Fw: Ons Angola trip report.

Fw: Ons Angola trip report. 

1 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Subject: Fw: Ons Angola trip report. 

From: "T.D. du Plessis" 

Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:28:47 +0200 

To: 

Hennie 

Ek het al heelwat male julle Web tuiste besoek en gebruik onderandere vir Angola info, hierby is my terugvoering van ons Des 

vakansie in Angola as jy dit wil plaas ( op aanbeveling van Anton van Schalkwyk) - laat weet maar as jy dit wil gebruik of as jy dalk 

die foto's in ander formaat soek. Ek weet nie of dit nodig is om te noem nie maar SA4x4 tydskrif gaan dit ook plaas. 

Verskoon die paar tik foute wat daar dalk nog mag wees. 

Groete 

T.D. du Plessis 

Our family “ADVENTURE” to Angola 

There is a curse on the word “adventure” which brings bad luck when ever I use it to describe an 

outing, well this one is behind us and it was a true ADVENTURE. 

It all started in the 2 nd half of 2008 when we decided to go to Angola, my wife and I with kids ages 5,7 

and 9 and our friends a couple. A lot of research was done on Google, and information was gathered 

from people who had caught the fish, traveled the routes and ate the food. 

I formed the opinion that you can go to Angola for 2 reasons. 1. for fishing, 2. for exploring, we went 

for the 2 nd but took the rods with just in case. 

Our adventure started with a bang, not with a good one but with the sound your car door makes when 

the children didn’t close the door after climbing out to open a farm gate and you drive through it 

closing the door with the fence pole, luckily it was only a small dent and scratch, this happened as we 

had to detour because we missed a turn off and ended up in front of the gate to Etosha, you can imagine 

what feelings this created. We set up camp at the Kunene River Lodge and had some good bird 

sightings. I added the Rufus Tailed Palm Thrush in his clay nest to my life list. 

Day 1 

Our friends arrived and we all had to refuel at Ruacana only to find out that there was 

a price decrease coming so there was no petrol or diesel as the owner was waiting for


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the price decrease before ordering fuel. We detoured 70 km to Otapi and after leaving 

I discovered that someone did a closer inspection of our goods on the back of the 

vehicle, but luckily nothing was stolen. We also discovered that our front number 

plate was lost and this before the Ruacana border crossing, well we trust God in our 

journeys and off we went and the crossing went all well, we were inspected and the 

cars looked through but didn’t have to unpack at all. At the Namibian border the 

officials could not find my engine number and eventually gave up the search, 

fortunately we had police clearance on our vehicles and off we went. We drove on and 

found a camp spot at about 17H00 next to a slow flowing pictures stream. We were in 

Angola, celebrating and spirits were high. 

Day 2 

We were in deep Mopane fields and the scenery was marvelous with granite mountain ranges covered 

in green as far as the eye can wonder. We left at 09h00 and traveled 200 km for the day passed 

Oncucua, setting up camp at 17h30 next to the Elalla River. The day was full of river crossings, some 

dry and some wet, but nothing to thought to handle. Upon stopping to set up camp our companion’s 

vehicle wouldn’t start, this sent some shivers up our spines, luckily we discovered that it was due to a 

blown battery which seems to have been tightened to much, we used the 2 nd battery to start the engine 

and was back in the spirit of seeking “adventure”. During the day we met some Himbas and discovered 

that even they were submitting to the modern life by using motorcycles to travel between towns and 

villages, what a sight to see a Himba on a motorcycle! Our camp S1644226 EO1314964.


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Day 3 

We left at 08h00 and took the northern route marked as “not recommended” on T4A, 

the route it self was much overgrown and in someplace only a single spoor leading 

through Mopane and thorn bushes, the route it self was not to difficult but had some 

more challenging river crossings since it was not used that often. The worst was the 

screeching noises of rubbing bushes under and on the side of the vehicles, it made me 

consider VPS protection but it was to late to spill any tears now. The last river 

crossing at Pediva was quite a rush with much more water and bigger rocks hidden 

under the water surface. This track was much desolated and getting back to the main 

track gave one the feeling of being back in civilization although we where still far from 

anything. We traveled 108 km for the day and set up camp at 17h30 in a lovely plain 

scattered with granite outcrops much the same as at Spitskoppe back home (S1615029


4 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

EO1232197) Surprise for the day was an Afrikaans speaking Himba from Windhoek 

and many tweety birds – as we started calling al the Himba children shouting for 

sweets, sweets, sounding like tweets, tweets. 

