Expecting to see clear signs of Angola’s 40-year civil war that ravished the region and the present day poverty that is part of the country’s reality, we were pleasantly surprised with Lubango. Now, after 8 years of peace, this southern hub shows clear signs that Angola is headed in a new direction.

In a drastic change from the deserts of Namibia, we now found ourselves at an altitude of almost 6,000ft, surrounded by lush mountains and a cool breeze that made us break out both the windbreaker and raincoats, even though it is supposedly summer here. The mountains that surround Lubango’s central valley are the perpetrators of this cool climate. The city’s residents are proud of their chilly breeze, as it is much desired by those who live in any one of the country’s tropical metropolises. “When we get to enjoy 60 degrees, the thermometers in Luanda are above 100, its great to live here”, says Suwendy Gomes, a math teacher we randomly picked up.

The fertile mountains that rise above the city harbor tremendous natural treasures. Rock formations, plateaus and verdant valleys come together to form a landscape that is far from what you expect when you think of Africa. It reminds me more of Brazil’s central highlands. One of the treasures hidden in this landscape is the Estação Zootécnica de Humpata waterfall, less than 20 miles from the city.

This beautiful waterfall was our afternoon treat, which we had all to ourselves. I broke out the tripod and got excited about the long shutter shots. The cold weather was the only thing keeping us from diving in.

Our first major visit was to a place known as Fenda da Tundavala (fenda meaning hole). The dirt road was still quite rough a 4×4 is required to get all the way to the end, especially the last kilometer of steep cliff climbing. However, it just a matter of time before the entire stretch paved. The huge tractors where already widening and leveling the road. Mr. Antonio, manager of the road construction promised, “if you come back in a year, this road will be freshly coated tar road”. This is a clear sign that the government is investing the necessary tourism infrastructure.

At the edge of the road we meet some women and kids with buckets on the ground. We could see they clearly selling something that was large round and cream colored. Nasuka, one of the ladies, relives our curiosity, “they’re tortulhos (wild mushrooms), very good to eat”.

Nasuka (right) has seven kids and makes a living from harvesting and selling wild mushrooms found in these fertile mountains.

Nasuka needs to walk a few miles to find these wild mushrooms. She will sell a bucket-full for about 1000 kwanza (Angola’s local currency), which is about 10 bucks. She insists that we buy a full bucket! We buy about half, knowing it was way more than we would be able to eat in a couple days. Indeed we prepared mushrooms for dinner and lunch for an entire week!

The road worsens as we climb towards the fenda. Ode, our GPS alerts us that we have reached an altitude of 7,400 feet. Then, rather suddenly a thick fog surrounds us with its droplets form on our windshield.  We roll up the windows, its too chilly. Haroldo and I exchange the same look, as to say, “where are we?” This was not exactly how we had pictured Angola, much less Africa.

We arrived at the end of the road, we known that the mountains end there. But the fog was so think we could not really make much more of the view. Three soldiers, military guys in full cammo, approach us. Haroldo, as always is calm and strategic (after all you don’t want to say the wrong thing to someone holding an AK-47). So of course, he approaches them and he begins the conversation. Quick to ask questions, simple ones, but puts him on the controlling side of the conversation. An easy topic, soccer. After all, the country is in a complete soccer frenzy as it hosts the African Cup of Nations. In a few minutes we have found common ground in criticizing Angola’s coach who managed to let the team tie after a 4-0 lead against Mali.

With an open dialogue, the soldiers tell us a little about this area in which they are permanently stationed. “We call this fog cachimbo (pipe) because it comes in and out like smoke” said one of the soldiers, explaining the phenomenon that occurs daily. “It stays here until about 11 o’clock”, he confirms. Indeed the ‘smoke’ cleared up and the vertical mountain face began to appear. We venture to the edge on a simple viewing platform built on the edge of the cliff. Looking straight down caused instant vertigo. WOW! We are at an altitude of almost 7,400 feet and the city of Bibala below is at 2,800 feet. It didn’t take long for us to do the math; we were looking down a cliff that drops 4,600 feet, that’s the length of 15 football fields straight down.

The Fenda of Tundavala marks where the plateau of the highlands of Lugango ends. These cliffs have a very moody microclimate.

A few minutes later the “pipe smoke” is back and everything is white again. This time the fog brings a heavier, grey cloud with it: rain. The soldiers are unfazed and convince us to be patient, as the sun will come out very soon. Minutes go by quickly and so do the rain, the fog and the sun. We spent a total of 6 hours trying to properly shoot this cliff, and we got wet 7 times. It was useless to keep changing shirts. The sun was more timid than the rain, showing itself three times and warming the colors of the rock face. We were impressed with the microclimate and it was clear that these mystical transformations are what give life and enchantment to Tundavala. We thank the soldiers for their support and say goodbye. They return the greetings and kindly ask if we don’t have any spare bar soap, something they have run out of and have no access to. We gladly gave them a brand new one.

Our next destination is Namibe, the coastal city where our friend Miguel Gullander awaits. We knew that the road west towards the Atlantic had an impressive descent, (which made even more sense after seeing the cliffs of Tundavala), but Miguel warned us that the best view was from the miradouro taking the first left after the paying the toll.  We were stunned when we saw the extraordinary road that carefully scales the enormous rock face. The winding mountain road looks like an endless snake that wraps around the mountain and disappears in the valley below.

The descent begins with six consecutive hairpin turns. The road was built in the 70s by the Portuguese and is the main access point to the coast from Lubango.

The altitude change is also dramatic. From 5,600ft we drive down to a flatland of a mere 1600ft. The cold humid climate quickly changes into dry heat. The windows go down and the ears pop. Shocked again by the drastic changes around us, we can only wonder what surprises await on Angola’s coast.

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