My story does not have the objective to tell you about which nice places to visit, these you can google or obtain from a guide book. You will rather get to know what all can happen when you travel quite alone in Angola, and have to take care of everything yourself.
Yes there are guided tours which you can book, albeit not quite cheap. I opted for the challenge, visiting Angola alone, and checking out how far I could get. Alone however does not, as you will see, mean that I did not contact locals beforehand.
Arriving at the old Airport in Luanda (which at the time of writing - early December 2024 - still is “the” airport when to arrive, with one exception), you will immediately understand why Luanda needs a new airport. The arrival area seems a bit run down, although the immigration procedure was pretty forward, as we Europeans are spared a visa, and you just get your passport stamped. Outside then, I was in vain looking for an exchange bureau, to get some cash in Angolan Kwanzas. I was then shown a man standing in a corner, who was busily counting Kwanzas. I went there, got a relatively fair exchange rate, and left with a big stack of Kwanzas. Seems to me that the biggest denomination is the 2000 Kwanza bill, which corresponds to a little over 2 Euros (learned later that they have also 5000s, but never saw one). Later I also learned that there is an exchange bureau in the departure area…I also congratulated myself to have arranged a pick up service beforehand via the hostel which I booked via booking.com. Eddy was waiting for me at the arrival area, and he was the one to guide me to the new airport. Because I had an onward ticket to Cabinda. And all flights to Cabinda were scheduled from the new airport, which opened only a couple of weeks ago. Which means you had to transfer some 47km. And I was tense. Did I make it? Ok, originally the flight was scheduled 5 hours after scheduled arrival, still from the old airport, and then my onward flight was not only moved away, but also preponed by over 2 hours. Eddy did not bring his own car, but ordered a taxi (via the Yango App) which arrived shortly after being outside. All went well, with a short tense feeling when the sudden rainfall inundated the road to a degree that I feared that our little car would get stuck in the water.
But we arrived in time. A spotlessly new and clean airport, built by the Chinese, with just four 4 flights per day, but operating, I guess on a trial base with flights to Cabinda only. Even though this is a local flight, you had to pass immigration. And then I was relieved that my boarding pass was a valid one. Why? I paid practically nothing for the return flight from Luanda to Cabinda - less than 30 Euros. You can book it online on the website of TAAG, and when I checked before arrival whether there would be alternative flights available - just in case I would not make it - a one way flight was already priced at 260 Euros. Well, then you won’t ask questions, keep quiet and try with your boarding pass on your mobile phone, which TAAG sent to me right after check in. And it worked. So the flight was almost in time, a Dash8 aircraft, fully booked.
Cabinda airport also is nothing special, even has no free WiFi, and the waiting area is not really welcoming.
Would it not be for the fact that Cabinda is an exclave of Angola, I wouldn’t have visited this unassuming place. I treated myself to the best hotel in town - the Executive Paraiso Hotel. including airport transfer. Very clean, very good restaurant, and located in the center so you can do your sightseeing walking. And comes the next challenge to mention: Except in Luanda, you cannot prebook any hotels via booking.com. This hotel I booked directly on their website. Oh, and before I forget, the best available Guide book for Angola is the one of Bradt. Although not of recent publication (3rd edition of July 2019), it provides you with precious information how to get along.
All other hotels outside of Luanda I have booked with a website named hoteisangola, which lists a number of hotels in every region. This website is in Portuguese and English, and you should register there and prepay via bank transfer. Which I did not do, at the hand of prohibitive banking charges which may be higher than the hotel rate. I kept fingers crossed that the hotels will accept me, paying upon arrival. Every couple of days, I got an email from hoteisangola listing me the state of my reservations (confirmed but not paid).
Then it happened that - caused by the presence of Joe Biden in Angola - air space was closed, and so I had to kill time in the more than unassuming departure area of Cabinda airport, until the airplane eventually arrived, more than 11 hours late, at midnight
This experience tells me that TAAG is far away from any service orientation. Of course flights can be delayed for whatever reason, but then the travelers have to be informed when the flight will take off. In 10 hours I can do a lot instead of hanging around in an crammed waiting room, altogether of us 3 flights, thus full of people waiting for their turn, many squatting on the floor, air conditioning insufficient cooling down, and so many sweating.