Day 4 

We are back on the road at 08h45 and visit the now almost famous Angola Welwitchia, and place our 

specially prepared stones on the stone pile that we brought with from Windhoek. (A bit of a turn down 

was that some people are turning it into a waste pile, and little did we know that we were still in clean 

country) We reached the Arco Lake with its mud houses and palm leave roofs lining the edge of the 

lake creating a beautiful sight, after this we had to cross the app. 200m wide now in semi flood river 

feeding the lake, this didn’t pose any problems as it was very wide but shallow with only some mud 

towards the end and comparing it with the “sinkpad” from the Welwitchia to here it was a breeze. We 

arrived at Tombua, drew money at the BOB, filled up our water from the local municipality offices 

underground water tank and replaced the battery (@ N$ 1 700-00 ouch). Thanks to Mr. Ressamo and 

some locals who helped us during their lunch break. Tombua is clean but has a nasty fish smell and 

after some nice photo opertunities in their harbor with old fishing boats lying in pain and decay we set 

of to find a camp. There was also no diesel available. Be prepared for the little dune as you leave 

Tombua, this one doubled our hart beat and by the behavior of the local kids I could see that we were 

not the first ones to get stuck and give it another high revolution go. We set up camp at a little lagoon 

just south of the first ship wreck and were not to far from 2 fishermen making a living on the beach.


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6 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Day 5, 6, 7 

Time to take out the fishing rods, my first catch was a Leer Fish, 2 nd on line was some small bugger 

that stung me in the finger, my hand started to pop up but as the fish were biting there was no time for 

medication now. Next was a shad, after inspecting and showing of its nice teeth it got hold of the same 

finger and bit me right next to the place were I just got stung, now it was blood all over, hey but 

nothing that an old rag cant temporarily fix, the fish are still here, the kids caught some smaller fish 

and all seemed to quiet down when next I hooked a “sand haai” in the back, while retrieving my 

spinner from it’s back it electrified me sending me off with a huge jump! This was if for the day, I had 

my share, stung, bitten and electrocuted I packed up and settled down for the next few days which 

passed by with spectacular waves filled with phosphor in the evenings and a lake full of jumping fish. 

The kids enjoyed the lake and the wife’s caught up on their tans. 

Day 8 

Our batteries were charged and we left at 10hoo heading for Forado Camp. Next was the Orca Lake, 

this is worth a visit as you get to stretch your legs and see some beautiful scenery on a guided tour, this 

can become a bird watching paradise. We stopped over at Namibe to refuel, here we paid N$ 6-50 /l, I 

think we were done in compared to the rest of the countries fuel prices, which was in the range of N$ 

3-50/l. Namibe was a bustling town with a packed water front area; this must have been a very nice 

town judging by the layout, architecture, harbor, big palms and wide streets. We reached the Forado 

camp turn off at about 14h30. Don’t bother turning off, Forado Camp is none existing, we reached two 

dead ends, the 2 nd after following the river with vague tracks and a lot of rocks, boulders etc covering 

our way and ending in a dead end with huge boulders which washed into the river and a chain blocking 

the once excising road. On our way we passed a painted sign reading “my beach”, what a nice piece of 

dirty property, a pictures quiet little sand beach surrounded by huge cliffs on both sides, a small 

dammed up river on the one side for fresh water, and some dilapidated stables, ruins of an old house 

with a clay bake oven still standing and 2 old fisherman boats lying in decay. Two locals inhabit some 

old living quarters it seems and with their pigs and goats seem to make a living here, tired and 

frustrated we set up camp at 17H00 S1444152, EO1217294.


