D0: Self-guided: Overview, visas, preparations, basics and map icons, recommendation

This is an overview of our whole trip from Pretoria to Angola and back to Pretoria - a total of 56 days and 10946 km according to our GPS.

The emphasis of the blog is on Angola - but as we didn't fly in and out, there are a few posts that reflect the travelling north to Angola (D1-4) and the travelling south via Kaokoland (D49-53). 

The following map shows our quick exploratory trip through Kaokoland (5 days, 1134 km):

The last two days virtually invert the first two days - travelling from Gobabis to Pretoria (no map).

Now to get to the focus of this blog. 

The map below gives you an overview of the Angola leg of our trip. 

We spent 43 days in Angola and covered 5856 km in Angola. 

This trip comes with a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED label - we would do it again any day!

Travelling to Angola without a guide places many responsi-bilities squarely on your own shoulders. 

Here is a cursory list of the requirements which we had to deal with prior to our Angolan trip (many of these requirements also apply to other African countries):

• organising a Letter of Invitation. 

This was done by email to Rico Sakko of ANGOLA GETAWAY. LDA (rico@aasafaris.com) who owns various lodges in Angola. He needs the full names and passport numbers of the tour members and will tell you what he charges for the service. Should you stay in Angola for more than 30 days, you will have to ask Rico for a letter indicating an Extended Invitation request.

• applying to the Embassy of Angola (in Pretoria) for a visa.

The embassy is in Pretoria, but the visa application form can be downloaded from their site. If you do not live in Pretoria, the embassy will tell you where to go. The application must be accompanied by your passport; proof of your payment from the bank (with original stamp!) for the visa - no cash accepted; a letter stating your employment/retirement; two recent colour passport photos; your itinerary & vehicle registration; copy of your Yellow Fever certificate; utility bill for Proof of Residence; one month's bank statements/a letter from the bank indicating that you have sufficient funds for your trip; police clearance certificate for your vehicle which is essential at all borders (obtainable at Waltloo - if you're in Pretoria). And a lot of patience while you wait in the queues at the embassy.

• obtaining an International Driver's license from the AA.
• getting a letter from your bank that you are allowed to take the vehicle out of the country (if it's not fully paid).
• organizing international vehicle insurance.
• arranging international medical insurance.
• getting travel injections - Yellow Fever is essential.
• making extra copies of all documents (at least 5 of each as the police are very active in Angola).
• getting dollars to exchange in Angola. Monetary unit in Angola = kwanza. We worked on $10 = R100 = 1000kw (2013).
• this is our list, and yours might differ.

Personal preparation:

• planning itinerary (good shops in all cities; petrol stations along all highways; R4/L/diesel - no - this isn't a misprint!). The WEG (November 2011, p 93) has an excellent article "Angola se hart klop warm" which guided much of our planning.
• food
• clothes
• camping gear, good supply of water
• community contributions (e.g. Piquena Biblia, tracts, pens, writing paper, sugar, Sunlight soap, clothes)
• setting up an English-Portuguese translation system and getting some basic Portuguese phrases memorized
• organizing home base to survive in our absence 

The following list gives an idea of our transport, accommodation and communication during trip from Pretoria, through Botswana & Namibia into Angola: 

The above map icons are used throughout the blog's posts.
In many cases we stayed more than one night in one of the above overnight places - so the totals of the icons don't match the number of our nights in Angola.

You can, however, see that BUSH CAMPING was by far the most prevalent as Angola has not yet geared itself towards tourism - and most certainly not towards camping and 4x4 tourism. We decided that we would "pay" the person who gave us "permission" to bush camp/fazenda (farm), a fee of R50 (=500 kwanza) per vehicle as a gesture of appreciation. This was greatly appreciated!

If you love driving on dust/dirt/gravel/sand roads, then you need to get to Angola SOON as many of the roads are being actively tarred - compliments of the Chinese!

As I write this, I would like to point out that Angola is moving forward extremely fast - the positive atmosphere and the friendly reception we received throughout the country, make it a PRIME DESTINATION!!