinary!! Culture, history, people, music, food, scenery, flora, fauna...you name it! Just don't try to visit all those countries without flying while arranging for visas as you go. Be a tourist. Fly in and fly out. Arrange for visas from home. You'll be fine and you'll have the adventure of a lifetime...or a relax full time at the beach with outstanding service. Your choice.

 

Let's round this up with an interesting observation. Because as I wrote last week we would have crossed the "middle" by reaching Angola:

 

203 countries in total.

DRC was country 101.

Angola was country 102.

2 X 102 is 204. 

So, Angola is over halfway - right?