WOW WOW WOW

I'm dead tired and have a lot to tell and show but you will have to wait a couple of days more untill I get a gap sorry.

Some small info.

We drove 7000km at an average of 45 km/h From pretoria and back according to the GPS.
The country is safe but only if you use a guide will talk about that later.
Angola is a must for any adventurer.
I have have never seen Africa so untouched and beautiful.
We had over 100km of shore line to ourselves no one else.

My geatest adventur ever.

Great news! Looking forward to the report. My uncle hunted both Angola & Mozambique when they were still Portuguese colonies in the late 60s & early 70s. jorge

I'm sure many of us are very interested to hear more when you get a chance.

Thanks,
Kyler

Can't wait to hear about it.............

A friend of mine hunted it when it was full of Cubans

quote:

Originally posted by Blair338/378:
Can't wait to hear about it.............

A friend of mine hunted it when it was full of Cubans

what was the trophy fee for a Cuban and could you smoke them or just hang their pelts on a wall?

quote:

what was the trophy fee for a Cuban and could you smoke them or just hang their pelts on a wall?

I resemble that remark! :0 jorge

Does anyone else think that this is a rightous thing to do..to put a teaser like that and no more ...I suppose we are in for a painful wait now.

SFC E7 (retired)

ps glad u had a great trip, can't wait to hear about it!

Safari-Hunt good to hear that you had a good time and made it safely back. Looking forward to your report.

quote:

Originally posted by SFC E7:
Does anyone else think that this is a rightous thing to do..to put a teaser like that and no more ...I suppose we are in for a painful wait now.

SFC E7 (retired)

ps glad u had a great trip, can't wait to hear about it!

BAD WAY TO DO IT, TO TEASE US LIKE THIS!

But to tease some more I can tell you that I spoke to Frederik on phone when they got back in Namibian cell phone coverage and he had some great stories.......

Hope it will be even harder for you to wait now........

Welcome back Frederick,

I look forward to seeing you next week, then we can go through those photo's, cold beer in hand......

Cheers

Charl

Welcome back Frederick

Ok here goes,

First of all if you want miore info on Angola the country itself just follow the link.
Angola Facts

Then I was hired to film a fishing DVD about Angola shore fishing with Henties bay Angling tours.
www.AnglingNamibia.com
Person to contact is Steven "Spyker" Kruger at
angling@iafrica.com.na

So I will first introduce the team that went along we were a total group of 10 people and 4 vehicles. All 4x4 1 mazda, toyota hilux, old cruiser vx and a new nissan Patrol.

First up the hosts Spyker and Marina Kruger. They own and operate Henties bay angling tours. They are based in Henties bay and Spyker as been doing tours in and out of Angola for the last 5 years so is quite an expert when it comes to Angola on what to do and not. They dont just specialise in fishing tours but 4x4 and scenic as well in Angola.



Next up Ricky Sham he's partnered with Spyker with the fishing DVD's



Ace, he was featured in their previous dvd.



Marco, was also featured in the previous DVD's.



Jaco, the owner of Bakgat Braais that sells wood and charcoal and Briquettes.



Captain, from Botswana keen fisherman and great cook.



Zahir, from Botswana keen fisherman and great cook as well. We had lovely hot food every day it was treat.



Johan, AKA "Ogies" also a very keen Fisherman from Namibia.



And Finally you all know this guy. Me



Ok, so finally the journey starts. We started off on our way from Henties Bay. And headed up north to Ruacana Border post. This was going to be the last time we see Civilization for over a week. Finally after a long drive and going past the western Border of Etosha we were at the Ruacana Border post Namimbian side. These guys at the border have all the time in the world and they double-checked and rechecked the vehicles and after an hour we headed to our next stop the Ruacana border Angola side. Now the guys at the border post hate it when you take photos so unfortunately no photos. But imagine this, no-one in uniform music blaring out loud from the border post controller’s car in front of the office and a very laid back look.

