Good Day – January 26th
Leaving Zoom’s Lodge — and you had a little bit to go. It’s probably called Humpata, just before Lubango. When I got closer to Lubango there was an overlook where you could look at the city. That was good to see. Angola feels very good as far as what you see in terms of maintenance — it’s way ahead of other countries that I had come through.
The Road Toward Ondjiva
Then it was a matter of going towards Ondjiva, where I intended to stay the night just before the border. To get there, I encountered a lot of cattle crossing. It’s not all that dry — it’s green enough, so that’s why there is cattle around. There was also a recent accident involving a little minibus that looked like it had probably happened in the last hour or two. I couldn’t tell if anybody got hurt. I left those situations to the people that know what to do with them.
The road itself is pretty good, but you still cannot count on smooth sailing. Once in a while there is a huge pothole that takes up the whole road and if you don’t notice it in time you could do a lot of damage. Taking it easy is the key. I really enjoyed this ride today.
The Aqua Verde Hotel in Ondjiva
When I got to Ondjiva I was looking for the Aqua Verde Hotel. There wasn’t too much accommodation between Lubango and Ondjiva, but it all worked out. It was an okay place to stay — pretty big — but what made it really interesting was the people I encountered there.
Meeting the World Bank Crew
Some of the guests were working for the World Bank, and it turned out to be a whole crew of people together the next morning as well, with some good conversations. The World Bank is supporting and financing — with the help of certain institutions — another power line. That power line involves 500 towers. They had a gathering with some of the contractors involved along with the World Bank people, who oversee a lot of it and bring knowledge about what’s going on.
That goes as far as damage control, as well as compensation for people that use or have rights to the land. You can’t really own land here — you pay concessions every year, so you’re essentially borrowing it. But even if you don’t own it, if you get impacted in any way by them building a tower and running lines, you get compensation. The World Bank has people in place to make all of that go smoothly. It’s very time consuming, but they’re well ahead on it.
The Railroad to Zambia – A Track Width Problem
I also got to know more about the railroad that goes to Zambia. The Angolan side is all finished. One of the issues is that the tracks in Zambia, as I understand it, are of a different width. So when you get trains from Zambia going to Angola, they need to get a new set of wheels at the border. Sometimes it helps to think ahead about those things, but there must have been reasons for it.
Fascinating world. Thanks for coming along.
