This two-day trip included our first bush camp in Angola (see red circle on map).
D5 (10 June 2013, Oshikango - bushcamp, 299 km)
Our border papers were always handy because in Africa, regular road-blocks are part of law&order.
Motorbikes - we were to learn that these are a common sight in Angola.
Dust roads, cars driving on the "wrong" side of the road - after a while we didn't even notice it anymore.
The Chinese are building roads throughout Angola.
A welcome break - teatime!
A memorial at Mongua commemorating the fallen of the Angola Civil war (1975-2002).
As expected - a friendly traffic officer requested to see our papers.
Roadworks, graders and baobab trees - soon all the dust roads will have disappeared.
The setting sun warned us that after 299 km it was time to find a camping spot.
We simply took a road to a "fazenda" and stopped at the first huts to ask permission to camp here. It was an awkward situation - our Portuguese is non-existent and the people we "spoke" to were intoxicated although friendly. Supper was soon ready and we turned in early.
Our neighbours' huts were close by and except for the odd inquisitive child we were left in peace.
D6 (11 June 2013, Bushcamp - Missao de Jau - Humpata, 158 km)
The next day we continued our trip towards Humpata. Public water supplies throughout Angola have fenced pumps and troughs. We happily used them. So, although USAID reports (2011) say that only 39% of the rural population has access to clean water, we used the village pumps when necessary throughout our trip.
Suctioning water is hard work!
As in the rest of Africa, a broken down vehicle always puts a green branch in the road (can you see it just beyond our vehicle's bonnet?).
A non-South African mode of transport is the Chinese motorbike-bakkie. It is used extensively for varied purposes: passengers, wood, fish, etc.
Our dust road crossed this bridge - quite safe if rather noisy to cross!
At times the sand on the road became quite deep yet easy to drive on. The locals do a lot of walking to get from one place to another.
Schools are dotted throughout Angola - some small, some quite big.
We found that most of the Portuguese ruins were not inhabited by locals. Instead they stood desolate as stark reminders of a pre-1975 era.
We left the main road to Humpata to head towards Missao de Jau (see red 4-pointed star near the end of the track on the map). This road, flanked by enormous eucalyptus trees, tells one about the age of the mission station - but Wikipedia has no information on this site.
The mission church - unfortunately it was locked, but a school was being run in a nearby building. The teacher gladly took the Piquena Biblia for her little pupils.
This dilapidated aqueduct which also served a mill (now totally defunct), shows that this mission station must once upon a time have been the heart of a thriving community.
Soon after we left Missao de Jau it was lunch time!
We travelled further north into the area renown as the Dorsland Trekkers' home. "Stadig oor die klippe" became our motto! ("Go slowly over stones!")
This broken down bridge required careful negotiation.
We saw the ruins of some of the Dorsland Trekkers' homes.
The Dorsland Trekkers left South Africa in 1874 to avoid English rule but they weren't happy under Portuguese rule in Angola either. Some trekkers returned to Namibia in 1924, but others remained until 1974 when civil war forced them out of Angola. Read more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsland_Trek. The red circle approximates the area that we visited.
These donkeys carried charcoal from the rural area to the town.
With the help of our GPS we managed to locate some of the Dorsland Trekkers' graves - this plot was actually fenced but neglected. The approximate location is pointed to by the arrow on our map at the top of this post.
Another of the Tracks4Africa GPS coordinates of the graves (Dorsland Grave - Andries Alberts) took us to a mealieland which we scoured looking for the graves - no luck. The "grave stone" towards which Mrad is walking turned out to be a pile of rotting pumpkins!
We greeted the local herdsmen and by merely using the word "cemetario", one of the men waved to us to follow him.
This man set off deliberately in a direction diagonally opposite from the wrong GPS coordinates - us in hot pursuit.
At least 1 km away he showed us the desolate graveyard at +-500 m west of S 15 06.951 E13 30.877 (alternatively 15 06 47.8S 13 32 22.2E). It was touching as we realised that very few people would ever come here.
After this find, we set off to our camping spot. En route we saw the first of many large trucks suctioning water from a river - obviously Angola's water supply is not on par with South Africa's.
The strawberry farm where we planned to camp, lived up to its name.
The next day the owner, Yudo Borges, explained to us that the camp managers had moved on. This was evident in the neglect of the facilities. At least there was a tank which supplied fresh water to us to washing (how do you like our washing machine?), a usable long-drop and a braai facility, and otherwise a flattish grass surface. However, the fencing and the guards made us feel safe.
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