Whatever you do, if you can fill in the forms yourself do it. They write at the speed of rain in the Namib dessert. Then when he feels overworked after filling in the forms for two of us the guy gets up walks up to a deep freeze pulls out a beer has a couple of sips and then return to us. No jokes wish I could have filmed or photographed it.
Anyway so our passports are stamped and then we wait for another guy to check the vehicles and we wait. Now this is the predicament it's hot and we are thirsty especially after seeing this guy guzzling down ice-cold Windhoek’s in front of me. So if we go and get some of our drinks, water cool drinks or beer we will have to share with these guys so rather than sharing we stay thirsty and finally after 2 hours we are off.

We drive for about 15 minutes and I mean this is a national road two track roads on most SA farms look better. We stop and have a drink before we head off.



Check in the background you can see the Cunene dam in the background. So these are the rules all vehicles drive with lights on as it's easier to spot the guy behind you. No aircon as the cars are running high revs at low gears all the time and we need to make haste as we need to set up a fly camp in a dry river bed 100km inland.

On our way 45 km inland we head into the town of Chitado you can see the war remains with bullet holes in the walls but the people are smiling and where ever possible an Angolan flag is flown proudly.




We head out of town and into the Mopane bush and come some more people all of them asking for sweets. They don’t need money as they cannot go to a shop because they aren’t any close by. They don’t speak English or Portuguese as well. I think they are called the Ovambus.




After 4 1/2 hours on the road we call it quits and ended up in a nice dry riverbed where we setup camp. The stars were amazing and counting them I quickly fell asleep. This is the photo of the riverbed the next morning.



That’s it for the first installment.

Ok so after a good nights sleep we get up at 6am with the sun beetles beginning to sing already, telling us that we can expect a very hot day again. Have a look at the dry river-bed it made for a very comfortable and safe sleep. No mozzys so far.



At 7:30 we are packed up and ready to go no one except Spyker knew how far we still had to go the road wasn’t so bad this far so we didn’t expect it to get worse but it did. When traveling to Foz de Cunene you need to pack everything you need into the car a trailer will not make the journey and if it does it won’t be the same after the trip. You need to have enough fuel for at least 1200 km and driving in 4x4 and low range trough some rough spots it guzzles up fuel in no time. Long range fuel tanks is very handy.



2 Spare wheels per vehicle is needed as some of the rocks you go over as some sharp edges and wheels with strong sidewalls is recommended. For the whole trip we lost one tire only. One slow puncture and one tire that will need replacement when back home have a look at what the sharp rocks are doing to the tires.



Here are a couple of pictures of the tracks we were driving. For the 4x4 enthusiast and the person who would like to test his vehicle this would be a great adventure. A GPS is a must loaded with Tracks for Africa, which shows routes and path that previous people as driven and uploaded. You can download updates from the net the GPS used was a Garmin Quest and Quest 2.












Along the way we came upon 3 Himba’s a nomadic tribe that still strictly live according to their culture. Except that the men mostly wear a T-shirt of some sort. The men always carry a machete and a stick not sure what the stick is for but I think it’s for herding the animals. Have a look at the shoes as well that they make looks good for use in the bush.



Before I forget since I was busy with the video camera most of the time a lot of the pictures were taken by Marina. I still have 6 rolls of film, which I will get developed. The Himba women except for the shoes almost never, wear anything western. The reddish colour they have on their skin comes from a mixture of red mud and cow fat, which they also use to braid their hair with. The mixture protects their skins and from what I have seen on older Himba women it surely does work for the harsh sun. But it has one disadvantage it smells imagine a mixture of mud, fat and some sweat and you can get the idea. Obviously they are use to the smell.



Other interesting trait’s are that a married women, wears a head ornament while the unmarried girls let it hang from their hair. Have a look at the mud mixture in the hair and then the other strange trait is filling their two front teeth in an upside down “V†shape.



