18 Best Things to Do in Angola

Ango­la is famous for its pro­tect­ed areas, water­falls and pris­tine beach­es. Tribes still live on the ter­ri­to­ry of the state, which have pre­served the cus­toms and tra­di­tions of their ances­tors. This amaz­ing, vibrant and orig­i­nal coun­try will appeal to those who are tired of a mea­sured Euro­pean hol­i­day.

Who is suitable for holidays in Angola

Ango­la is pri­mar­i­ly an option for those who love nature. Places here are untouched, reserved. Beach lovers will also like it. There are well-equipped areas here, all con­di­tions for divers and surfers are cre­at­ed. In addi­tion, those who are fond of sport fish­ing come here. Con­nois­seurs say that the catch here is no worse than on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. Tur­tles, mol­lusks, var­i­ous types of fish live in the waters of the ocean — even black whales swim.

Fans of eco­tourism pre­fer to relax in Ango­la. The ter­ri­to­ry of the coun­try is com­plete­ly cov­ered with savan­nas and wild forests. Rare species of ani­mals live here. And walks in the nation­al parks of the state will allow you to see them in close prox­im­i­ty. In gen­er­al, nation­al parks are the pride of Ango­la. In total, there are 8 of them on the ter­ri­to­ry of the coun­try. Hunt­ing in these places is pro­hib­it­ed, but film­ing and pho­tog­ra­phy is allowed.

Quite tur­bu­lent rivers flow through the lands of Ango­la, so raft­ing is often orga­nized here. This is the right place for those who are used to active recre­ation. Or you can go on an ethno­graph­ic tour to get acquaint­ed with the dai­ly life and cul­ture of the natives.

Historical and architectural sights

Fort San Miguel

Near the city of Luan­da is Fort San Miguel. This his­tor­i­cal build­ing, found­ed by the Por­tuguese in the ear­ly 16th cen­tu­ry, per­formed secu­ri­ty func­tions. Here you will see the stone fig­ures of kings, which are installed at the very entrance and, like guards, mon­i­tor the order of the entrust­ed ter­ri­to­ry.

Pilgrimage places

Most of the inhab­i­tants of Ango­la are Chris­tians. Believ­ers rush here to bow to the holy places. The mag­nif­i­cent build­ing of the Cathe­dral of the Holy Sav­ior is locat­ed in the cap­i­tal of the coun­try — this is a mon­u­ment of the 17th cen­tu­ry, which is a nation­al trea­sure of the state. Also on the ter­ri­to­ry of the coun­try are Jesuit church­es of that time: the Tem­ple of the Carmelites and the Madon­na of Nazareth.

Museums in Angola

Museum of Anthropology

Here are col­lect­ed items relat­ed to the life of var­i­ous ethno­graph­ic groups liv­ing in the coun­try. The col­lec­tions will help to under­stand what tools were used, for exam­ple, by the Kikingo or Mbun­da tribes. You will also see rit­u­al masks and rit­u­al uten­sils in the expo­si­tion.

In total, the muse­um presents more than 6 thou­sand items. One of the exhi­bi­tions is tem­po­rary, that is, the exhibits are peri­od­i­cal­ly changed in accor­dance with the cho­sen theme.

Slavery Museum

Locat­ed in the build­ing of the for­mer tem­ple — a mon­u­ment of the 17th cen­tu­ry. In this church, slaves were bap­tized before being giv­en into the hands of a new own­er. The expo­si­tions tell about the devel­op­ment of slav­ery in the coun­try. The instru­ments of pun­ish­ment, dec­o­ra­tions and clothes of ser­vants are exhib­it­ed here. Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion is paid to the process of the slave trade.

Museum of Natural History

The most vis­it­ed place that chil­dren will def­i­nite­ly like. The muse­um presents species of plants grow­ing in dif­fer­ent parts of the state. The­mat­ic exhi­bi­tions and edu­ca­tion­al events for the youngest vis­i­tors are often orga­nized.

Museum of the Kings of the Congo

The expo­si­tions of this mini-muse­um are exhib­it­ed in a build­ing that used to be the res­i­dence of the rul­ing per­sons. The col­lec­tion includes per­son­al items and jew­el­ry of the mon­archs.

Ribash Museum

This is the only lit­er­ary muse­um in the coun­try ded­i­cat­ed to the work of O. Rib­ash. It is locat­ed in the house where the writer lived for sev­er­al years. The col­lec­tions will allow you to get acquaint­ed with how Rib­ash lived and worked, whose work is known far beyond the bor­ders of the coun­try.

