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  1. ANGOLA - CERVEJA, OBRIGADO! You only have to know these two words to have locals crack a broad smile and even hard-ass police officials won't be able to keep a straight face. ‘Beer’ and ‘Thank You’ are what these Portuguese words mean, it is very important stuff to know! Angola is not a tourist country, years of debilitating warfare has left the country in ruins. Angola is not the sanitised type of travel places where hordes of suite case dragging, Ipad photo taking, tourists hang around. It is still one of the last authentic adventure destinations that will enthrals an explorer with real world experiences, with rich culture and landscapes with remote and solitude virgin wildlife parks. It sounds stupid but that is why we are drawn to these countries, a lot less rules and still not besieged by tourists, you get a true taste of the local flavour of the country. The last time I visited Angola it was on an off road trip through desolate desert in Southern Angola. Five of us took on the “Doodsakker” (place to ambush ones enemy) on the Angolan coast; this harrowing ride on the beach can only be done with extreme low tides. The reason to revisit Angola this time around was to show Elsebie this wonderful country and to experience more of the local culture. Elsebie also wanted to see the place where her brothers fought the Communists during the South African border war years ago. Angola is a damn fickle mistress! This time she gave me a hard time, let me give you the absurd before I get to the good stuff. We were supposed to enter Angola at Ruacana, the border post and town between Namibia and Angola, but the more we spoke to the locals at Ruacana which is the dirt route to Cahama, the more we were advised to stay away and use the main border. It was the rainy season and the roads were so bad that we would not be able to get to Cahama in a day, the why we wanted to cross at this small border is that it is generally easier and less stressful than the main border posts. Eventually we decided to cross at Oshikango, the only major border between Angola and Namibia. Major bloody mistake! This was one of the most difficult borders we have ever crossed. Just plain unreasonable request and delays, but that is Africa for you. We are used to difficult border posts but this fickle mistress Angola had me hot under the collar and to add insult to injury it was a bloody 40C outside. We have never paid a bribe, but there is a general saying between overlanders that says “we do not call it bribes we call it dealing with bureaucracy”. We just played it out, lost 6 hours but got an interesting look at the ‘daily workings’ at the border. Angola is a rather expensive destination due to not being a tourist destination since the 1970's. Lodges or B&B’s and proper restaurants are equally expensive but at least beer and fuel were cheaper than the norm. Roadside eateries offer food at affordable prices and some have really tasty goat and rice dishes. Camping and being self-sufficient is key to travelling this country. Wild camping is actually the best way and many villages have no issues to allow foreigners to camp outside the village. Our first destination was Lubango the home of Jose, the man that not only fought against us South Africans in the border war but also the guy that hosted us in 2007 on our Foz du Cunene trip. We were greeted by Jose with a huge smile although he only really placed me about two days later due to my new Brad Pitt look-a-like long hair. We were planning a trip to Namibe a coastal town with hip colonial and beautiful art deco buildings and a waterfront with colourful cement arches for beach goers to relax. Eventually Jose decided to escort us to Namibe for a day trip and that evening arranged a barbecue and entertainment by the Falcon music band. Josef, the Louis Armstrong look-a-like wood saw artist, Jose on bass guitar player and Nando a guitar player were on form and gave the audience a stellar show. The equal of a good ZZ-top performance. Angolans are for some reason or another quite talented when it comes to music. The generosity, warmth and friendliness of the Angolans know no bounds. We felt it everywhere we went. People do not look miserable and unhappy, in fact they look quite content with their lives in this recovering country. Make no mistake Angola is still a very poor country and typical to African countries the connected elite and government cronies try their best to empty the coffers for their own benefit. The common folk know they have to do things for themselves in order to succeed. Adults and kids wave to us, no stone throwing or outstretched hands – begging, so unlike the Namibian Himbas and Ethiopian children. Maybe that is the trade mark of a tourist country versus a non-tourist country. They jump up and down with excitement when we wave back or stop for some photos. They are easy to talk to and eager to help. Angola also features jaw-dropping beautiful landscapes and in summer even more so. You can venture from tropical coastal areas to desert landscape and spectacular waterfalls inland in 250km and the sea water temperature at Namibe is close to 25 degrees celsius. Due to Portuguese influence you get a bit of a community-orientated lifestyle of southern Portugal in Africa. I understand why so many people and especially Portuguese people immigrated to this country, even though it is hell hard to do business in Angola. The locals have a saying “nothing in Angola is easy”.
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