I suppose that cannot be fun to do. Also have a look at the jewelry around their necks it is lead and heavy with copper covering the lead. Also the shell and it is a specific shell is only found at the coast so sometime or the other they must cross the desert trough the skeleton coast to find such a shell. I’m not sure if it means anything but a lot of them where wearing them. The men, also wears head gear and I’m also not sure if that means anything.







Have a look on how they move their belongings on the donkey, both the the chicken and the small goat is alive and didn't make a sound trough the whole time we were with them.



They were very shy at first but after giving them some sweets and cookies they were more relaxed. I tried to get a photo standing next to them but that took sometime. I got an idea and tried something else. On my video camera I flipped the screen completely so that the person who is filmed can see himself. They enjoyed that very much and that got them so relaxed that the married girl signaled that I could stand next to her for a photo. After that they were much more relaxed. Check out Jaco, does he look like a happy man ????



The guys were in a hurry to get to Foz de Cunene and after we spent ½ hour or so with the Himba’s they told us not to stop for anymore, nonsense I guess they had fishing fever. And so we moved on, slowly the scenery started to change getting more rugged rocky and dry as we moved closer to mountains. Interesting plants started to come up and unfortunately we couldn’t stop for a lot of it. Here are some pics of a few.

Camiphora I think they are called in Afrikaans “Kanniedoodâ€





In Afrikaans this green bushes that look like grass are called “Melkbosâ€



The rest of them I don’t have names for.







This lizard was next to the vehicle and didn’t move an inch with all 4 vehicles passing him at less than a foot. He was about 10†long to give you an idea of his size.



Well that is it for update 2.
Next one we will enter the Iona National Park to give you an idea on travel time this update 2 was from 7:30 am until 5pm and we traveled 180 km.

Very, very interesting indeed!

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

Great pictures and narration!

Thanks for sharing your adventure, looking forward to the next installment.

That was a fun and fast read. Look forward to the next segment.

Great adventure Frederik, I hope you invite me the next time.

It looks awsome, just missing the picture with you and the girls.


Lets see some soon

A Great Adventure! thanks for sharing.

Fantastic. Thanks

Very well written and informative. Looking forward to the next installment.
Bill

Nicely done. I'm very interested to see what kind of species you catch on the coast.

That's a great start. Very interesting. Thanks

What a great adventure! I would have loved to have been with you.

Please take pity on those of us with dial-up modems and start a new file so we won't have to wait for these great photos to open again, though.

Can't wait to see the next installment.

Bill Quimby

Very, very good.


L

Frederik (AKA - Safari-Hunt) ..

Will we able to get hold of a (copy of your DVD) of the trip at all !!! If so what are the options and/or conditions applicable to get a copy !!

Cheers, Peter (consultant)
Balla-Balla Safaris / out of Limpopo Province

by looking at my watch i think it is 1:30am your time. Your wasting time sleeping. Getout of bed and post more info. WE WANT MORE!

This is an adventure. With the writers strike here in US, you ought to sell your video to some network as a travelogue. Please hurry the next installment. Better than 48 hours! Kudude

Bill,

I'm sorry that you have a slow connection but if I resize the pics to be even smaller you will not get the same quality and effect.
All you have to do is hide the posts that you seen so far. Right top corner there is a link that says hide post and then you don't have to download all the photos time upon time but only see the new posts. I'm sure that will help with all your future checks on posts as well.

Peter,

I will have to talk to the people who hired me first if they don't mind me compiling a dvd of the adventure not just the fishing. Otherwise I will have a few clips that I will post as soon as I have the footage in my hands.
Otherwise you will be able to buy the commercial fishing DVD's when they come out but I will keep you posted.

As we finally hit Parque National do Iona we leave the rugged mountains behind and get to drive between them.