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8 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Day 9 

We leave at 7h30 with low morals after not finding Forado and looking forward to some nice ablusions 

and some decent camping sites for a change. Our aim is to reach Cabo Lebo with two camp sites 

marked on T4A. The road leads through some beautiful mountain passes and with new tar roads 

under our wheels time flied by. We passed the lush green town of Bentiaba and other villages, here we 

also met up with some other Namibians who where on a fishing trip. The villages are all small but 

pictures, with mangos and bananas in abundance. The road started to deteriate up to Lusira and then 

suddenly the tar ended and changed to a gravel road under construction. We were in the mountains 

and I mentioned that it seems that the warning from the other travelers about a “van Zyls” pass 

waiting for us was unfounded. We then passed a road construction camp and suddenly found ourselves 

in first gear low range. We were averaging 4 km per hour for about four hours; my wife went from 

crying cracking to hysterical about the road situations. We set up camp next to the road at 17h00 

E1321450 EO1253524. We traveled about 250 km for the whole day. At least the surroundings were 

beautiful and no more tweety birds. Everybody was tired but having loads of fun. 

Day 10 

Today I lost all inabisions to take part in any more 4 x 4 competitions, trails or what else, I had my


9 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

share for the year to come. We left camp at 7h30 and were met with oil drips in the roads where some 

diff or sump where repaired and a lot of rock to pass. We continued safely due to experience, slow low 

range driving and relying on a navigator for the best part of the morning. From Dumbe Grande the 

road improved through to Lobito. We topped up our water at a village borehole pump next to the road 

and passed some awesome seenary with valleys and mountains everywhere and dramatic sandstone 

formations. We where back on a new tar road from Benguela and now pushed for the camp site at 

Cabo Lebo, we arrived at 21h00 with the first indicated camp site leading to a road construction site, 

we set off for camp no 2 and descended down towards sea level. I was driving behind our companions 

and when I felt my car starting to slip I stopped to see if all was well with the road ahead. Then a call 

came over our radio “I’m stuck”. We were in a high tide plain and could hear the waves breaking not 

to far away. I walked over to the other car and was met by the sight of a bellied down to the earth 4x4, 

this was it! My wife wanted to go for help but my opinion was that we had the knowledge and know 

how and had to do this and get out ourselves. We had a winch on the stuck vehicle which we hooked up 

to my vehicle, dug some trenches in front of the four wheels and tried to winch out, no go. My vehicle 

was pulled in over the slippery mud so I re positioned to a small grassed area, we tried pulling him out 

with my vehicle but he was not moving an inch, I was only spinning on the spot. Hands in our hair 

mud in our shoes we re-assessed the situation and I remembered the LA sport video of lifting the 

vehicle with a high lift jack and pushing it out of the spoor. This gave me a new idea and off came the 

air jack. We dug into the clay below the spare wheel and inserted the jack, our vehicles were heavily 

loaded but we succeeded in achieving a lift of plus minus 2 cm just enough to brake the suction, we dug 

again in front of the wheels and used what we could to insert in front of the wheels, not much was 

around to be used. We winched again and this time had some progress forward – about 1 meter. We 

had about 15 meters to cover, we did this over and over and eventually we had one side of the car on 

the clay but the other side was still cutting thru the clay and into the water under the clay. We 

repeated the jacking digging and winching process for 3 hours and by now were covered in mud from 

head to toe! The surface we got stuck in was about 3 cm sand on top of a layer of clay of 30 cm thick 

followed by water embedded sand. Well we where unstuck and so proud of our accomplishment. 

Totally charged up we headed to a lodge indicated on the T4A and after waking everybody at about 

1h30 we were informed that there was no camping available and were given directions to Shalongo 

village about 10 minutes away. We set of to the village but could not find the turn of and after about 30 

min drive we turned around. I pulled into the village that was 10 min away and saw that a truck 

standing next to the road was blocking the entire gravel entrance road. We followed this road down to 

the beach and behold there was a new development with chalets and restaurant. The owner came down 

to meat us at 02h30 and it was good to hear and communicate in broken English for a change. We 

could camp there on the beach and at 03h00 the kids where in bed.


