Infotur Hotel – Humpata (Day 33)

17 June 2019

Distance: 272km Distance to date: 7292km

Road Conditions: (out of 10)

Namibe – Lubango: 8 (some potholes)

Croissants, Pastries, Cheese, Ham, Coffee, Tea

Snacks

T-bone, Rice, French Fries, Bread, Olives

Two or three rogue mosquitoes plagued us in an otherwise uneventful night. While Mom and I had showers and packed up, Dad tried to get some of the dust off of the bakkie.

We had a quick breakfast in the restaurant that was included in our room fee and enjoyed some croissants and pastries with some cheese and ham.

This region is extremely arid and dry, and most of the agricultural ventures that we have seen are around rivers. It’s such a contrast when you see the farms – all around this dry, sandy area and then brilliant green in the middle.

The road towards Humpata and Lubango from Namibe goes up into the Serra de Leba pass. The pass, although extremely scenic and breathtaking, has many precarious hairpin turns. We stopped at the top of the pass at a lookout point and just sat and enjoyed the view for a couple of minutes.

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Next up, we set out to go and have a look at the farm that Mom and Dad stayed at in 2014. We had a little trouble finding the right road – there is a canal that runs all along the road and we weren’t quite sure which side of it we had to be on – but eventually we got to the right place.

The gate was closed, so Dad got out and opened it with a lot of effort. When we got to some homesteads, we mentioned to them that we just wanted to look at the campsite. There are some walls that are left, but all the inside: the toilets and the plumbing fixtures are gone. It isn’t great to see the place so run-down. The manager they stayed with then left the farm a couple of years ago and everything has basically fallen to pieces.

Dad and Mom made a friend last time they were in Angola, and they have kept in contact, so we wanted to go and say hello. My parents couldn’t remember where he stays, but eventually we found the right place.

Mr. Roberto offered us some lunch and we accepted, although we first wanted to go and see Tundavala and Cristo Rei.

It’s another great drive up towards Tundavala. When you near the site, there are many rock formations – it made me think of Kaapsehoop at home. The views from Tundavala are awesome. We walked around on the walkways and Mom and I peeked out over the edges of the balconies that have been built – its incredibly high and very easy to suffer from vertigo. Dad mentioned to us that one of the political parties had thrown some people into the gorge during the war, it must have been a gruesome punishment to behold.

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We stopped in town at the Shoprite centre for some provisions. We took a bit longer than we initially calculated, as we had some trouble with the bank cards and had not yet exchanged more Dollars. So we went up to Mr. Roberto’s home and had a late lunch before heading towards Cristo Rei.

Mr. Roberto was kind enough to drive us all in his vehicle and we reached the monument a few minutes before sunset. It was bone chillingly cold – the wind cut right through our clothes and got my teeth chattering very quickly. We had a great view from the top of the monument, looking out at the whole of Lubango and being able to see the statue of Christ with His arms raised – very similar to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.

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When we’d had enough of the cold, Mr. Roberto drove us back and offered for us to stay the night, which we gladly accepted.

The night was spent in good company, catching up with Mr. Roberto and having coffee and tea. It was so pleasant that we only ended up going to bed after 11pm.