What a pleasure we can go up to 4th gear. Everyone is so Psyched up and is, pushing to see how fast we can go. I cannot believe it we hit 74km/h according to the GPS. What lay’s in front of us of something no-one, could have imagined plains and plains and more plains. I have footage of it but not so many photos. I will get the footage together and put something together as soon as I get it, Trust me I want you to be in that seat as well. The scenery is so majestic that I wish I could glue the camera to the top of the roof and just keep it running. With some good music in the background and the scenery going past I get goose bumps. Damn, I get them again just thinking of it! God is, and will always be the greatest artist and I marvel at his creations. I feel like I’m in a lost world a new Africa and except for the little two track road I’m sure that nothing has changed of this scenery in thousands upon thousands of years. Yes the animals may have moved but since we were going trough there before the rain they might have just moved to better and greener fields.


Velvitias.


Female Velvitias Flower


Male Velvitia Flower


Check the Velvitias they are the flat big plants growing on the ground.



The plains are dotted with springbuck and big bustard’s they are a bit smaller than Kori bustards but they get together in groups up to 6 members. I am fascinated to see new species. The springbuck are tame and they usually run off when we get closer than 100 yards from them. The Mopane also just vanished as soon as we hit the plains and they are, replaced by acacia’s. The closest comparison I have seen Africa looking like this is Masailand, the bit I’ve seen on TV or DVD. Then we hit a sea of Velvitias (Not sure of the spelling) the oldest living plant known to man. Someone said that in Angola you could find them over 5000 years olds and I’m sure that if you see their numbers the granddaddy of Velvitias will be found in Angola.

Then as suddenly as the plains started as sudden it stops and the dessert starts again towards the coast. This country is made of absolute contrast and without warning it just changes. On that border between the plains and the desert an old, Portuguese hunting camp was built with two Chalets a main building and a water pit and slaughtering facilities. The change is so sudden that if he looks out his backdoor he would see desert and from the front the plains. I have some video footage of it, whatever I don’t have in photos of the trip I have on video. The following pictures of gemsbuck was, captured from his backdoor. Compare that to the picture of the plains and Velvitias.


Check out the horns on those gemsbuck! Some of them are beauties.

As the sun was setting again we passed a sign that said we are leaving the Park. There’s no fences around the park and it doesn’t seem that poaching is a problem with the game being quite tame except for the gemsbuck. Neither did we see another soul trough our solid drive trough the park of over an hour and a half at roughly 60km/h average. Apparently Angola has more land set aside than even Namibia as reserves and I can believe it, the country is huge and mostly untouched. The darker it gets the tougher we start to go again as we hit dunes and struggle to stay on the paths as they are blown away the whole time by the wind. That is where the GPS came into place again keeping us on track trough the whole way.

Damn, did we get exited when we saw distant light and I mean distant the light looked like it was a few kilometers away but it took us another 45 minutes to finally stop at our destination Foz de Cunene. And the light wasn't from the buildings but from beacons for ships to sginal in which waters they were either namibia or Angola. Foz was an old border post that was run across the river by pontoons, now it's a small dessert town. There was a huge water pump station that pumped fresh water up the north up the coast to a fishing Factory 60 km away as well. The six policemen stationed there are left to their own accord with a supply truck coming in every 3 months. We arrived 3 days after the truck was there so morale was high with them. It is totally safe and as we unpack our bear necessities we hit the sack after midnight. From leaving the border post Ruacana 5:30pm the previous day until we hit Foz de Cunene at 11pm the next day I add up 19 hours of physical driving for the 400 km stretch.

Here are some pictures of Foz de Cunene the next morning when we wake up. Oh by the way we are running 1 hour ahead of Angola time in SA. So when waking up at 7am SA time it is still quite dark.








Two shots of our sleeping quarters from outside.



I will see if I can get part 4 up tonight when we start the fishing.

Amazing and the people of the country very striking.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:

quote:

Originally posted by Blair338/378:
Can't wait to hear about it.............

A friend of mine hunted it when it was full of Cubans

what was the trophy fee for a Cuban and could you smoke them or just hang their pelts on a wall?

He was "smoking" them alright!

Great photos and story, Frederik. Thanks mate.

great post - thank you for sharing

This is one of the best posts that I have read in sometime.

