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Climbing

We entered Angola on the day before our visa was valid but everyone seemed pretty laid back about it, in fact most of the paperwork was done as we sat watching ‘I Robot’ on satellite, in French. I used the last of the mobile credits to chat to Den my oldest brother and the world seemed that little bit smaller, although each time I looked at the Michelin map it appeared to grow again.

I guess Angola is most famous for its abundance of landmines and so the possibility of encountering one was not often far from our thoughts. We never wandered off the track and spent our first three wild camps on the road, even wandering into the bushes for a poo was a no-no, so we left some little ‘mines’ of our own.

Of our five days in Angola we spent three just travelling the 530km to the capital, Luanda. The road was appalling and we bounced and rocked along at an average of 12mph driving for up to nine hours a day. It was such a relief to reach the last 60km of good tarmac and we rolled into Luanda’s traffic phenomenon.

The outer shanty slums were hanging off rapidly crumbling cliffs strewn with garbage with treacherous paths down which kids played and sifted the rubbish. We passed the Dockyards and old port and finally arrived to be surprised by the grandeur of the city waterfront.

We followed the GPS to ‘Club Marina’ on the peninsula protecting the natural harbour. We had been slumming it for so long we decided posh it up a bit and ate at the waterfront restaurant. Fresh fish, real coffee and sumptuous dessert. I caught up with some running repairs on the truck. The facilities were basic to say the least and the mariner is not set up for overnighters but it was secure and free.

It was also the place we met Jimmy, a fellow Scot who though having lived and worked for 22 years in Angola originated from Coatbridge. We initially approached his dinner table for some local information about the roads heading south, but Jimmy took us under his wing and offered us safe lodgings at the Jembas company compound's that were spread across Angola, and some fantastic tips on places to see.

We left early the next morning before six to miss the horrendous traffic, and enjoyed the pristine tarmac towards Lobito, on recommendation from Jimmy we cut inland to see the Kalendula waterfalls suffering the 20km of rocky road and being rewarded with a fantastic spectacle

[Directions - take the ‘Gabela’ turnoff on the Luanda-Lobito road, 48km south of Porto Amboim: S11˚07.983’, E013˚56.151’. Kalendula Falls: S10˚59.281’ E014˚05.745’].

From the new bridge over the top of the falls you could see the gushing white water tumbling to the last great drop, the power and ferociousness turning your insides as the giant stopper waves pulsated like a living entity. From my kayaking experience I tried to draw a line through but it was suicide, death on a stick.

I wandered around onto the old bridge squeezing past some fencing where I had seen a local go. As I went, there were loads of people nearby jumping up and down and waving, ‘seen lots of this on the trip, probably want money or something’. It was only when I was halfway across that I remembered ‘mines’ and someone mentioning the high concentration of them around bridges. My heart rate stepped up a notch but I stuck to the well-worn path and snapped a couple of photos before heading back to an irate Julie. At least we now knew the international hand signal for landmines.

We were welcomed at the Jembas (Lobito) depot by Noel a beautiful Philippino man who had been working in Angola for over ten years and was affectionately known as ‘Papa’. Jovan, also from the Philippines, helped me work on the truck and they both looked after us so well for two nights before we ventured southwards on the infamous Benguela to Lucira coast ‘road’.