Angola, from the Backseat

We never thought we would say we are going to Angola, Africa, but here we are. We flew into Luanda and traveled through the city by car.  Rush hour was brutal and unpredictable, turning a 30 min trip into two hours. Autos, trucks, motorcycles, public transportation vans, and busses pack the main road. With people walking everywhere; on the road, beside the road, and hanging out on the pedestrian overpasses.

Luanda sets on the west coast of Angola on the South Atlantic Ocean. From there, we flew inland to Lubango, which sets high on the plataue of a mountain range in southwest Angola.

It is winter, the dry season. There are trees and shrubs that are green, but the grass and most of the brush and shrubs are brown. Dust and smoke are in the air, so there is a haze in the air, sometimes more, sometimes less but always there.

From Lubango, we drove through the mountains to the sea port town of Namibe, where we continued to the Namibe Reserve, which is a vast dessert with little vegetation. We did see trees that looked like an agave that was melted by the heat, or at first we thought blown out tires because of the way the leaves lay.

The language is Portuguese and much of the food we ate was Portuguese influenced. By the ocean port, we had a delicious meal of ocean fish and sea food.

Through the mountain pass.