10 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Day 11, 12, 13 and 14 

We chilled out at our new found camp site, and apon inspecting our friend’s car found the winch fixing


11 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

plate to be bent and the welding on the chasse behind the mounting brackets to be cracked. The setting 

of the camp is in a little bay but it is crowded by a fishing village next-door who seem to use the sea as 

there dumping ground with bottles, plastic bags, jackets being washed ashore regularly. But we still 

had a good swim. Ablutions had to be shared with all and had no doors and are still in a state of 

renovation. So hopefully things will improve soon. Bungalows are also available. Here we were 

fortunate to be joined by a new companion for the few days, we called him Woes, one of the local dogs 

who took us in and he regarded us as precious. He literally garded us and even went so far as to 

attacked one of the locals who he regarded as a nuisance at our camp, further he kept some drunks 

away, played with the kids and went with us for strolls on the beach, much to the dismay of the other 

local dogs. S0933201 EO1312077. 

Day 15 

We packed up and paid N$ 135-00 per day, what a very reasonable price. Next we headed for Mussulo, 

what a disappointment; we drove thru rubbish stench and thick sand expecting to find Franks place or 

other developments along the bay. Eventually we turned around and headed back as most of the 

buildings where in decay and new developments only starting in some places. Later on driving past 

Mussulo from the main land, it looked as if there where more development towards the end of the 

Island and we might have turned around to early. We drove through Luanda in about 3 hours without 

any pr0blems, thanks to T4A. It was amazing to see people living between and in so much rubbish. 

New developments are evident everywhere and with people still occupying dilapidated buildings. We 

went to the ship grave yard where the road has been turned into a borrow pit and the anxiety overcame 

my wife after driving thru Luanda as the scenery screened a place where one could be murdered and 

never found. We turned around and set of to find a place to camp as it was getting late. We traveled till 

after Catete and set up camp in the bushes next to the road with landmines in mind we treaded lightly. 

S0909364 EO1351657.


12 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Day 16 

We traveled thru Dondo, Quizenga, Cacuso, Pedras Negras. This road leads you through huge forests 

and some Kremetart forests that you can’t imagine the beauty off and past the outcrops of Pedras 

Negras which is truly amazing to see. We camped next to the road with a view of the Cuanza River. 

The roads are tarred and in a good condition up to Pungu Undonga where it changed to a good dirt 

road. S0939071 EO1455582


13 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Day 17 

We were in highway country again up to Lubango but the “go home” has bitten our companions. Very 

depressed I made the decision to rather head for the border and sleep over in Namibia than to spend 

time alone without any navigation in the Lobango area, as we had no Gps. We refueled in Lubango 

and headed home. If you are informed as we were that the road has been tarred from Lubango to 

Namibia do not believe it. They are busy with it but you literary hit the first pot holes and you have to 

travel next to, onto and wherever possible for a few hours. This got me into a laughing state as well as 

we were planning on a 3.5 hour drive to the border. It took 7 hours from Lubango to the border and at 

17h50 we whisked thru the Angola side – what and adventure – we where glad and sad to be home. 

Will I go again, yes, to see the Lubango area and more of the North and eastern areas just maybe 

taking a different road this time and some day the coast again. 

KM traveled 5900 

Water carried – 140 l between two cars 

I had 40 l diesel additional which was enough. 

Car Toyota D4D 4 x 4 with iron man suspension and added leave blade at the back.


14 of 14 2009/04/06 01:03 PM 

Problems, we were twice threatened to be locked up, once due to one drunk police officer and the other 

because of a miss interpretation of the language – I think El posso means passport and not driving 

license -, but other than that I felt it was save and found the people to be helpful. Little information is 

available and be self sufficient. 

Positively the country is in repair and it has beautiful vistas, mountains, mountain passes, escarpments, 

valley’s, rivers and forests, interesting ruins all the way and definitely worth the visit, buy your self an 

English to Portuguese phrase book, it is help full. 

Foot note: It is very important for all to be well informed and to be mentally prepared as the roads and 

every day situations can be very stress full and tiring.

Fw: Ons Angola trip report.

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