In addi­tion to per­son­al belong­ings, vis­i­tors will also see exhibits that are not relat­ed to the work of the prose writer. For exam­ple, items that were used for inte­ri­or dec­o­ra­tion in the last cen­tu­ry are exhib­it­ed here.

Natural attractions of Angola

Mount Moko

Fans of pic­turesque views should def­i­nite­ly vis­it Mount Moko. It is locat­ed in the province of Huam­bo and is the high­est point in Ango­la. Moko ris­es to 2600 meters above sea lev­el, and numer­ous rep­tiles, insects and ani­mals live on its slopes. The author­i­ties have repeat­ed­ly tried to turn this zone into a reserved place. But attempts have so far been unsuc­cess­ful. Forests con­tin­ue to be cut down, there­by reduc­ing the num­ber of ani­mals.

Serra da Lebba

Ser­ra da Leb­ba con­nects the cap­i­tal of Ango­la with the Atlantic coast. This is a moun­tain range through which a ser­pen­tine road is laid. It was built by the Por­tuguese in the 70s of the last cen­tu­ry. There is an obser­va­tion deck with a stun­ning view of the sur­round­ings.

black stones

Not far from the town of Pun­go-Andon­go there is an amaz­ing place about which there are leg­ends and tra­di­tions. Here, pieces of solid­i­fied lava — Black Stones — are scat­tered through­out the ter­ri­to­ry. There is a belief that if you touch one of the boul­ders, then a per­son will cer­tain­ly expect a pros­per­ous, long life. There are also spe­cial “male” and “female” stones here that help in love.

Waterfalls of Angola

Ruacana

This water­fall is locat­ed on the bor­der with Namib­ia. From a height of 124 meters, squalls of water are rapid­ly falling down and rush­ing into the Kunene Riv­er. True, in dry years the riv­er dries up, and the water­fall no longer makes such an impres­sion.

Calandula

It is the sec­ond largest water­fall in the region. Its height is 105 meters, but its width is all 400. Calan­du­la is espe­cial­ly beau­ti­ful dur­ing the rainy sea­son. This is a very pop­u­lar place, so they even built a hotel near­by. But swim­ming is pro­hib­it­ed here — the risk of col­laps­es is too high.

Epupa

Like Ruakana is locat­ed on the bor­der with Namib­ia. The height of the water­fall reach­es 60 meters. This place is not so easy to get to, so it has retained its orig­i­nal beau­ty. Around grow fig trees, palm trees and cen­turies-old baob­a­bs. I can’t even believe that the sul­try desert is not far away.

Natural attractions and national parks

kisama

The largest pro­tect­ed area of ​​the state cov­ers an area of ​​900 thou­sand hectares and is locat­ed on the Atlantic coast. Rare ani­mals live here: red buf­faloes, warthogs, sirens. It is because of these rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the fau­na that many tourists come to Kisama.

Cameo

The ter­ri­to­ry was allo­cat­ed for hunt­ing back in the 30s of the last cen­tu­ry, but after some time the site was giv­en the sta­tus of a nation­al park. Cameo cov­ers an area of ​​about 15 thou­sand square kilo­me­ters. This is main­ly a wet­land with lakes that have been cho­sen as a habi­tat by marsh birds.

Namib Desert

Although this place is con­sid­ered one of the dri­est on Earth, flo­ra and fau­na are quite rich­ly rep­re­sent­ed here. Among the sand dunes, you can find striped zebras, oryx, ante­lope and oth­er artio­dactyls. An amaz­ing sight — desert ele­phants.

These giants can go with­out water for sev­er­al days and have incred­i­ble endurance. In addi­tion, a spe­cial plant, mirabilis, will grow in the sands. You will not see this green cen­te­nar­i­an on any con­ti­nent again. Sci­en­tists claim that the plant is able to live for more than 1000 years.

Sossusvlei area

A sep­a­rate attrac­tion of the Namib Desert is the Sos­susvlei area. Here, in the mid­dle of the sands, there are salt lakes, and near­by lies the Dead Val­ley. In the mid­dle of the red sands, the trunks of trees black­ened from the heat rush straight into the sky.

County of Bibala

Move away from the cap­i­tal for 150 km and get into the coun­ty of Bibala. This land is famous for its heal­ing springs. There are a myr­i­ad of min­er­al springs here. Peo­ple come here to drink the purest water and wash in the reju­ve­nat­ing springs.