Trip to Kissama

This was our first trip beyond "the boundaries"! And it went easier than expected. On Friday afternoon our family was just put on a security list with our friends and that’s it! At least that’s how it was communicated to me. On Sunday morning we drove South without any major problems. I only wish our driver would have improved his drive style finally! I heard and read already many stories and saw lot of pictures of the Kissama National Park! Of course I wished I could experience it myself. After about an hour we finally reached the Kwanza River Bridge.

Maarten’s friend was riding in our car and pointed to the wreck of an abandoned tank. A Russian tank, said Bernardo, remnant of the civil war. After the bridge we turned into the Kissama Park itself.

The guard didn’t want to let us through without giving him a bribe but unfortunately for him, after a phone call with the Kawa Camp, the park’s main camp where we intended to go on a guided tour, he just had to let us go.

This park is immense with its 12,000 ha! We traveled another 40 kms on sand tracks before we reached the main camp.

We had to go through another gate to enter the area protected with the two-meter electrified fences.

Here we had to pay the entrance fee. It seemed we drove for ages, the boys were getting impatient. I had to think about this place's recent history. Almost all the wild animals here were killed during the war by landmines or poachers. I can understand that the hunger forced the local people to do so but many animals were hunted down and slaughtered by the military just for fun.

Luckily a programme, known as Operation Noah's Ark, was started to repopulate the park. We were warned it’s not easy to see many animals in Kissama and many people complain about that, but we came mainly for the nature and wilderness just to escape the urban chaos and it delivered.

Already arriving at the Kawa Camp was so relaxing. There were many monkeys playing and fighting.

The view over the Kwanza river from the deck.

We got onto the old (war?) truck ready for the guided tour.

Remaining seated and avoiding swipes from the thorny branches hitting us in the face was almost impossible.

But that was part of the adventure. Unfortunately, at one certain bouncy moment I hit my shoulder very badly and at the same moment I noticed Maarten is crying hiding his face.

When I hurt my shoulder Maarten hit his face on the bench in front of him and had bitten his upper lip. I was trying to clean the blood and he whispered that he hates all safaris.

The terrain and vegetation in the park varies from highlands with dense thicket to tree savanna

and large open grasslands close to the river where you can sometimes spot the elephants. We weren't that lucky today.

His lip got pretty swollen but he forgot this painful experience very quickly. Our friends suggested having lunch "at the Golf". I had no idea what was it about but was nicely surprised, or rather overwhelmed by the beauty of this place.

We had a lovely afternoon in an amazing setting, nice food, children playing at the pool but still... I couldn’t help but think about the immense contrasts between the lives of a rich and poor Angolans.

I would never expect something like this here.