ESim
I checked the internet for buying an eSim, and found just one provider, which I then booked. It did not work, although the Africell network provided me 4G in Luanda. So I went to a big modern shopping mall (Fortaleza Shopping) and found there an Africell Kiosk. The lady there worked like a wizard on my iPhone, and after some 10 minutes I could leave with 5 GByte in 1 week, which set me back by just 1000 Kwanzas, around 1 Euro. Now the however: however Africell had no network in Cabinda, when I needed it badly. Also on the journey between Lubango and Menongue no network of Africell. What seems to be around all the time is Unitel, so if there was a next time I would rather try to get a Unitel eSim (is possible, I changed to Unitel in Huambo). Later I learned that Africell is a new provider, and at this moment just works in Luanda, Lubango, and Benguela. Roaming with my German provider worked with Unitel, but, as you can eaily guess, at a much higher price (like 15 EUR for 50MByte). Which you will spend when there is a case of emergency, like being stuck in the departure hall of Cabinda airport which provides no WiFi.
And to my disappointment Africell has no countrywide coverage. It does neither cover Cabinda nor the Southeast, so I disappeared from the outside world, until I was provided WiFi in my hotel.
Being fed up with Africell, in Huambo I went to Unitel. Told them my experience with Africell, and they laughed. After a procedure of almost 1 hour I got my eSim of Unitel for about 2 EUR, and another 2 MByte for one week cost about 2 EUR. And it worked right away!
Hotel booking
I may repeat myself now, as I mentioned already above, but for the sake of completeness, the following:
In Luanda it is as easy as always, you can prebook via booking.com for example. booking.com however did - at the time of writing - not offer any accommodation outside of Luanda. So you have either to approach the hotels via their email address, or you try your luck directly at the hotel counter, as I did it in the 1970s and 80s. Eventually I found a website named hoteisangola.com, which allows you to make reservations for a selection of hotels in each province. The snag is that, in order to guarantee your booking, they want you to prepay via bank transfer. Which I did not do, with bank transfer costs too high. So I simply arrived at these prebooked hotels without having paid, which worked in Lubango, Menongue and Huambo (although you get constant reminders to pay). Well, of course I was tense when arriving in darkness in a city, being transferred to my desired hotel, unsure whether they will give you a room. And then I was relieved. Getting lost in a place like Menongue is nothing that you will ever remotely think of. And you have also to consider that in remote places payment in cash is the only way, as they neither accept international credit cards nor foreign currency.
Initially, arriving in Luanda, I booked my stay in a hostel, which was not for the price (it was really very cheap), but for my hope to meet there fellow travellers with whom I could share information. Which did not happen, I was the only one, and the staff was not very knowledgeable, albeit very helpful, as they bailed me out of a difficult situation, when I arrived from Cabinda 10 hours late, in the middle of the night, but yet they organised the transport to my hostel). So, what I want to say is the following: do not expect to get too much information at the hotels or hostels, individual travelling without guide seems to be still in pioneering state. What you can do however is to approach local guides or fixers, whom you will find in the internet and then approach, and then they will show you around, at extra costs of course.
Bus booking
You will probably travel overland with Macon Bus. Which has a website in Portuguese that shows you the timetables of all connections, if you type in „from where“ and „where to“. Theoretically you can even prebook, but I failed with the payment method that - to my impression - only allowed local modes of payment, and no international credit card. So I went to the station (in Lubango as well as in Menongue) to buy the ticket cash. Even there you cannot pay with international credit card. And best is you buy your ticket for your next destination when you arrive at the desired one. Nothing worse than getting stuck in a place like Menongue that has only one connection per day, as it was in my case onward to Huambo.
Macon Busses are the best available ones in Angola, decently comfortable, and leave in time. Arrive however when they arrive. Lots of stops on your way, you can buy food and drinks at the stops, or follow your call of nature (the ordinary busses have no toilet on board, the Executivo ones however yes, but they cover only a few destinations).
When you arrive, as it happened to me in Menongue, there may no taxis being available, but only motos, so you have to take a ride on the back seat, luggage on your back (rucksack traveling is mandatory), without helmet, and hope that your friendly driver knows your desired hotel (in my case the Ritz Lauca, which is a very good one). My driver did not know, so I even had to guide him.
Helpful, if not absolutely necessary, is an electronic map like maps.me that you can download online, mark all your desired places there, and then you can use it offline. Helped me to survive, albeit the Ritz Lauca Hotel is not displayed on maps.me, however on GoogleMaps yes it is.….
Language
I speak sufficient Portuguese, so communication was no issue for me. In lonely places like Menongue I would suggest that you at least can make yourself understood with some basic Portuguese, perhaps you can muddle through in English, but I realised that almost nobody spoke English. Which in Luanda or other big cities should be less of an issue, as every Angolan who has at least a little command of English will try to communicate with you in English.
