Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Angola - exciting, but very expensive

After Shahid had missed the flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek and had to spend the night in South Africa, finally, he arrived in Namibia 30th of december. After a short walk through central Windhoek and the feeling that the town has clearly changed since his last visit ten years back, we took our bags and went to Katutura, where to bus towards the border with Angola should leave from around 6 pm. It was quite strange to say goodbye to the friends in Windhoek, as I spent 3 weeks there. Monica insisted on taking us to the bus station to make sure that we sit in the right bus! A nice move!
After all, now it started, the adventure Angola. In Chameleon Backpackers I got to know a very nice Angolan family from Luanda. They gave me their telephone number, so if something goes wrong or there is any problem with the extension of my visa, I have friends who can help. The brother of the woman works with the visa authorities in Luanda….. I took this as a good omen! So, on the last days of december Shahid and I left Namibia. The bus was supposed to start around 6pm….. Well, it took some time till the coach was full and so we started at 10pm towards Oshikango. It rained heavily during the journey, we were cramped in the coach and the music they played I would not really call music. But it was a good feeling to be on the road again! Around 8am we reached Oshikango and moved on to the border.
Flag of Angola
Borders in this part of Africa are not as easy to cross as in East Africa or in southern Africa. Crossing the namibian border was no big deal for sure, but to enter Angola was a little bit more of a challenge…. Of course we got a special treatment as we were the only white people queuing up. They picked us out of the normal queue, because our case would be handled by the boss personally. This is rarely good news. In our case it was a delay of about 1.5 hours, as at this early time this gentlemen for sure was not available. When he showed up, he absolutely wanted to see our letters of invitation for Angola. One needs these invitations to get the visa generally. Logically these letters of invitation stay with the embassy, where one applies for the visa. In my case it was even not a letter of invitation of an Angolan person, organization or a hotel, but a letter of recommendation of the German embassy in Windhoek. But the border official did not know this and also did not need to know it. We were asked embarrassingly exactly for our finances, had to prove, that we carry at least in 3000.-US per person and lots of credit cards…. Not that plastic money would be of any help in Angola… Well, finally, after other 30 minutes of questioning we were allowed to enter the country. One of our magic words was presumably the Africa Cup of Nations, the football event which takes place in Angola just a few days later. It is absolutely understandable and very normal, that the both of us specially come from Germany and the States to see football matches in Angola…. Everybody who knows me at least a little bit, knows that my football understanding is still less than rudimentary…. So, this is somewhat a joke, but why not – if this is the reason that we may enter -please, why not!

Lubango
Lubango
After we had changed the US dollar in local Kwanza on the street as there was no bank available, we went to the bus station in Santa Clara, the border town on the Angolan side. The bus was okay, the music definitely better than on the Namibian side, the street in the beginning super nicely tarred and well maintained. However, this changed very fast! Though these were no man-high holes, I had been warned by the few travellers crossing Angola before, this was really a pretty bad roller coaster sand track next to the new to be build road. However, the locals in the bus were all in a good mood.
 This had its reason: a truck before us has lost full whiskey bottles over and over again, which surprisingly enough were not broken. The more whiskey bottles they could pick up on the way, the better the mood became in the bus…. About 8.30 pm and after 9 hours in the coach we finally reached Lubango.
Lubango
At the beginning, our first town in Angola put us on a patience test. It was anything but easy to find a place for the night. All more or less inexpensive hotels (less than 100 US) seemed to be booked up just at the New Year's Eve night. Finally, with the help of several nice local people we found a room for an okay price. Though from the outside the hotel looked quite peculiar, it did not show any name and had no outside door. Oh well, it had a door, indeed, but only the frames, one was able to walk through the frame just like that and there was the reception… But the room was okay and it was possible to lock the door including the frame.
So we tried to solve the next problem: Dinner! In Europe as well as in most other countries of the world it is normally no big deal to organize something to eat on New Years Eve. Not so in Lubango, Angola. Everything was closed, if these are snack bars, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, markets, there were even no mamas on the street selling food! For not having to go to bed completely hungry, we based ourselves in the piano bar of the Grand Hotel for a drink. Unfortunately, there was also no food there. After we both had slept away New Years Eve, we thought of a nice breakfast the next morning – but also this did not work out, there was nothing to buy, as there was nothing open. So we looked at least for a less expensive room. So, we found pension Jasil. There was no running water and also no private bathroom (what for, if there is no running water anyway). This room was a real bargain for "only" something more than 50.- US. Well, Angola is expensive, and you do not really get a lot for your money…. At least, finally, we got some lunch at the Grand Hotel. As it was buffet style, we could also eat so much that it was enough for the rest of the day. In the afternoon we bumped into Carlos, who has been to London for several months and therefore speaks very well english. Together, we went a little bit outside of Lubango to a church sitting on top of a hill. From there, we had a great view over the town. The next day, things were back to normal again and we found an open restaurant, where we got some breakfast.

