ANGOLA- CERVEJA OBRIGADO! (18/12/2010)

michnus

20th December 2010

We met up with Agusto in Namibe the next day, he is a friend of Jose and a 40year old fisherman who owns fishing boats with his dad and to our surprise rides a Harley he bought into Angola with him 20 years ago. He was waiting for 4 of his friends from Portugal. They shipped their bikes from Portugal to Mozambique and then rode all the way to Angola and will be shipping the bikes back to Portugal again. They were apparently inspired by our previous trip report written by Metaljockey (Erik) -“Angola not what they said”.  One of them has never ridden a bike and not to miss out on this epic expedition decided to try it on a quad.

Agusto invited us to his parents’ house for a local fish braai. This is the strangest darn thing, and maybe it’s because dual purpose riders are sort of cut from the same cloth. Yes, yes it’s a generalisation but to date all these bike riders we have come to meet have become friends of Elsebie and me. These guys felt like my friends from school I have seen 20 years ago, not as complete strangers that only met 30 mins ago.

Bliksem, I love this and I know I will see them again in the near future even if we have to fly to Portugal or them to SA. This is what it is all about, meeting people making friends and seeing new places……….life is great!

After lunch we set out to a camp spot on the outskirts of Namibe and barely 1km out of town we saw these missiles pointing south towards SA, well the locals say it’s suppose to point to SA to keep a check on us. There’s some pointing towards the USA but for some reason I doubt when they hit the button these missiles will go further than the town’s municipal border. This is even more bizarre than the Custom procedures.  I rode up to the gate where the officials sat and asked whether it is possible for me to take pictures of the awesome fire power………noa, NOA!! No,no, they said.

Have a look on the picture, no fences – I can walk in there at night and take one as a souvenir. Stupid, absolutely bloody stupid. Nobody knows if it is a stunt to get Google Earth to pick up on it and make the USA or other countries to believe Angola is a force to be recon with or if it’s there as memory to the war?  Whatever the reason I hope for the inhabitants of Namibe those old rusted missiles have been disarmed.

Angola provided us with a wonderful time. We will go back in the future. Agusto and I have decided to try and ride from Tombua to Foz du Cunene and back on the small bikes the locals use as transport, might make for an interesting trip. Up north from Namibe it is a riding heaven that needs to be explored.

Another thing about Angola is that you can camp virtually any place along the road, quite safely, like most locals will tell you, probably the biggest reason for no campsites. Obviously try and camp away from villages and towns. On our way out we camped next to a few big Baobab trees.  William, a very friendly villager, came to talk to us in Afrikaans! and assured us it is safe to camp next to his small village.

Angola must be the last country that is part of SADEC that is not geared for tourism … still wanting visa’s. For those that still want to explore less developed country, Angola is the place for you … but at the current rate of progress and Chinese build infrastructure it is not going to last long.

Obrigado!