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Angola, Page 3
April 28- April 30, 2004

Preparation ] Europe ] Morocco Page 1 ] Morocco Page 1a ] Morocco Page 1b ] Morocco Page 2 ] Mauritania ] Mauritania Page 2 ] Mali ] Mali Page2 ] Niger ] Cameroon ] Gabon ] Gabon Page 2 ] Congo ] Congo Page 2 ] Angola ] Angola Page 2 ] [ Angola Page 3 ] Angola Page 4 ] Angola Page 5 ] Angola Page 6 ] Namibia ] Namibia Page 2 ] Namibia Page 3 ] Namibia Page 4 ] Namibia Page 5 ] Namibia Page 6 ] Namibia Page 7 ] Namibia Page 8 ] Namibia Page 9 ] Tanzania Page 1 ] Tanzania Page 1a ] Tanzania Page 2 ] Tanzania Page 3 ] South Africa Page 1 ] Botswana Page 1 ] Botswana Page 2 ] Botswana Page 3 ] Botswana Page 4 ] Botswana Page 5 ] Botswana Page 6 ] Botswana Page 7 ] July 22 ] July 25 ] July 29 ] August 03 ] August 09 ] August 16 ] August 24 ] September 5 ] September 11 ] September 12 ] September 21 ] September 25 ] September 29 ] October 03 ] October 09 ] October 15 ] October 19 ] November 04 ] November 13 ] November 20 ] November 29 ] December 9 ]


Country Facts: Angola

Scroll Down the Page for updates made on: 05/19/2009
Updated Information Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today: 122km

Meals

 Spaghetti, Rice pudding for desert

Weather
Near Tomboco, Angola

 28 April 2004

Bush Camp

 6°31.446’S
 13°32.405’E

Odometer: 18730km

Partly Cloudy, 95(F) degrees

We said goodbye to Fifi this morning and set off at about 830. The track is obviously seldom used and never maintained. It’s extremely overgrown with deep ruts and long water-filled sections. By the end of the day we had covered about 120 km. We had a hard time finding a bushcamp because of the number of people and the dense vegetation, but we did eventually find a spot near an abandoned village. Graham now has small rashes, which is consistent with Dengue fever. He will probably try to find a doctor in Luanda.
.

Jen with the Police Chief's son

Updated Information Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today: 184km

Meals

 Chicken curry

Weather
Near Ambriz, Angola

29 April 2004

Bush Camp

 7°37.945’S
 13°4.797’E

Odometer: 18914km

Partly Cloudy, 97(F) degrees

We continued on this morning, reaching an old tarmac road about mid-morning. The remnants of the tarmac is worse to drive on than the dirt track. It’s rather like driving a slalom course trying to avoid potholes and constantly changing gears. Toki’s hood came loose (it wouldn’t latch down) and we stopped and tied a strap over it to keep it down. Unfortunately the road doesn’t go right along the coast, and the beach camp we were hoping for didn’t materialize. Angola was mined during the last 30 years of war, and we are reluctant to just drive off into the bush. We saw evidence of the wars today in form of abandoned tanks and other military vehicles alongside the road. Fortunately Graham seems to be feeling better. The rash is gone, and he’s not as tired.
.

We crossed the M’bridge river which boasts some impressive whitewater. The old bridge is visible in the foreground.

Updated Information Date Camp Site or Accommodations GPS

Distance  Today: 215km

Meals

 cous cous with tomatoes

Weather
Luanda, Angola

 30 April 2004

Luanda Yacht Club

 8°47.927’S
 13°13.461’E

Odometer: 19129km

Sunny, Hot 102(F) degrees

The road is slowly improving, and we were at Caxito by lunch time. We had to check in with the immigration office there, giving a guy a ride from the police checkpoint on the road to the office in town. We made it into Luanda by mid-afternoon. According to Lonely Planet, Luanda was designed as a city for 30,000 people. Currently there are 3 million people living here, and it is easily the dirtiest city we’ve driving through thus far. We encountered a traffic jam where we sat for about a half hour. When we finally reached the obstruction it was obvious why. The street was full of water which covered massive potholes, one of which required Witt to use low range to get out of. We made our way out to a spit of land in the sea where we found a nice beachfront restaurant. We phoned Mario, who met us after about an hour. He has friends in the Luanda 4x4 club, and Robert from the club showed up in his Defender 90. We got out the map and they showed us some good sights to see on our way through Angola. Robert had spoken with someone at the local yacht club, and they allowed us to camp for free in their car park. Since the stores are closed tomorrow (Saturday) we went shopping in the evening. Food is incredibly expensive here (1 kg of mince (ground beef) is $10). We bought some staples, but we’re hoping to pick up more food along the way. Eating at restaurants is also very pricey (Robert says an average restaurant meal starts at about $30) so Elza made some cous cous with tomatoe sauce for dinner. Afterward we had drinks with Mario, Robert, and a few other people from the 4x4 club. We very much appreciate their hospitality!

City of Luanda

More Touring in Angola --->


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