May 3, 2024

Day 119/137, only 18 days remaining

Luanda, Angola.

Angola, really, you know how dangerous that place is? Right? Well,….

Luanda is one of Africa’s fastest growing cities and a bustling metropolis. Luanda’s story goes back to the colonial expansion period of the 16th and 17th centuries. Luanda is the capital of Angola. Since the end of the civil was in 2017 it has been growing quickly. As is usually the case, the nation’s wealth in concentrated in a disproportionately small part of the population.

Angola has vast mineral and petroleum reserves. It’s trading partners are China, the European Union and the United States. Unfortunately the standard of living remains low for most Angolans.  Life expectancy is among the lowest in the world, and infant mortality is among the highest. The current government is doing what it can to fight corruption, although many foreign diplomats think it is politically motivated.

We head down to the Constellation Theater to get our excursion motor coach number. There are only four excursions into Angola this morning and we are the last of them. As we pick up are motor coach assignment we find out they have already called our number. This is extremely unusual as we are our usual fifteen minutes early.

On the dock we feel a little like we are in a propaganda film. There are “officials” taking photographs of us and even a man with a large view camera. It turns our there are five-twenty or so passenger motor coaches for this excursion called “Panoramic Luanda”. Well if there are only four excursions that does make some sense.

The motor coaches are nice, not exactly new but not showing any real sign of age. Carlos is our guide this morning. We start by driving along the water front through a respectable part of town. Our first stop is at Arquidiocese de Luanda Paróquia Santuário de Noosa Senhora da Nazaré Fundocao (Our Lady of Nazareth Church) built in 1664. The guide said that it was built by the Portuguese Governor Andre Vidal de Negreiors in gratitude for the Virgin Mary for safeguarding his sip during a storm while he was traveling to Angola.

It is a little church, so how grateful was he? It as a rather austere rectangular nave built in the baroque style. The statues of the Virgin Mary are very nice, but the most impressive thing about the church is the blue and white Portuguese tiles which decorate the church. The detail and artwork in the tiles is quite amazing. The sheer number of them used is equally amazing. It gives the church a whole other level of beauty.

After a short ride we stop at the Fortaleza de São Miguel or Saint Michael Fortress was a Portuguese fortress built a top of a hills next to the historical port of Luanda. São Miguel fort was built in 1576 by Paulo Dias de Novais. It was the administrative center of the colony in 1627 and was a major outlet for slave traffic to Brazil. The fort was for many years a self-contained town protected by thick walls encrusted with cannons. Inside the fort, elaborate ceramic tiles tell the story of Angola from early years, and in the courtyard are large, imposing statues of Portugal’s first king, the first European to reach Angola one Diogo Cão, renowned explorer Vasco da Gama and other notables.

Interestingly even before you get into the fort there is a statue of Nzinga of Matamba (Ana de Sousa was her Christian name) (* 1583; † 17. December 1663) who was an African queen who ruled over the kingdom of Ndongo and the neighboring kingdom of Matamba in today's Angola. She was known by the fact that she was able to successfully resist the Portuguese invaders over a long period of time. Interesting to see some gender equality.

Until 1975, the fortress served as the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Armed Forces in Angola. After which it fell into some disrepair. Today, it holds the Museum of the Armed Forces. Between 1938 and 1958 it held the Museu de Angola. Today it is home to Museu Nacional de História Militar, although the sign in English says Museum of the Armed Forces, not the National Museum of Military History.

Back in the motor coach we drove to Ilya Do Cabo, Cape Cabo, this is a split of land which protects Luanda Bay. Here there are a number of nice hotels, restaurants and beautiful beaches. The tip of which is occupied by another fort; Fortaleza de Nossa Shenora da Flor da Rosa. We had the opportunity to see the beaches and a glimpse of the fort but nothing more. It needs a few more years of work but it will or could become the Miami Beach of Angola.

The motor coach then stopped at Memorial to Agostino Neto. The Agostinho Neto Mausoleum is an obelisk-like concrete structure (ok, I know what you are thinking another penis like object dedicated to a man. Yea, but so is the Washington monument.) towering above the city of Luanda. The Agostinho Neto Cultural Center is located here and the memorial takes up about a half square mile of Luanda. Although you can’t see much of it above ground, and for whatever the reason we weren’t allowed to visit but from a distance. It also serves as Neto's final resting place.

So, who is Neto? Neto (1922-1979) served as Angola’s first president from 1975-1979 after Angola secured its independence from the Portuguese. He remained the leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in Angola's subsequent civil war, dying before long before its final end in 2002. A Portugal-trained physician, he was also known for his literary skills as a renowned poet. The tower was designed to reference Neto's poem "The Path of Stars" and is named after his book A Sacred Hope. 

The memorial was finished in 2012, its Brutalist architecture is said to reference a spaceship, and Luandans referred to it as “Sputnik” in the 1990s while its construction remained unfinished. Angola’s interest in socialist realism may be a byproduct of their past political alliances. The Soviet Union supported the MPLA party during Angola’s civil war, Cuba sent soldiers to fight on their behalf, and North Korean military personnel were also involved. Certainly the “cult of personality” that has visually marked these three nations are recalled by the Neto monument.

Although the project was initially awarded to a Brazilian company, it was completed by Mansudae Overseas Project, the North Korean sculptural business that has built monuments in many parts of the continent. In March 2011, Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, visited the monument, and the official state news agency claimed that North Korea was funding the structure. Grzelczyk estimates its cost at around $40 million. Whether this was a gift or an exchange is uncertain; in 2015, the North Korean ambassador to Angola expressed interest in developing agribusiness in the Malanje region of Angola, military training exchange agreements led to suspicions of illicit arms, and, although oil-rich Angola denied trading aviation and rocket fuel to North Korea, there were questions.

Angola’s willingness to abide by United Nations’ sanctions increased in late 2017, when over 150 Mansudae employees were “invited” to leave Angola. By January 2018, Angola had terminated all further contracts with Mansudae.

The monument is over 393 feet, it is taller than both New York’s Statue of Liberty and London’s Big Ben. Located outside the downtown area, its site was formerly a residential neighborhood called Praia de Bispo, cleared for the monument’s erection (pun intended).

Near both the Presidential Palace and the National Assembly, it conceptually ties both to Neto’s legacy of anti-colonialism. The extensive grounds surrounding the monument include lawns and gardens, as well as reviewing bleachers. Statues decorate the grounds, including one of an elephant kneeling in the direction of Neto’s tomb.

After this it was back to the motor coach and then back to the ship. They have been really artful to show us what they wanted us to see, that much is obvious. The roads to and from each location were the same one. One of my cigar buddies took a private excursion and got to see much more of Angola. Honestly it is beginning to appear that the Regent Excursions maybe not always be the best option. On the other hand we are only in port for a few hours so there isn’t much of a change to “see it all”. Just a taste to see if you want to go back.

That’s all folks. Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico & Maria