Old Legs Tour Angola 2024 – Day 18

Perhaps we should start at the beginning, rather than beginning at the end.

We had a late start as three of Christopher’s tyres needed to be repaired. The mechanics at the Mission were helping us out, but it took a bit longer than anticipated. Whilst we waited, Linda and Laurie S went into the markets to restock supplies.  What a difference a day can make.  Yesterday when Laurie went into the market, she was mobbed by lots of little children, all desperate to sell their wares, and she felt quite saddened by this.

But this morning, the atmosphere had undergone a remarkable transformation. Today, the market was a colourful hub of activity, with friendly, happy and enthusiastic salespeople in abundance. From Havaiana flip-flops to Pao bread, wet wipes, and plastic storage boxes to replace our broken wooden ones, we found everything we needed. The market’s abundance of goods and the apparent prosperity of its vendors left us wondering about where the money came from in such a remote location to have such well-stocked stalls.

Today was going to be another long uplift. We need to literally cross the whole of Angola to get to the coast, and we have worked out that from where we are to our closest point on the Atlantic coast is two and a half times the distance from Harare to Beit Bridge.  Which isn’t that far, I’m sure a few of you must be quietly thinking, but the snag is that on these roads our average speed so far has not yet reached 30km per hour, even considering the sections of tar. As we mentioned in one of our earlier blogs, our journey from Autoworld in Harare to Christo Rei in Lubango is some 5200km away, and to cover that in a month, these long uplifts become a necessary evil. And as you all know by now, Uplift joins Shortcut and Mopane Fly in our ever-expanding dictionary of expletives.

Our first stop was the fuel station, where we were astonished to find fuel priced at a mere 18 cents per litre. Naison’s entrepreneurial spirit was immediately ignited, and he proposed heading straight back to the market to buy extra jerry cans to fill with the cheap fuel and sell back in Zimbabwe.  Needless to say the main source of income for the thriving marketplace of Luau suddenly became very apparent!

It turns out that Luau is a fuel trading hub, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) just 20 kilometers away. We were reliably informed that around 10 to 20 fuel tankers, each carrying 15-20 thousand litres, arrive in Luau daily to supply a population of approximately 20,000 people. A constant stream of tuk-tuks, laden with 20-litre plastic containers, ferry the fuel Eastwards to the DRC border.  It’s a roaring trade.  We can’t help but surmise that the young entrepreneurs of the villages we passed in the last two days, must come to Luau to get jobs and bring supplies to their villages.

After filling our vehicles to capacity, we set off with renewed purpose, well-stocked with food and drinks, and all our belongings repaired – again.

As we arrived at the first roadblock we were greeted with the biggest smiles at a town called Makonda. We were pulled out of the cars for yet another photo session and asked to wait for the commander of the force.  We thought he was asking for our passports, but actually he was saying that he had all our passport photos on his phone already, and just wanted to check there were 17 of us. He then sent the police station’s Toyota Cruiser to fill up with fuel and said that they would escort us through the province to ensure our safe passage.

And so off we went in our little convoy of 3 Old Legs Tour cars, led by the flashing blue lights of the police car, complete with well-armed support troops, winding our way through the little town and out onto the road to Luena, the provincial capital, some 300km away. To our astonishment, this escort was replaced at the next major town by another, which in turn was replaced by yet another and, unbelievably, as we approached Luena, a fourth change of guard!  At no time did the police ask for anything in return, bar the mandatory photographs that everyone seemed to want as a record of the day.

It is probably no small coincidence that the customs officer back in Luau had become quite misty-eyed as he reminisced, “Ah yes, we’ve had tourists here before…let me think…in 2016!” It became clear that the Angolan Embassy in Harare had been working hard behind the scenes and that they are doing a remarkable job of supporting the Angolan Government’s drive to actively promote tourism, facilitating a really positive experience for visitors like us, and leveraging our social media presence to enhance the country’s image.

Driving through Luena led by a police escort occasionally sounding their siren certainly felt special, but critically, much of our journey was at night and our escorts knew the roads well and were clearly well-respected by the people which added to our feeling of safety and well-being.

And so it is that we find ourselves back in the present moment, where, as you know, we are currently sitting in the car park of a fully booked hotel, staring (again) at another 2 punctures.

Our police escort has temporarily departed to secure accommodation for our motley crew of seventeen. Their exceptional hospitality and assistance have left us astounded. While they search, we’ve found ourselves enjoying a buffet dinner at the hotel-with-no-vacancies. This detour has added an hour to our schedule, but the police insisted we wait for their return. As we dine, we’ve been warmly welcomed by yet another group of amazing Angolans going out of their way to make our dusty, travel-worn team feel at home.  We are once again humbled by such kindness in a foreign land, and to the Embassy and the people of Angola, we can only say: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The ordeals of the past few days are quickly forgotten when in a moment of group reflection we remember Nibbs Deere, who is fighting his own personal ordeal with pressure sores. Paraplegic since a teenage accident,Nibbs is an inspiration to all who know him, a real adventurer who in another life would have loved to join us on an epic adventure like this had fate not forbidden it!   Although he is getting stronger by the day and is now home with his family, they are in desperate need of support with the ongoing costs of his treatment.  If any of you out there reading this know of him or the family, please consider donating directly to his appeal. https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-nibs-deere?qid=55596b231224810d546de70e93c717b7.

Thank you for following The Old Legs Tour.  Your support is vital!

Until next time,

Have Fun, Do Good, Do Epic!

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