Thank you

Ok so now we are finally here and we are here to fish. The guys get everything ready gear rods and what we will need for the day. Rather than come back for lunch even though the shore is only 7km it takes 30 odd minutes to cover the distances we pack food for lunch. So finally we are off to do some fishing and after the long trip it sure is a nice change.






A springbuck in the middle of nowhere, the springbuck and gemsbuck come closer to the coast for the salt.

The 7km track to the surf is sure something else, if ever you would like to re in act the moon landings this is the spot. In the early 80’s or late 70’s I think a mirage supposedly shot down a UFO well I can bet you that if the aliens landed anywhere close by they decided to vacate this useless spot anyway as the moon looked more inviting.




Driving on the Moon.







First up we head to the Cunene river mouth and Marco was the lucky one to catch the first of many fish on drop-shot or spoon. A small Gerrick a lot of fun on light tackle and small rod. Next up was Zahir and from then on everybody joined the fun except me. I was filming footage first fun later.









After a lot of fun with the Gerrick we moved to the surf for some Cob and Spyker as the pro he is, hooked the first one on an Ashley Read spoon. Everybody started to hit the Cob on spoon or drop-shot.


Spyker and the first Cob on spoon


Ricky next


Marina and her first drop-shot cob.



After filming a lot of Cob being caught I got a chance myself to have a go. Unfortunately the cob stayed on the small size but we kept hoping for bigger ones. Remember I have never been able to catch a saltwater fish before.


My first saltwater fish on the way, Yahoo !!!!!


There he is my first ever saltwater fish!


The happy team, have a look at my trousers and how the wind is blowing.
Fishing junkies all of them I tell yah !

We had a lot of fun and must have caught 40+ cob in less than 2 hours. But all things need to end and we headed back home over the moon again some more landscape to enjoy.



Part 5 on its way enjoy!

Great pictures Frederik, keep them coming.

Part 5 is more photos than text.
We were hoping to hook some bigger cob but it seemed that the sea wasn't playing along so we drove a bit up north the coast to see if we could find better spots. Well this is what happened.


First up the leading scorer on the fishing of the previous day. He was awarded a nice pink hat that could keep the sun at bay. I can already imagine myself Walter fighting over the rights to wear that hat.


Jaco with a better sized Gerrick still on light tackle.


Marco the leading scorer just had to prove a point. "I love that hat and will keep it!"
A Spotted Gulley shark.




Ricky with another new specie for me to see a spotted grunter.


Jackal's as tame as lambs or shall it be the other way around ?????
Seriously I'm sure some of the jackal we saw has never seen humans before. They came closer very inquisitive. At night they would steal some of our fish between the vehicles.


Zahir with a nice Spotted Gulley shark as well.


Hmmm ! Whats cooking the most delicious fresh fish on earth, on special and for free all you need to do is to get these two at the coast and catch some cob what a bargain.



More fish photos.








Me and my first Gerrick. Small but it counts as a specie.


Oh, don't worry it's only quicksand Mom!





Seriously this shows some of the dangers going to Angola. You could have driven close with your vehicle and it would sink. And without proper gear or other vehicles there is no way that you would get the vehicle out.

Well another hard working day in Angola to a end, tomorow we travel up north to Bias dos Tigres. Enjoy.

MORE! MORE! BRAVO!

Those sharks didn't look too happy.

Namibiahunter

Namibiahunter,

Except for cartoons I haven't seen any happy sharks

Just joking anyway I forgot to add that all the spotted gulley sharks and bronze whaler sharks caught were tagged and released. Spyker and Marina as been tagging for a while now and it is very interesting what data is coming back from recaptured sharks. Especially on how they travel and move.

Unfortunately not all the fish are tagged as it will be useless to tag a specie if there is no scientific program running on them.

quote:

Originally posted by Blair338/378:
Can't wait to hear about it.............

A friend of mine hunted it when it was full of Cubans

So did a few of mine...

and a few East Germans, also...

I was there several times during the war. Was in Luanda when the Berlin wall fell. All I saw was misery. I'm glad the place is beginning to get sorted out.