Angola is A-okay!

A journey through Angola has always been high on their bucket list, says Jeannie Venter of Halmanshof near Porterville in the Western Cape.

- 

As someone who loves camping and enjoys long road trips, Jeannie and her husband, Henri, had always been drawn to the allure of Angola – a country where you can travel 4 500 km with your off-road trailer in tow.

So, when they discovered that their favourite tour operator was offering a trip through Angola, they didn’t hesitate to book. Not only would they not have to worry about breakfast and dinner, but all their overnight stays would be in wild camps rather than traditional campsites – exactly their kind of adventure.

On the day schools shut for the holidays, they left Porterville and spent three days on the road to Rundu. Along the way, they camped at Vioolsdrift, just before the border post at the Orange River Rafting Lodge, before continuing to Windhoek the next day, where they spent the night at the Urban campsite – and, of course, visited the ever-popular Joe’s Beerhouse for dinner.

From there, they set their sights on Rundu but made a stop in Grootfontein to see the Hoba meteorite. This massive iron rock from outer space was discovered in 1920, weighs nearly 60 tonnes, and is the largest meteorite in the world.

Afterwards, they drove to the Kaisosi River Lodge in Rundu, where they met the other travellers on the tour the next day. Jeannie tells us all about it…

We met the people who would be our companions and campfire friends for the next two weeks… and, by the end of it, also good friends.

Our tour leader, Danie van Ellewee – better known as Jakkals – fitted each vehicle with a two-way radio. He gave us a quick rundown of what to expect over the next few days, how the border crossing would work, and the arrangements for exchanging money and refueling.