I spent much of this month in Africa.  Specifically, in Sao Tome (which has a second large island called Principe) and Angola, both of which are former Portuguese colonies (independent since the 1970s).  This trip also completed my visitation to all of the former Portuguese African colonies (Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome & Angola).  

Angola & Sao Tome are far off most people's radar.  Sao Tome is a small archipelago about 150 miles west of Gabon, sitting in the Atlantic.  Angola is far south, north of Namibia and south of "the Congo" (DRC).  Getting to both of them was not an enjoyable experience.  Sao Tome required over 24 hours of flying, and Angola is only connected to Sao Tome by a twice/week flight in a prop plane operated by Angola's TAAG airline.  That said, the trip went fairly smoothly, and it was a good overall experience.

Sao Tome is currently one of the world's leading growers of cacao (the beans used to make chocolate), but is otherwise a tropical, sleepy place.  Angola has a booming oil & gas industry, but is still very much a developing country, with all the stereotypical problems (poor infrastructure, poverty, etc).  I rented a car to get around Sao Tome, and it was very easy to navigate (the island is barely 30 miles at its widest point), with basically just 3 roads (one along the north coast, one along the south coast, and one running east/west across the middle).  Angola is a different animal altogether, and I joined a group, as self driving there was not really feasible.

First Sao Tome:



North coast


more north coast


the only tunnel on the island


end of the south coast road, destroyed in a 2021 storm

South coast


down south


the island's iconic extinct volcanic plug


peaking through the clouds


lots of wild pigs


jungle trek in the center of the island


Angola is a very different place:


Tundavala, over 6500ft down


Sunset over Tundavala


Palm oil, its what's for dinner


village life


just a small baobab after 400 years


welwitscia in the Namib desert


abandoned


serra da leba, 6600 ft


when the chickens come home to roost at sunset


goat sunset

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[url=https://flic.kr/p/2q59muR]village life


end of the day


the kwanza river in Muxima



For anyone wanting to read more of my words, a detailed, day by day trip report is available HERE.  Way way more photos are posted HERE.

thanks for reading!

loved following your adventure on instagram

I've been following along on Instagram a bit, but finally had a chance to read your complete trip report. Good stuff as usual, highlighted by the low-grade anxiety I tend to feel when reading about your travels! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts & photos.

(2024-07-23, 08:21 AM)TacoLand Wrote: I've been following along on Instagram a bit, but finally had a chance to read your complete trip report. Good stuff as usual, highlighted by the low-grade anxiety I tend to feel when reading about your travels! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts & photos.

Low grade anxiety? There was only 1 washed out bridge on this trip!

The photo of the washed out bridge actually evoked excitement in me! I found myself contemplating driving down it at that steep angle to hit the riverbed in an attempt to trek forward. Highlight of the trip, 5/5, A++++.

All the people, airports, queues, ATMs, BS, etc., trigger "meh" memories of traveling for work or with family. Ha!

I've been off peak bagging in Montana and not spending much time online, so fun to get home and see another of your Africa trip reports. Never been to those areas so I am sure the whole report will be a fun read. But first I need to get some more sleep after busy hiking days for 2 1/2 weeks. We were getting up at 4 most mornings to beat the heat. Lost the smoke lottery but it was not unbearable. Next stop is eastern Sierra.

Your TRs are so much fun to read!

(2024-07-26, 10:23 AM)MojaveGeek Wrote: I've been off peak bagging in Montana and not spending much time online, so fun to get home and see another of your Africa trip reports. Never been to those areas so I am sure the whole report will be a fun read. But first I need to get some more sleep after busy hiking days for 2 1/2 weeks. We were getting up at 4 most mornings to beat the heat. Lost the smoke lottery but it was not unbearable. Next stop is eastern Sierra.

Your TRs are so much fun to read!

I'm looking forward to your trip reports too. I don't get out to the gorgeous corners of the US as much these days, and you spend time in really lovely places.

Well I finally got around to reading your full TR. Sounds like a lot of "OK" or "not awful" food experiences I'm impressed at how much you've gotten into Africa; few people do. It is good that you are traveling a bit higher class than when I hitch hiked in '72 - there were certainly some days when "any" food was a good find. I never made it to any of the former Portuguese colonies, though I was in Congo, which was called Zaire for a while by Mobutu's decree. Gosh, I'm wondering, is there any country in Africa which you have not visited?

(2024-11-27, 11:35 AM)MojaveGeek Wrote: Well I finally got around to reading your full TR.  Sounds like a lot of "OK" or "not awful" food experiences   I'm impressed at how much you've gotten into Africa; few people do.  It is good that you are traveling a bit higher class than when I hitch hiked in '72 - there were certainly some days when "any" food was a good find.    I never made it to any of the former Portuguese colonies, though I was in Congo, which was called Zaire for a while by Mobutu's decree.    Gosh, I'm wondering, is there any country in Africa which you have not visited?

Thanks for checking it out !  I actually still have a bunch (out of the 54 total) that I've not yet visited:

1. Algeria (coming soon!)
   
2. Comoros
   
3. Republic of Congo
   
4. Djibouti (maybe next year)
   
5. Equatorial Guinea
   
6. Eritrea (next year)
   
7. Gabon
   
8. Guinea
   
9. Kenya
   
10. Lesotho
    
11. Liberia
    
12. Libya (coming soon!)
    
13. Madagascar
    
14. Niger
    
15. Seychelles
    
16. Sierra Leone
    
17. Somalia (next year)
    
18. South Sudan (next year)
    
19. Uganda
    

I'm slowly chipping away at the list.  Maybe I'll finish them off in another 5 years or so.  Which is not at all the same as claiming that I've seen a lot of them.  Africa is a huge place, and even for the countries that I've visited, it was often just small pieces.

OK so I've still been to a few that you haven't but, what a continent. What attracted you to Africa? For me, I wanted to venture into the "third world" and that would mean either Latin American or Africa. If I went to Latin America, and did not like it, there would be no place to go but home. If I went to Africa, OTOH, I could take a ship to India (which I did eventually). That was the basis for the decision Oh my I was young and naive.

We look at Mercator Projection maps, and don't realize how huge Africa is, because it is shrunk (relative to North America, or the US) by being closer to the equator. I traveled at least 6000 miles, on roads that were often 30 mph or less. You know how those roads can be! So you could spend a life time.. and still have vast swaths of some of those countries unvisited.

But you've chipped away at quite a list! I am impressed by your perseverance. I know that some of those days can be pretty hard.