D27-31: North of Porto Amboim - Cuanza (195 km) - Bruce's (30 km) - Luanda & back (158 km) = 383 km

We travelled north hugging the west coast. It was difficult to choose which bays to visit because so many offered so much.

Our goal was Luanda as we had to renew our vehicle's TIP before the 30 days' permit elapsed.

D27 (2 July 2013, N of Porto Amboim - Kikombe - Cuanza/Kwanza Lodge, 195 km)

We aimed to get to Cuanza/Kwanza Lodge. The scenery was lovely but the traffic grew heavier as we drew nearer to Luanda.

We saw a sign which said something about turtles (Conservationis de Tartarugas de Marinha) - so we deviated to this Turtle Research Project - an unplanned bonus. 

The man on the right was our first contact person, but he had to call a student, Emilio, (green jacket) who could speak English and who was willing to be our guide to the project. Even he used our dictionary to be able to communicate with us! As we were fully loaded, he was willing to stand on the runner board - a suitable fee (600 kwanza) had been negotiated for his services.

Emilio soon realized that we were interested in birds and animals - he spotted this squirrel for us.

The official brochure of the project.

We were taken to the pier where the boats were launched for the project - at present the scientists weren't there. Any turtles to be seen??

Well, at least we found a crab which was willing to be photographed!

We walked along the coast to a nearby community who were also involved in the conservation of the turtles. We could clearly see the Longa River's mouth on the right where the river flowed into the sea. Many birds nested/rested on the "island" between the river and the sea.

The community headman welcomed us warmly - smiles, handshakes and a hike up the sand steps cemented our friendship with him.

All the communities along the coast fish for a living.

A last look at the sea and we headed back to the main road, but ...

we realised it was teatime!

Northwards - isn't this giant Baobab a beauty?

The bridge over the river Kwanza, a derelict (Russian) tank next to the bridge and the toll gate where we had to pay 210 kwanza to use the bridge.

A mere 500 m beyond the toll gate, a road to the left took us to our destination (perhaps 5 km further).

The manager, Manny, was a tonic and understood the needs of travel-worn souls: rest, food and drink (hot and cold).

We booked into comfortable chalets and watched the sun set.

D28 (3.7.2013, Kwanza Lodge - Bruce's Camp, 30 km)

Manny organised a boat trip for us. This meant that we saw the Kwanza River from close up, saw the underside of the bridge and many other sights.

Colobus monkeys

A crocodile lurking in the undergrowth - can you see it?

Some of the special birds we saw: an Osprey, several Goliath Herons and many Palm Nut Vultures to mention a few.

Guess what was the bonus? Kwanza Lodge has WiFi (mostly functional)!

Manny suggested that we camp at Bruce's. She phoned to arrange it for us. On the way to him (+-30 km north of Kwanza Lodge) we stopped off to see the Mirador da Lua. Breathtaking. These pictures are as is.

This donga'd (?) road leads down to Bruce's camp site.

Bruce told us where to find the camp and warned us that the camp site was in disrepair as it wasn't open to the public.

We drove down to the beach. When looking back at the camp site one could see the Mirador da Lua in the distance.

This beach was also protected for turtle research - but no live turtles could be seen.

The camp site gave us shade as it was actually a palm grove - very cosy. This camp became our base camp while we sorted out our vehicles' Temporary Import Permits (TIP).

D29 (2013.07.04, Bruce's camp)

We actually don't have any photos for this day - we only did some washing, walking and vegetated.

D30 (2013.07.05, Bruce's camp - Luanda - back to Bruce's camp, 158km)

Goodbye to our friends, Eugene & Lalie. We missed them on the rest of our trip. Fortunately, they could update us on their progress home, so we knew they got home safely

We ventured in to Luanda behind Manny's driver, Batisda. He (was supposed) to know where we would get our TIP (Temporary Import Permit) extended. Without him we would have been totally lost. He went to various government departments which sent us from pillar to post. 

Eventually we found the right department - Alfandegas (Customs) - Servicio Nacional de Alfandegas.

Coordinates: S08.81157 E013.23149.

The bonus of all the hunting was that we got to see quite a lot of Luanda.

This is where we eventually had to be to renew our TIP. Mrad & Siep were given an example of the necessary letter to submit - they managed to get the letter retyped and submitted - the irony was that when they returned to get the renewed TIP three days later, they were told that the letter referred to a broken-down vehicle, thus it did not apply to our situation!?!

After our search, we decided to view the Forteleza san Miguel built in 1576 by the Portuguese.

Be warned! The cashier at the fort/museum charged us 1000 kwanza for four persons. Siep gave him 2000 kwn - oh dear - no change!?! So we ended up paying double the entrance fee.

The renovated museum was re-opened in February 2013. It was most impressive. Just look at these larger than life statues of Portuguese explorers.

Luis Camoes, a famous Portuguese poet, also is represented among the famous persons. He wrote an epic poem Os Lusiadas ("The Lusiads") (1572) about Da Gamas explorations - that must be why he's present in this museum.

The blue & white "Delft" blue tiles (Azulejo) in the interior of the Forteleza san Miguel represent life in the early 16th century: magnificent animal and wild life scenes. Unfortunately, yellow lights are used to illuminate the tiles thus all pictures have a yellow tinge.

This panel was near an open door. This is actually the colour of all the panels when not lit with artificial yellow lighting. Beautiful!

Some old cannons (from World War 1?).

Downstairs is a modern war museum of the Angolan freedom war: impressive wall panels, photos of influential political persons, relics of old war armory, wreck of South African fighter jet, and much more.

The view across Luanda from the fort is impressive: the harbour, apartment buildings, sky scrapers.

On our way out of the city, we passed the Igreia de Nossa Senhora dos Remedos (Church of Our Lady of Remedies). Building started in 1665, it was renovated in 1995 by a multi-national oil-company (Bradt, 2010, p. 135).

We had to go with the flow as the 4pm exit had started.

On route home, we stopped at Belas shopping centre. It took us another hour to eventually reach "home" - an agonizingly long day.

D31 (2013.07.06, Bruce's camp - a day of rest!)

Nothing but a walk in the surrounding area.

Tomorrow we would head for the forest near Cambondo and try to find Bruce's special private camp site. A pleasing prospect after yesterday's crowd in the city.