Road to Namibe
Nancy, Benguela
Benguela
After changing some more money on the street (On saturdays the banks are also closed of course), we went to the bus station. We were very lucky and got the last seats in the bus to Namibe, a provincial town by the sea. In the bus, there was also Baptista, who had to go professionally to Namibe. He works for an organization, which supports HIV patients. The whole thing is financed by selling of second hand clothes. Baptista is the one, who administers the money and looks after the paperwork. Then he and his partner helped us in the search for an inexpensive lodging in Namibe. From the money we saved in this inexpensive lodging we went to a nice fish restaurant by the sea, and got a very nice plate of seafood with lobster , mussels and scampi! In Namibe, there are nicely restored colonial houses. Even more interesting was a shop selling cornflakes – for the equivalent of 28.- US! The next day we went back to Lubango. This time the sun was shining, so we had a really great view at the hairpin bends and the rock formations on the plateau – really spectacular. The plan was, actually, to continue the same day to Benguela, but there were no busses the same day and even the coach society SGO was booked up for Benguela for the next three days. At least we got tickets for the next day with another company. So, we spent another night at pension Jasil.
Benguela
The journey to Benguela lasted about 6.5 hours and was first going through thick bush, then down the mountains and it became drier and drier. Over and over again we could see stones with red-white marks to warn about mine fields. According to the stones, there are still many areas with land mines lying around. Benguela turned out to be a very pleasant town. There are some really nice old houses from the time of the Portuguese, the town has a lot of places with big shady trees and, besides, the town is by the sea. People are very relaxed and are glad to meet foreigners. The good impression of Benguela is also because of the lodging we found there. We lived in Nancy’s Guesthouse. Nancy is an American lady, who lives since many years in Benguela. She is leading an english school and an attached guesthouse. She has a heart for the few travellers passing through Angola, knows the problems of the expensive lodgings, and she is a mine of information and willing to help with tips and tricks, whether a visa needs to be extended, a lodging in Luanda should be found or an excursion to Lobito be planned. Whatever it is – ask Nancy and your problem is solved. For sure, the hostel is spotlessly clean, there are interesting people as potential teachers living here as well, and there is air-conditioning in each room and a shared bathroom with cold and hot (!) water! An oasis of rest for a traveller! Thanks to Nancy for all her help and the support she gave us!

Benguela
In town, there is a lot to discover, above all interesting things to eat. On our second day Shahid has exaggerated it, however, somewhat – cooked cattle hoofs and afterwards chicken innards…. Well, the very same evening the food poisoning was there, which made him staying in the room and bathroom for the next day. At least he selected the right place for something like that. After one rest day Shahid was fit again and we went to Lobito. Supposedly from there should be every now and then ships going all the way to Luanda. Such a boat we did not find, but Lobito has a good internet cafe, nice restaurants directly by the sea and some colonial houses, so there is enough to keep one occupied for half a day. Thanks to Nancy and the good Paypal we also solved our money problem in getting some more US cash. Nevertheless, Angola is clearly more expensive than expected and this money transaction got us a big relieve.

