Good Day – January 25th
What a place to wake up. Right on the beach. I just stepped out of the room and the whole beach was right there. The place is somewhat confined by two cliffs on either side, and where there is water, a river comes to the sea. It used to be a fishing place, a fishing company, and apparently they made use of the foundations from that.
The Story of Rui and Monica’s Mariquita
Rui and Monica got there in about 2008 and bought it in 2012. Well, purchasing meaning they got the right to be there — because you cannot own land in Angola, as far as I understand, certainly not on the sea within the first 500 meters. So they have the right to be there and build there, they pay a yearly fee, and then whatever buildings they build are assessed and reassessed every year. In the event they get chased away — because all of a sudden someone wants to make a harbor there or something — the government would have to buy them out. They own the corporation that owns the rights to the property, and they can only sell the corporation. So it’s all pretty fascinating.
How the Hotel Operates
There are 17 rooms for guests and room for 24 people who work there. It takes more staff than you’d think because you need people 24 hours a day, all month long. They have a season where they close from May through September — they say it’s too cold then and nobody would show up anyway. No guests, though the owners may still be there.
The personnel are all from Lubango and they work 30 days straight, then get six or seven days off. Transportation is provided for them to go back to Lubango, which is about a four-hour journey each way. They’ve been building and adding new things year after year since starting operations in 2014, and pretty soon realized they needed to make it all-inclusive because there’s simply no other place to get food nearby.
Fishing, Water, and Keeping the Lights On
They fish every day — setting out nets and picking them up the next day or a few hours later, depending. One of the nets is set right out front, partly to catch garbage that floats by so it doesn’t land on the beach. I did not go swim in the ocean. The beach is pretty steep and Rui said it basically takes the sand away at times and then deposits it again at others. Just let nature do its thing — it hasn’t put the place in harm’s way quite yet.
They have a 200,000 gallon water supply buffer tank and the water is boiled. They have to bring water in by truck from about 20 kilometers away — right now using a 4,000 liter truck since the usual 8,000 liter truck is unavailable, so they’re doing extra runs to keep capacity up. A generator runs 24 hours a day. All of that noisy equipment is at the first gate, so you can’t hear any of it from where you stay.
Design, Comfort, and the Challenges of Supply
The design and artwork were all done on site. They used old railroad ties for a lot of the construction. It’s really just an amazing place — absolutely amazing — and very comfortable. Everything works like a charm. There’s a sizable swimming pool about four or five feet deep, very comfortable for swimming, and another one they were cleaning. More places than one to sit, eat, and have drinks.
The supply chain is somewhat challenging. They have to make food runs every two or three days, and once every one or two weeks they have to go all the way to Luanda for other supplies. Getting parts to Angola turns out to be a major time-consuming issue. Equipment also doesn’t last long because of the salty air — some parts only last about a year. So they have to keep a lot of spare parts on hand and be prepared for just about anything.
Worth Every Kilometer to Get There
Most people come to spend the weekend. There is apparently a way to fly in, but then you still need about an hour and a half by car, and a big part of that is on unpaved road. The fish they catch is kept and frozen, then sold in town once a week. The nearest town is Namibe — named after Namibia but obviously in Angola, also known as Mossamedes.
I am so glad I stopped here. Very, very worth it. Thanks for coming along.
