A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond. - Oliver Goldsmith

1 June 2019, Lobito to Canjala, 80,9km
Kakuty Lodge 4,000Kz (R178)

We were so grateful, just before full dark, to come across the Kakuty Lodge about 4km shy of Canjala. Although we could see several rondavels from the gate (actually oval in shape … ovaldavels?), the security guard seemed reluctant to let us in and accommodate us. He could see we were tired, however, and went off to call someone with more authority. With some difficulty, the second gentleman explained that there was no electricity on site; we showed him our torch and he relented and let us in, bringing us water from a well or river for a bucket bath and loo flushing. The rondavel was sizeable, with kitchen, bathroom and living space. We managed to bathe, and prepare a simple pasta meal, before crawling into our beds.
Getting through the spit-side of Lobito was easy; after that our day was long and hard. At a circle, we began our climb out of town and into the eastern hills. Began it up a 10 percent climb on a narrow, dusty, busy, potholed road. A road that climbed through poverty-stricken suburbs, and as it climbed we found ourselves enclosed by high ground with the tan houses perched above us, residents on occasion tipping a basin of dirty water down the cliffside and into the road. In truth, it wasn’t a long climb, though it seemed so, with another climb shortly after, and then a third, less steep or fraught.
We climbed and dipped for the rest of the day, in hot and humid weather, growing increasingly tired. Initially the scenery was dull, then pretty. Hilly, with long green grasses lining the road on occasion, leafless baobabs distinct against blue sky, and wonderful euphorbias, tall as trees, growing in small forests in deep valleys.
We took our breaks, once in the shade of a security hut, the occupants of which brought us chairs to sit on. And once we had “sopa” - bean and meat soup, standard Angolan fare, filling and cheap, at a garage.
Somewhere along our route, we encountered several kms of roadworks, with a really rough detour, rocky, and covered in a deep, talcum-fine dust. We began to cycle the detour, eating the dust of passing vehicles, but Charl directed us onto the road-in-progress section, which we cycled instead. After awhile we came across a group of road-workers, who simply waved us on, and later, many times, thorn branches laid across the new road to prevent people using it. These we moved aside to pass on…
Around 18km before Canjala we considered calling it a day and finding somewhere to camp, but decided to push on, racing the setting sun, in the hopes of finding a bed, and were glad to have done so.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…