Road to Huambo
After 4 days in Benguela, we had to leave Nancy and her hospitable place, in which we, nevertheless, spent more time than first planned. The bus to Huambo was going through a wonderful landscape. First, it was very dry, then there were a lot of rocks, finally, scanty green, followed by bushes and trees, many baobabs and finally green fields, the further we drove towards Huambo. In this area, there were less warnings from land mines then next to the Lubango – Benguela road. However, the villages and small towns seemed to be inhabited by only a few people. Lots of the houses seemed to be completely abandoned. The area around Huambo was particularly a battle zone in the last days of the war, I can only suppose that many people have fled at that time and left their houses, which are still empty.
Landscape close to Huambo
Huambo is the second largest town of Angola to Luanda and is at an altitude of about 1500 meters. So, the climate is very pleasant, in the evenings it is even chilly. Huambo was the center of the fights which took place after the armistice of 1988. The war was finished, actually, 4 years before, then in 1992 an election, which was not recognized by UNITA, led to a new conflict. The result was more fighting and the center this time was Huambo. These fights cost the life of several hundred thousand people. The town was nearly completely destroyed, even nowadays there are quite a few houses with shot holes.
Huambo
Huambo was one of the places where we had to look longer for a tolerable place to stay. A Portuguese brought us first to a pension, but the manager wanted to have a funny 80;- US for this room, but this was nothing more than a hole! So we continued to look for something else and found restaurant Gigi. According to our guidebook Gigi is a local restaurant. Basically, we went there to have a drink and to dump our luggage for a while till we found a place for the night. As so often on this trip, things went different. We got to know Raymondo, who is working for radio Huambo. He supplied us with a complete fan equipment for the football matches. While talking to him, we found out, that there are also rooms available at Gigi's restaurant! We immediately went into negotiations and got one of these rooms at an affordable price. At least, we were the first tourists, who stayed in this pension! So, they gave us a special price.

Memorial of the reading soldier, Huambo
Destroyed House from the war, Huambo
Huambo has a little real places of interest, but the locals were especially friendly towards us. There are two big places in town. One has a gigantic monument with a reading soldier. Around this place, there are the most important buildings of town, the governor’s palace, town municipality, post, etc. The other central place is with a lot of green, fountain, a playground and many benches to sit down. In Huambo particularly strikes how young the population is in Angola. We saw hardly people more than 50 years old. Most are more likely clearly under 20! I am not really sure, why it is like this, but there are probably several explanations: The war has certainly cost many adults life’s, whose children now grow up as orphans or half-orphans. Moreover, many people still live in little villages in the countryside, however, the children in bigger towns, the old people remain in the village. Shahid and I were often the Methusalems in the bus or a restaurant in comparison to all others there…
Huambo
In Huambo, we met Edelgard, who works for a German aid company in Huambo. We spent an interesting evening with her and her South African colleague in a restaurant. When we stayed in Huambo, the CAN started, the Africa Cup of Nations, which was held this time in Angola. Of course we sat at Gigi’s restaurant, like the Angolans equipped with Angola flags and Angola caps in front of TV. First, everybody in the restaurant was completely enthusiastic about the game, as Angola was leading 4:0 against Mali. All that went to zero, when the game finally ended with 4:4…. The next day, we had to get up once more early. Early in this case is really early (4.15 am), because our coach to Luanda should already leave at 6.00 am. At this time of the day or more likely night, it is always difficult to find transport to the coach station, but after 30 minutes walking with full luggage we found a shared taxi with a super nice driver who even did not want to accept money of his first tourists! The Angolans were mostly very friendly and curious, when they saw us with the backpacks. Tourists are still a novelty in Angola, even if it is now already 2 years that they issue tourist visas. These tourist visas are still awfully difficult to obtain. So, no wonder, that that many locals have never seen a tourist…. If these people with their big backpacks speak just about 10 words of Portuguese, people become very curious about us…

Luanda
In Luanda we were very lucky to get a room at Cuamm, an Italian NGO working in health in Angola. Lucky, because hotels in Luanda are really expensive and in the lower price range also not safe at all. We paid 100 US, – for our room without own bathroom, which is a real bargain for Luanda, and it was a very safe place with day guard and night watchman!
Luanda is a gigantic town with a lot of slum-like town quarters which spread out round the town and are called Favelas. The first evening we went to the city center along the promenade by the sea for a restaurant, but there was none. In the city center, there are banks, administrative buildings, etc but no normal restaurant. They are about 1 or 2 kilometers from the city center. Even simple restaurants there charge at least 20 dollars for a meal, which is nothing fancy, just a normal meal…. Well, Luanda is currently the most expensive town of the world!

