Angola

From the mythical northern Congo River, to the Cunene that fades south into the Namib Desert, Angola stretches more than 1,600 kilometres along the Atlantic coast. For a long time ravaged by civil war, after two decades of peace and reconstruction, this land of welcome and contrasts awaits the most adventurous travellers, curious to discover one of the last African destinations that is slowly opening up to international tourism.

The north, characterised by immense spaces and unexplored places, enchants with its natural beauty, thanks to the mighty waterfalls of Kalandula, the lunar landscapes of Miraduro de Lua, the giraffes in the Kissama reserve, the roar of the waves on the beach of Cabo Ledo, loved by surfers. Or, towards the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ruins of the UNESCO site of M’Banza-Congo, the ancient capital of the Kongo kingdom, await us. On the other side of the river, the isolated enclave of Cabinda, between the Ocean and the two Congo, with its extraordinary tropical forest of Mayombe, rich in oil and diamonds, which have contributed in a short space of time to making the country the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa and Nigeria.

Luanda, the capital, where the notes of kizomba and kuduru resound, splendidly situated between the bay of the same name and the Ilha do Cabo, is a fascinating mixture of ruined Portuguese colonial architecture and modern skyscrapers of oil companies and banks, of gigantic construction sites and muddy bidonvilles.

The South, where mountain, desert and ocean landscapes offer the visitor encounters with the inhabitants of the many tribes that follow a traditional way of life: from the semi-nomadic Mumuhuila, famous for the women’s flashy hairstyles and numerous coloured necklaces, to the Muhimba, related to the Himba of Namibia, from the aboriginal Muhacaona to the Mucubal, related to the Herero who live between the Namib Desert and the Cunene River.