Luanda, Angola – Apr 11

We were greeted in the port of Luanda by a colorful mural and equally colorful local dancers.

Dave and our local tour guide, Carlos, were interviewed by the local TV station about our excitement at making this visit to Angola.

We visited a beautiful, but tiny, Catholic church that was built by the Portuguese in 1664.

We observed many women with impressive balancing skills. I wish I had a picture of the women we saw with dozens and dozens of eggs on their heads! These women must’ve already sold most of theirs.

Many of the towns we’ve visited have a local fort built hundreds of years ago by their European colonizers. The official language of Angola is still Portuguese. They are very proud of their fort in Luanda. It’s also their military museum. Located on a hill, it has beautiful views of the city.

After a “scenic” drive around the city, we stopped at an obelisk-shaped mausoleum dedicated to the first president of Angola, Dr. Neto. After gaining their freedom from Portugal in 1975, they fought a long and brutal civil war that lasted for almost 30 years.

This is part of the National Monument. The elephant, representing all of Africa, is bowing to the President.

The people in Luanda were friendly, and they did their best to take care of us with a police escort and quite a few well-armed police officers visible at our stops.