Luanda
One afternoon, we met Helder. I got to know him and his family at Chameleon Backpackers in Windhoek, where they spent their christmas holidays. Helder was a mine of information about Angola, its history, geography, politics and of course its inhabitants. Thanks a lot to Helder for the patience with all our questions!
Luanda
Favela, Luanda
First, we organized our visas for the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC. Getting this done, took us 2 complete mornings. Luanda does not have a lot to keep tourists busy in terms of sights. Still, we needed quite a few days in Luanda, just because everything takes so long to organize. Especially, when you need to go to another part of the city, this can take forever, because the traffic is simply infernal here! For example our trip to Esquinza: this is a place about 15 Kilometers from our hostel, where the coach sets off in direction for Mbanza Congo. The return trip took us about 4 hours! Going there was easy, as a local took us there in his car, going back by public transport was not so funny anymore. Above all, one of the multiple coaches we took just ended its tour in the middle of a Favela. I felt not really good to walk around in such an area without a local. But also here we were lucky, as a nice collective taxi driver, who even spoke good English, came along and took us out of this area…


Africa Cup of Nations, Luanda
Everybody, who knows me just a little bit, knows that I usually do not care at all about football, but as there was this Africa Cup of Nations in Luanda right at that time we have been in the city, this was like a must to visit! Tickets for the games were supposedly sold at the banks, but we could not find out, which bank, as we were sent from one bank to another. So we decided to try our luck by going to the stadium for the game Mali- Algeria. Reaching the stadium is a story for itself – the stadium is very far outside of town, so private taxis are extremely expensive! As we also failed to find a shared taxi, I asked two men sitting in a car, which was richly decorated with Angolan flags, whether they know, how we can reach the stadium by public transport. At least, I thought that I had asked this, in portuguese language, which I do not speak at all… They waved us into their car and we drove off. At that time, I was still mistaken by the thought that they bring us to the next shared taxi…. After about 20 minutes of driving, we thought all this was rather strange, however, we were at the same time curious about where they would take us. After a total of 50-minute journey, we stopped at a coach of full football fans, the driver of our car put some money for the coach in Shahid's hand, and then they turned around and probably drove back the whole way… Anyhow, I must have seemed very persuasive, completely impecunious and absolutely football-fanatic….

Africa Cup of Nations, Luanda
After reaching the stadium, it took us a while to find out, that the games are sold out. Of course, there was still the black market, where we finally got our tickets! The mood in the stadium was great. The first game Mali- Algeria did not have as many visitors as most people came later to see the Angolan team. The stadium for the second game was really nearly full, which means that almost 60,000 people attended. Lots of them wore the national colors, waved flags, had wigs and costumes… Just great! On top of that – Angola won this game! As we feared a veritable traffic chaos after the game, when all visitors drive home at the same time, we left the stadium before the end of the game. Very fast, we found a minibus leaving towards Luanda. Unfortunately, it turned out, that the driver had to help a friend, who got stuck with his car on the highway near the stadium. The towing lasted forever, so we ended up having exactly the problem which originally wanted to avoid by leaving the stadium earlier. It was absolute chaotic on the streets. At last we walked a good 40 minutes till we reached another road, where we found a nice driver, who took us all the way to favela Sao Paulo. After another long walk we found a collective taxi in the city center, from there only 30 minutes by foot to reach the taxis to the Ilha, 10 minutes later we were back in our hostel – shortly after midnight and completely finished…. But it was a great day!

Africa Cup of Nations, Luanda
After 5 days in Luanda we went by a hellishly uncomfortable coach to Mbanza Congo, which is close to the congolese border. This bus was supposed to start somehow in the morning, actually, around 9am, but everybody was there – up to the driver… He came at 10.30am, and thus we could begin our trip. The journey to Mbanza Congo should last, actually, about 10 hours. There are about 450 kilometers, and the street there is in a very poor condition. Of course, it took us longer, but I did not expect us to arrive at the absurd time at 1.30 am at night… The other people in the bus probably had, as everybody made themselves at home in the parked coach to wait for the next transport to the border or at least for daylight…
Kinshasa, DRC
The plastic seats were already quite uncomfortable before and did not become better during the long trip. Prepared with a sleeping-bag and ear plugs it was a kind of okay. The next morning around 6am a collective taxi took us to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC in Luvu. The border crossing was very time consuming, finally, after 6 hours all passengers of our minibus were on the other side and we continued our journey towards Kinshasa…. By the way, we were the first tourists who passed this border crossing, the officials on the Angolan side spent quite some time in finding the right book to register us leaving Angola here….. Now we are in Kinshasa. An absolutely chaotic town with few places of interest and little charm, but very lively, very African and above all with a lot of inexpensive restaurants! Our experiences in DRC I will describe in another mail. It is really time to send off this Angola post now!