Bodily contact
You should not dislike being touched. Whether in the airplane or in the bus, even women next to me had regular contact skin to skin, what we Westerners usually try to avoid. It is also not to be understood as any „approach“, as my taxi driver did this also repeatedly. Take it as just something normal.
Flying in Angola
TAAG has a very good website where you can book your flights and pay with your credit card. But this is the only “very good”. My flight to Cabinda was preponed, so my layover time (after arrival in Luanda) was reduced and I even had transfer some 47 km to the new airport. My return flight from Cabinda was initially also preponed by some 5 hours, which spoiled my planned sightseeing tour, only then to be stuck at the airport by around 12 hours, as the flight only took off after midnight. Similar with my flight from Luanda to Lubango: it was rescheduled by some 7 hours which spoiled my sightseeing tour in Lubango, but, oh wonder, it took off in time.
Lessons learned when on the move in Angola: allow lots of time as a buffer, you will need it. From my experience with many airlines I would like to state that TAAG is the most unreliable airline I have ever flown.
There is also another airline now, flyAngola, seems to be private. But so far only limited connections. Whether flyAngola is more reliable, I cannot judge. Always keep in mind you are in Africa.
Money matters
As I already mentioned earlier, I managed to change Euros at the arrival area of the international airport with a man standing in a corner. Or perhaps I overlooked the exchange office. Sure is that you need Kwanzas in cash perhaps more than you think. And as I learned later, there is a currency exchange office at the departure area of the airport, so I was able to change back my remaining Kwanzas into USD, albeit not at a very favorable rate. Parts of my journey I paid in USD (was asked to do so), then I had a Visa and a Mastercard. Best is you have both. Sometimes my Mastercard worked only, sometimes my Visa. Interestingly, in the Ekuikui Hotel in Huambo (can only recommend it) I could pay the room charges with Visa only, and the ATM in the lobby accepted Mastercard only (worked, I could replenish my Kwanzas).
Angola is cheaper than you may think. A beer in the evening in a hotel will set you back by perhaps 1 USD, also hotels that you book via hoteisangola.com will not cost you more than perhaps 50,000 Kwanzas, and these were all very good hotels which I reserved (without requested prepayment, but could pay upon arrival).
What really vexes me is the high price that is sometimes quoted in foreign currency. This room in which I stayed in Huambo is listed in expedia.com with 229,000 AOA (i.e. Kwanzas) per night. I paid via hoteisangola.com less than 45,000 AOA per night.
So my suggestion is don’t make use of international brokers, go direct, as it will save you a lot. And then I was offered a hotel transfer from the domestic airport in Luanda to the hotel I booked via booking.com: quoation was 12,000 Kwanzas or 31 USD. As if we tourists were all stupid? Exchange rate at the time of writing is around 930 AOA per USD, so the equivalent should not be more than 13 USD. Perhaps it was a typo?
Fixers, guides or local tour operators
Prior to departure from Germany, I contacted Eco Tur, which has a very good website and offers excursions. However, they had nothing for me as an individual traveller, or, put it the other way round, their costs just for me alone to the Kalandula Falls would have been prohibitively expensive. Even as part of a group it was not cheap. However, they seem to be very professional and reliable.
In the Art House Hotel in Luanda (stay there if you can, what a beautiful and funny place) I was introduced to Osvaldo, a professional guide. Because I wanted to make a day trip to the Massangano Fort in Kwanza Norte. Osvaldo advised me however that would take 2 days, with one overnight stay in Dondo. I did not have any more 2 days, so he proposed a day trip to Dondo. Which we did. It was a beautiful tour, and Osvaldo, very knowledgeable and friendly, is a marvelous guide. I can only recommend him. You can contact him with WhatsApp under +244 948 105 730.
You can also find Osvaldo on YouTube (google Osvaldo Freelancer or Osvaldo Sampaio). On YouTube he has displayed a few tours, among others, the tour to Massangano Fort. But he would guide you all over Angola, if you would like to, and if he had the time.
Another option could be asking a taxi driver to get you somewhere, like a city tour in Luanda. I did it, but my experience is mixed. One day my driver came in time, and showed me around. But when I returned from Huambo, he was not at the agreed location to pick me up, even did not inform me that he could not come. Being stranded, I had to resume to another „taxi´“ which gave me a tense feel, not knowing about the seriousness of the driver. At least in Luanda, the recommendation I got was to rely only on prebooked services.
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