Angola Waterfalls (Feb 2023)

I was concerned that landing in Angola was going to be the usual African shit show of visas/entry “fees” and general boredom waiting for hours to get in. I was pleasantly surprised after have been stared at, at very close range by the man collecting passports for the e-visas to then be summoned to the front of the 30 pweaon queue! (Some of whom I’m pretty sure were there before our flight even landed!). They probably thought my bald head was down to cancer which I cannot claim it is and my new friend Geri and I were whisked through the process and out the airport within a few minutes! This was amazing!

We were collected and taken to the hotel where the check in staff informed us they would take us to our room but there weren’t enough room keys so we couldn’t have one! Lol. This was definitely more like the Africa I was familiar with! Nevertheless, a quick shower, change of clothes and we were back out the door to start our day in Luanda. The city was quiet, clean and traffic free - this wasn’t the Africa I’d become accustomed too! Something must be up? “It’s a public holiday today because of Carnival”. Everyone was sleeping off the few days of partying! That makes more sense!!! We enjoyed the city, went to the beach and also out to Miradouro da Lau - a beautiful rock formation to the south-west of Luanda - also known as the "viewpoint of the moon" - the rugged landscape of carved pinnacles leaves for an interesting set of deep gullies and canyons between rising rock shapes.

Not far from there was an old slave house on the coast that previously trafficked slaves to Brazil. The slave house, also called Museu Nacional da Escravatura which chronicles the history of the slave trade in Angola and is in the former property of one of Angola's most prominant slave traders - D. Álvaro de Carvalho Matoso.

The slave house was right next to a market and of course, being the first day of a trip, I had to buy an oversized painting to carry around for the duration before struggling to get it home as hand luggage! Why wouldn’t I?!

We had a late lunch at a busy vibing fish restaurant where I got to practise my filleting technique and tried several different kinds of white fish with a local sauce that tasted divine and I took a moment to reflect on how nice it was to just sit down and eat rather than listen to an argument with the waiter about the lack of vegan options in Africa and what there was available to eat. I promptly ordered my second beer and enjoyed the warmth of the summer sun and delicious food! I was joined by Fleming and Peter on the beers and engaged in delightful travel conversation for the meal!

After lunch we headed back to the promenade where I got my “Eu ❤️ Luanda” (I love Luanda) photo (- I love a good tourist snap despite how much I travel). Next stop was the history museum with the communist murals and a vast array of tanks. This was a reminder of the outside of the national war museum in Pyongyang, North Korea with the display of army strength and communist memorabilia! It was fascinating to see the likeness and the murals were freakishly similar!

The last stop of the day was the end of the island - Ilha du Luanda - apparently the poor people beach. I, of course immediately went to put my feet in the water - as any water baby does and enjoyed splashing around while watching the sun start to set over the water.

An early dinner and half a beer (I was too tired to even finish it!) rounded off a fabulous first day in Angola and the trip was only just starting! By travel standards, the next day was a late start - 8am departure. A luxurious lie in from my work day and a long sleep after the red eye the previous night. I awoke refreshed, had a hearty breakfast and then it was the long drive to the Kalandula Falls - what I expected to be the highlight for me and the main reason for coming to Angola. We had been meant to get the train (live a good train ride) but they don’t offer passenger services currently so the bus it was! The drive was long but sitting with Michael, David and Gabriel , proved to be lively travel debates and constant tips and tricks of precious travels from us all - my favourite type of conversation!!

The scenery changed significantly from Luanda and the countryside got greener and greener and the earth grew redder and redder. We stopped for a beer and lunch stop half way and when we continued the landscape grew lusher until we could see the falls on the horizon and started to get excited!! Sadly it was another hour until we would be at the hotel but we did not expect what we got when we arrived.

The hotel was perched on the top of the opposite hill and directly faced the overwhelmingly beautiful falls. The sky was a perfect light blue with a few clouds and the falls looked very majestic - as they should being the second biggest waterfall in Africa (after Victoria falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe). The falls were stunning and as it’s mid summer in Angola the infinity-ish style swimming pool was the next attraction. Having a beer in the pool with the falls as a back drop was the perfect way to start our love affair with this incredible scenery and our evening of delicious food and drink!

