Angola – my 81^st country – is about twice the size of Texas. It is the second largest Portuguese speaking country after Brazil.

The Portuguese arrived in the 15^th century and began colonizing the coast in 1575. Initially they exported copper, ivory, salt, palm cloth and hides. But when sugar plantations in their other colonies needed workers, slave trading first became the primary economy and eventually the sole economic sector. When the slave trade was abolished in 1836, their economy crashed. Today their primary economy depends on offshore oil drilling and diamonds

Angola had a War of Independence from 1961-1974 then a Civil War from 1975-2002. Since then, their economic growth has been uneven. Their life expectancy is among the lowest in Africa and infant mortality among the highest.

We spent the day in Namibe, Angola – though technically since 2016 the official name for this city is Moҫômedes. The name Namibe comes from being on the northern edge of the Namibian desert. We were greeted by this dance troupe on the dock.

I guess it was a good thing I was filming from this side. A friend was on the other side and the ladies who had their backs to me were topless. When my friend tried to post a picture on Facebook, she was put in "Facebook Jail" for posting obscene photos.

This part of the northern Namib desert is famous for a really weird plant – Welwitschia mirabilis. So our first stop was to wander among these plants.

The Welwitschia is a gymnosperm. It grows extremely slow, and each plant can be over 1,000 to 2,000 years old. There are female and male plants and it depends on insects to pollinate it. Here are the female cones

and the male strobili.

The long leaves grow around a woody crown. They can grow to 13-26 feet in diameter but only get a few feet tall above the ground.

We next went to The Arch at the Lost Oasis. Driving there looked just like driving through the desert of Nevada.

When we arrived in the small village, they were singing and dancing for us.

The Lost Oasis was described as a “beautiful lagoon – a unique oasis with vivid green aquatic plants and abundant water life and birdlife, particularly the beautiful and elegant flamingos”. So, besides my camera with a wide-angle lens, I hauled my camera with the long telephoto lens. It was a hot trail with many ups and downs. Thank goodness I had also brought my hiking pole! As you can see – no water, no birds – grrrr. Just some cows.

The Arch was interesting.

Then a hot, challenging (for me) hike back to the village.

We returned to town and made a few stops. The first was a church – Igreja Catolica Santo Adriao which was begun in 1849.

We could see our ship across the harbor with lots of small fishing boats too.

We walked by the Palacio do Governo Namibe (Government Palace) built 1857-1889.

And the Tribunal da Comarca – a Courthouse.

We walked to the Fortaleza de Sao Fernando where we got nice views of the coast and city.

Finally got back to the ship at 2 pm for lunch – we were hungry!! It was a nice welcome home.

Today was a nice calm and restful day at sea. Tomorrow Luanda, the capital of Angola.