The Cultural Explorer group tours south africa tourism
HOME SOUTH AFRICA • ANGOLA • BULGARIA • FUTURE TOURS
south africa tourism group tours
Who We Are • Travel Tips • Newsletter • Photo Gallery • Traveler Tales • Contact Us
South Africa Tourism Adventure Travel Group Tours
Angola

High Flying Adventure - Angola

November 11-26, 2007

Itinerary to be published on this trip in March 2007.

Please check back.

We are working on an exciting (and safe) itinerary now for a high-flying adventure in a private plane to Luanda as well as the remote provinces of  this exotic country.

This is difficult travel because Angola is not quite ready for tourism - but this is the perfect time to explore this undiscovered country.

For 27 years Angola has been engaged in a bitter civil war that ended in 2002. There has beenvirtually no tourism for many years –- and so for the adventurous, this is the perfect time to go.

Now on the verge of a boom – this country reminds us of the California must have been like in the Gold Rush era.


People from all over the world are seeking their fortunes by exploiting the natural resources; you are likely to run into Houston oil execs or rig workers from Britain, Scotland or China. You might meet diamond exporters from South Africa. Nightlife is colorful and vibrant. New hotels and high-end housing developments are going up all over Luanda, the capital city. The traffic is terrible. Yet, there are vast and unexplored parts of this country to discover –- the countryside is beautiful, the white-sand beaches sublime. In many provinces, tribal cultures still exist. The diamond mines are fascinating.

But, experiencing Angola is not for everyone – it is still a wild and somewhat

"dangerous" place. Anything goes. Travel is difficult and expensive.

But the good news  is that the hotels in Luanda are very nice, with fitness and business centers (they cater to the oil execs) and the food, while pricey, is very good.

The infrastructure for tourism is just now starting to develop. The government and the war-weary people of Angola are enthusiastic about the effect that tourism will have on their country and they are eager to welcome visitors.

This is a one-of-a-kind tour and those adventurous souls traveling with

The Cultural Explorer will see the real Angola first –- before anyone else.

Pat Walker, San Francisco

Phone: 415-387-1335

International cell: 415-994-0019

pat@theculturalexplorer.com

 

 
Recommended Reading
Angola: Promises and Lies
Karl Maier
Maier, a correspondent for The Independent and the Washington Post who began reporting on Angola in 1986, offers an explanation of the Angolan civil war for the rest of us. His engrossing chronological account lays out the nearly two decades of conflict that have ripped apart the southern African nation. An inability to resolve differences rooted in race, political ideology and tribal ethnicity has set contemporary Angola on a highway to hell instead of the road to prosperity that its vast reserves of natural resources promised. Maier notes with some irony that American oil companies have continued their drilling operations throughout the war. He also intelligently positions the conflict's historical import as one of the last battlegrounds for the combatants in the Cold War.
Angola: Anatomy of an Oil State
Tony Hodges
Tony Hodges worked in Angola for United Nations agencies from 1994 to 1998. This book alleges that Angola's culture of political patronage and cronyism, and a web of secret accounts ensures that the $4 billion of annual income derived from oil sales is never properly and publicly accounted for. He claims that if the natural resources were managed properly, Angola's economy would be among the most dynamic in the developing world.