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Travelling in
Angola |
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Newsletter from
TravellingGroup.com |
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Angola in the earlier days was a Portuguese colony and has substantial natural resources, most of it being petroleum and diamonds. It is on the Atlantic coast of south western Africa.
Small but oil-rich Northern Province Cabinda is alienated from the other parts of the country by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo River. Angola has a very narrow stretch of coastal plain, which is also the most populated area. It is elevated as a high plateau inside with rain forests in the north and dry savannah in the south.
Angola can be said to be a large, developing country in South Africa. It gained independence from Portugal in 1975, but sadly was overwhelmed with civil war which lasted for more than twenty five years. There are some states where the roads are free of land mines but it is still possible to find land mines here. Tourism is not very rampant and the facilities for tourists especially outside the capital city of Luanda may be very basic. It is possible to find a number of hotels in many of the provincial capitals, but there are very few which provide good and clean services.
It was a Portuguese colony for a long time and as it is Angola was the source for hundreds of slaves which were sent to Brazil and also other places across the Atlantic. They fought a number of guerilla wars to finally gain independence. But with the breaking out of civil war, it has not been possible for the country to develop and prosper the way it should have.
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The war devastated the country's
political and social
institutions and in place filled
it with land mines. Angola can
be said to be one of the world's
poorest countries, and has a
life expectancy of just 40 years
and is also among the lowest in
Africa.
Fighting and war damaged wiped
out most of the roads and
bridges in the country. You just
cannot count on any service for
motorists outside the urban
areas. Because of a number of
land mines in some areas road
travel can be
very risky. The authority has
tried to clearly mark such area
and the people who are
travelling and
are new to the country should
keep this warning in mind.
You may find different kinds of
road conditions especially out
of the capital city, it could be
something like paved surfaces to
just impossible to travel on
dirt roads, and this can be more
seen in the less important
roads. It may just not be
possible to move on the
secondary roads during monsoon.
There are some overloaded and
out of action kind of vehicles,
which can be hazardous for
motorists.
It is important that you take
road travel only during the day.
The public transportation what
ever is available here ,
including the buses and van
taxis, should not be used as far
as possible as they are most of
the time overcrowded and also
can turn out to be very
unreliable.
There is no direct commercial
air service to Angola from the
United States. Angola is
normally a cash-only economy
that means you will not be able
to use either travellers checks
or your credit card other than
in the capital city of Luanda.
You have to have Angolan
currency; the Kwanza is not
allowed to be taken out of the
country.
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About the Author:
Andrew Gibson is MD of Direct Holiday Bookings. It has holiday villas, ski chalets and self catering holiday apartments to rent on line as a holiday home rental. To see an example of holiday villas have a look at
Holiday VillasArticle Source:
ArticlesBase.com -
The Dangers Of Spending A Holiday In Angola |
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