Trekkies

So eventually the fridge doors were opened and yes, even at 4am, Luanda is hot. The heat came through the doors, past the throng in the aisles and settled upon me. The heat just came straight through your clothes and made you sweat while standing on the spot. You just wanted to be out of the plane and onto the tarmac. Hopefully there is a breeze out there.

Now Luanda airport has a terrible reputation as being mosquito infested, hot, sweaty, long queues, random system and a man that threatens to inject you on the spot if you can't show a Yellow Fever inoculation certificate. BUT, earlier this year Angola hosted the football African Cup of Nations and one very pleasing by-product of this festival of footie was a NEW airport building. As I headed towards it in trepidation I realised I was faced by a modern gleaming arrival hall. No mosquitoes, air conditioning (fortunately not the demented kind a la BA) and an orderly queue for the Passport control. Everything proceeded with rather disappointing ease and I was through (past the Yellow Fever man – he is still there) and on to baggage reclaim. This is just too darn easy, I thought. In fact, I tempted fate and fate came straight back and hit me between the eyes.

A brand new baggage reclaim complete with various modern carousels. But there are just some things that will always remain the same. As I waited for over an hour bags would appear down the luggage chute 4 at a time. Yes, always 4 at a time. How do you unload a plane 4 bags at a time? It became a game, as the 3rd bag appeared would there be only 3 or a 4th or even a 5th. Such is the ease with which you can occupy your mind after a long journey. Still my bags arrived eventually and off out through customs to the arrival hall where the rest of the team was waiting for me to joint hem on the road to Huambo.

Angola has changed a lot since the end of the war and a lot of effort has been put into clearing the road infrastructure of land mines and the roads have been re-tarmaced and are now good quality single and double carriageways. What used to be a 2 day trek is now about 8-9 hours.

Huambo is up in the central highlands, 1700metres up, in fact, which puts it on a par with many Alpine ski resorts. It is therefore a great place for us Shady Characters as the temperature at this time of year is a very pleasant upper 70's to lower 80's. With the dry season this also ensures there is very low humidity. Yes, folks you are in the middle of a geography lesson! I will continue and stop yawning at the back. Huambo was badly affected during the war that ended eventually in 2002 and there have been a number of massacres in the town and environs.

So, back to the journey. Fortunately the Land Rover doubles as an ambulance and we took it in turns to lay on the stretcher in the back and have a well deserved sleep. However, as the day wore on and we got further into nowhere the countryside became more and more spectacular. Imagine Dimbleby on the Savannah filming lions and tigers, zebras and gazelles. Well that is exactly the scenery, but not a single wild animal in sight. We passed a valley with a lake in the bottom: nothing at the watering hole. Not even a herd of roaming Wildebeest. Basil Faulty would have been very disappointed.

Every now and then we would pass a small township. Mud brick huts and corrugated tin roofs with small gardens and very small fields growing various crops. At the side of the road are women and children, all dressed in bright colours sitting next to piles of fruit and veg. The produce from the fields are all on sale. The site is so intriguing with the colours of the fruit and the bright clothes of the people. We stop, we buy five bananas and continue our trek.

Eventually we arrive at Huambo. Whats it like. I'll tell you tomorrow.