ITCHY FEET TRAVELS

Lubango, Angola

June 21, 2024

In my random wanderings around town, I had met Franklin, who works at the TAAG office in central Lubango. He spoke excellent English and was a fount of information to boot. There is no public transport to places out of town and it was he who suggested a friend who could drive me to see a couple of the places near Lubango. Arrangements were negotiated over the phone and his friend Adi came by with his car.

Serra da Leba

Lubango sits at the edge of an escarpment almost 1800 m above sea level. The vertical wall of the escarpment slopes down to the plain of Namibe at sea level only at one place, along the slope of a ridgeline. It is along this that a road was built in the nineteen seventies. The hairpin curves make a pretty picture from a viewpoint. Called Mirador da Serra da Leba, it is considered a must-se in these parts.

The road from Lubango went past fields and farms, a town with its market in full swing and one where it was laundry day at a small stream. Closer to the viewpoint I saw small huts and a novel way of selling eggs. Bundled into transparent plastic bags, they were strung up on poles. Not the safest way to display eggs, I mused who knows what the rationale is.

The cliff edge drops down sharply to the valley floor like a vertical wall that must make for great climbing. On one side is the road with its hairpin curves going down to the valley. And there, down below lies Namibe indistinct in the haze and smog. The distant mountains are but a vague guess courtesy of the same smog and haze. It must be a spectacular sight with good visibility.

Tunda Vala

Further north along the same escarpment is a deep gorge. Called Tunda Vala, there is a gap between two cliffs that also provides a view of Namibe but in a peekaboo fashion. Deemed another must-see, off we trundled in Adi’s car.

We soon left Lubango spread out below its statue of Christ and drove up the road. There are a few farms and villages but these soon disappear. Now I mostly see rocks that are strangely shaped. This place must have an interesting geological history.

We pass cows grazing high up on a ridge and I see the water reservoir of Tundavala. It sits prettily nestled among trees with a backdrop of cliffs. And at the top we come to the viewing platforms. The mesa drops down to the valley floor and there lies Namibe again, shrouded in its veil of haze.

A deep narrow gorge cuts through the escarpment, widening a little as it faces the valley. Through this gap lies Namibe, playing peekaboo. I peer over the edge and see a faint trickle of water almost two kilometers below.