I am a Sagittarius! One of the great things about Sagittariians is that they LOVE adventures, are bubbly, outgoing and chatty and get to know people. This generally means that people warm to you easily and are happy to share food and drink! This particular evening Rowan, myself and Michael were sitting at dinner together and Michael orders red wine. “Can I contribute for a glass please, Michael?” “Sure you can, Hails”. Rowan gets in on it too. The wine was gorgeous! Great choice by Michael. Bill comes - “what’s the damage Michael?” “USD100!” D’oh - should always check the price - haha!

The next day we woke up and looked out the window to our amazing waterfall view and could see nothingness! It was crazy misty and the falls were nowhere to be seen. A quick shower and head to breakfast wondering what todays plan would be if the mist held! “We’re still going to the other side of the falls” we’re told! And sure enough by the time we were leaving, the full beauty of the falls was in view again and off we went to get even closer!

The drive took about an hour, but was well worth it. The top of the falls was every bit as amazing as you’d expect. The thundering of the water was intense and the volume of water rushing over the edge of the rocks justified the noise! The top had many many signs telling people to stop and not to fall off and luckily no one did - that day! The views were spectacular and we could see the hotel we stayed at the previous night from our vantage point. Perfect photo opportunity and time to reflect on how much I was enjoying 2023!

Next we travelled on to the city of Malange which is known for its diamonds, where we turned off the main road and when to see los Rapidos do Kwanza where despite asking if I needed trainers/trousers and getting the response “no, you’re fine” by our guide, I ended up climbing over rocks and jumping over the gaps in a long skirt and flip flops! A bit of a challenge for the visually challenged!!! Despite my best efforts to trip up, fall over and fall into cracks, my new buddy Antonio escorted me to the cascades without issues which was super sweet of him!

The cascades were awesome and he showed me where to take all the best photos and also took my photo as well! There were so many kids jumping in the water having fun and putting on a real show for the “white people” they so rarely saw come through their village - I really wanted to jump in too but my bikini was still in my bag on the bus! Very annoying! They were so happy to show us all the different view points: from the bottom of the falls, the top and many different beautiful places in between. They were proud of the place they lived at the Kwanza cascades and it really showed!

The city of Melange was more developed than usual African cities outside the capital.

This was sue to the diamond business and therefore had a political office for the MPLA with a memorial to the Cuban soldiers that were involved in the Angolan civil war of the XX.

We also went to see the train station (as we were meant to get the train to Melange) and our guide spent a long time speaking with the station staff - we decided to make our escape as it felt like there was a problem brewing and our presence perhaps wasn’t necessarily appreciated there. The guide later caught up with us and told us that contrary to what we’d been thinking, we weren’t in trouble, but had been invited back the next morning to see the train leave! Given there is only one train a day and there are no longer passenger services, this was quite exciting!! We continued to wander the city until the sunset and we retreated back to our hotel for dinner and sleep.

The final day in Angola was making our way back to Luanda. I always get a little melancholy on the last day of a trip as I never want to finish my adventures - this one indeed had been too short and I really wished I was staying longer, however we started by seeing the Sonangol (state owned energy company) train leaving the station - we were a little late and I suspect it did wait for us, which is very kind! Either that or the train never left on time and we could be used as an excuse!!

We drove to the Piedras do negros (the black Stones). These were large rocks of differing shapes and sizes that lined the horizon and could be seen for miles - we stopped to get a panoramic photo before continuing.

We were lucky enough to get to climb one of them and the views were fabulous and incredibly varied. We chilled out for a while admiring the dramatic scenery before climbing back and starting the long drive back to Luanda.

The drive really was long! An hour into the drive the torrential rain started which hid the pot holes in the road so we had to drive super slowly to avoid damage to the bus. Then it got dark! All in all it was a very long day but we arrived back safely and that’s all that matters. :)

Sadly my time in Angola was far too short - there is so much of the country still to see and it is definitely on the list to come back to once I complete my personal

challenge.