Angola, M'Banzo Kongo

We headed south east from Matadi to M'Banzo Kongo. Again my expectations were not met as I thought that this would be jungle but it was in fact savannah lithesome open areas of grass and rolling countryside.

M'Banzo Kongo was the capital of the kings who ruled over Kongo before the Portuguese arrived. The building where the king presided over his people seen below was built in the nineteenth century. Now it is a museum.

This was here the kings bof=dy was ceremonially washed.

This is the judgment tree. People found guilty and sentenced to be hung were hung here opposite the king's residence.

The ruins of the cathedral in M'Banzo Kongo, built in the 16th century.

A detail of one one of the windows.

The cathedral is situated just opposite the king's residence and it is where several of the kings are buried.

The only more recent sight to be seen in the town of any cultural to historical interest is the monument to the fallen during the liberation of Angola. The inscription is necessarily vague as it does not specify any particular side, the colonial troops, the independence fighters or which of the factions who fought during the civil war following independence but the Marxist star of the MPLA (the Marxist biased Movement for the Liberation of Angola) dominates the top of the memorial.

Then it was a transfer to N'Zeta through more empty savannah. 

 And a bush camp on beach and a chance to have a swim on a deserted beach.
                                      
 The sun reflected off the sea a short while before sunset.

 Next we headed down the coast to Luanda. Suddenly the roads improved, there were dual carriageways, shiny new clean cars, traffic jams, pollution and a lot of congestion and people. We didn't stay long as the prices are steep and accommodation unbelievably expensive. We headed south for a bush camp at a scenic spot with fascinating cliff formations overlooking the sea.

 And they were extensive and stretched for miles in both directions.

 And another beautiful sun set.

It was here that I was sleeping in my pop up tent, basically a fine mesh to keep insects out but allow the cool night air to circulate when it rained during the night. Other people had put up their main tent but I had chanced it, thinking that it wouldn't rain. I was very wrong.

As the rain fell through the mesh, I packed it away and dragged my Thermorest and sleeping sheet under the truck and went to sleep there for the rest of the night.