South, out of Angola and into Namibia

Monoliths 

Waterfall

The next day they went on to Cachoeiras on a fair road. On the road they saw some monoliths. At Cachoeiras is a waterfall in  some appreciable scenery. The welcome one gets there is less than tepid, sour faced individual who is into child labour – kids look after the toilets there! 






The place also caters for camping. It should be quite pleasant near the water, if not a bit noisy because of the waterfall.

Slums of Lobito

New bridge of Lobito

Many of the towns they passed were in full development – buildings mainly. It seems that in all these places the basic infrastructure of water and electricity does not follow – there are regular power cuts and the water is not very sure for drinking. 

New Benguela stadium

Old chuch in Benguela

Finally they reached Lobito and admired the change and the management of the slums that were there 4 years aog. Onto Benguela where there were also many changes for the better. The first address they had for lodgings did not really meet their requirements and they moved to Pensao Contente. 










This is a right little hotel just off the main road – quiet and well kept. The cars however, had to stay under the eyes of the watchman in the road.

It is there too, that when Coen was looking at his radiator, he was approached by a mechanic from next door. He assured us that he could repair the radiator and gave an estimate of what it would cost. Coen said he’d think about it. That evening they had a meal at an outdoor eatery on the ‘place’.

Ruins of the past

The next day, before breakfast, Coen went to see the mechanic who said he starts work at 6h30 – he was not there. When he did arrive, they dismantled the radiator and he started saying that the job is bigger than he expected and the job will now cost twice as much. He was asked to start on the job and see exactly what is wrong.

And they waited and waited. Finally they started assembling the car with Coen supervising. The mechanic too great exception to this but Coen insisted that to get an honest job, he needed to be there. Well, that mechanic tried to cut corners but Coen told him to take a hike that he was going to finish the job. At which the assistants of the garage had great fun.

Sunset on the Lubango road

After assembly, Stephanus came by when they were filling the radiator with water and spotted a leak much to the annoyance of the mechanic. It happened twice again before the work was satisfactory and the bill was not twice the estimated value and they were ready to leave. 

state of the roads

Out of Benguela the road was new and they were doing good speed. They passed some ruins of some beautiful old farmhouses on the way. But later, the road that they were building 4 years ago was being rebuilt, yet again and there were diversions into sand and rough surface. They did not make Lubango at the time they thought they would; they got there in the dark.

Camping at Casper lodge

Luckily the GPS was showing the camping place they chose for that day: Casper lodge. It is on one of the main roads into town – a very nicely set up lodge with a small campsite that is complete with toilet/shower and kitchen area. A bit on the pricey side but it would have been lovely if there were a similar set up in many of these Angolan towns we visited.

They decided to stay there two nights. The first night, when they arrived, it was too late to get dinner going so they supped at the fine restaurant there. They did not have an extensive menu but it was adequate and by Angolan standards, not very expensive.

View on the way to Tundavala

The next  day they first drove to Tundavala view point. This is a place above some gorges at about 7600ft. They are making a paved road to get up there. The view is quite stunning, it is a pity that people go there and leave their garbage lying about: plastics, broken bottles and cans.

Up on Tundavala

Back at camp they had an open sandwich type of lunch and a rest and then started off to the Leba viewpoint for sunset. The road there also leads to the Rio de Janeiro type of ‘Christ on the mountain’ place; they went on to the Leba. There they had a sundowner and took some ‘daytime’ pictures and waited. They were also looking at the traffic on this rather fascinating road.

Cliffs of Leba

Winding road of Leva

When the sun was setting, more people arrived. The cliffs where glowing more green than red at that time – seem to be the different types of lichen growing on the rocks. They took their pictures and proceeded back to camp for a braai and sleep.

New bridge with better road

Baobab on alternative road

Activity on better roads

The target the next day was Onjiva, about 400km away and there again they got their timing wrong by underestimating the state of the road. Outside Lubango the road was good, getting bad to really bad up to Xangongo. 4 years ago, there were the occasional potholes, but now most of it was non-existent. They ploughed on and managed to get there around mid afternoon. Hans was not far on the same road – 


they had been doing hard driving for the last 3 days in order to catch up.

Reunion and cookout

They opted for …. Hotel and sat at the bar with 
some drinks to wait for the other two. It was a reunion of the 6 of them at that bar where stories were being exchanged. As they were still talking in the parking of the hotel they were greeted by other South Africans who work and live in the south of Angola. They managed to get some information about the place, the road further and where to eat.

Finally they opted to do a cookout with all the meat they had since at the red line in Namibia they will get controlled about bringing meat into Namibia. And they sat outside just eating meat with meat. Apart from the peacocks moaning, the night was quiet, they managed a good rest.

The next day they had breakfast at the hotel, took some of their bread to make sandwiches on the road and left. The road to the border was another of those broken roads, maybe just a bit better but since it was only for 40km it was not too nerve shattering. At the border, it was quite civilized and straightforward before they were driving into Namibia, all papers in order and stamped.

They stopped at the shopping area that has grown next o the border to get some supplies and draw money and they moved on to look for camping places. Many of them were fully booked or only had space in the sun, and they made it to the resort of Kuluquelle in the town of Tsumeb.

She drove the first part into Namibia but the road was so good and straight that she was falling asleep. Coen took over and got them to Tsumeb. There was a beer fest going on when they arrived. They set up camp under some grand old trees and sat for a long while exchanging stories and talking about the road further.

Hans and Elisme were staying on in Namibia until their children join them in December. Stephanus and Mariana wanted to get home and Coen was looking for the best road to get to Pretoria as well.

With music going on from the next plot, they took out all left overs and prepared an excellent mish mash which went down very nicely with everyone. The camp site of this place is nicely set up with electricity, running water and shade but it is a tad far from the ablutions.

Bush grooming

Camp at Tsumeb

They chose to stay two nights there. And on Sunday they woke up later than usual, had the coffee and sat there blogging, doing some hair cutting and dyeing. Hans found a mechanic who did not mind coming on a Sunday to look at what work had to be done on the cars. He said he could also do the radiator.

Elismé did her hair and then she went to have a dip in the swimming pool. It was cool but nice. Later, when the car work was done, Stephanus treated them to a sumptuous lunch at the Dros.