For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return - Leonardo da Vinci

17 May 2019, Shebemba to Chibia, 85,9km
Pensão Dias & Filhos 8,500Kz (R379)

We had read in a cycle blog about how often the author had been stopped by the police in Angola, his papers demanded, his panniers searched. He travelled the backroads, while essentially we are sticking to paved roads, and perhaps this makes a difference, who knows. Although we have seen several police roadblocks, quite often on the outskirts of towns, we have yet to be stopped at one. Charl is a great believer in not assisting authority figures by, for example, stopping simply because they are there. I am anxious about annoying authority figures who carry guns. Between us we have developed a methodology that may be entirely unnecessary, but which works for us. We slow down, acknowledging the roadblock; we smile and call out a greeting; we shout “Luanda” with a forward-waving hand; and in answer to whatever is said in return, which mainly we cannot understand, we answer “Africa du Sul”. What do we get in return? Smiles and hellos and warmth and curiosity. Only once has a cop gestured for Charl to stop where several vehicles were being inspected. As he began to slow, the cop made a grandiose gesture waving him on instead, which elicited laughter from the patiently-waiting drivers.
We dropped to a lower elevation north of Shebemba, the trees coloured autumn, though the heat still that of summer. Outside one small village, men sat under an enormous ficus tree and the shopkeeper who sold us soft drinks there had worked in Windhoek, like many other Angolans, and spoke Afrikaans. In another village, we strolled the dusty market, rough stalls separated by a rocky path. We bought fried dough (“vetkoek”), which was stale and inedible; and barbecued chicken, which, though nicely flavoured with lemon pepper, was … er … muscular, but hit the spot for hungry cyclists.
We saw bare-breasted women, and boys fishing rivers and waterholes, and fields of yellow sunflowers.
In Chibia, the first accommodation option we came to was Lodge Obama. We could not clearly understand why, but the young woman there would not or could not accommodate us. She accompanied us back onto the road where she waved down an autocycle taxi, gestured that we should pay him something, and asked him to guide us the the only other accommodation in town. And so we found ourselves in Pensão Dias & Filhos, a green and yellow Portuguese era building with the tallest palm tree ever in its courtyard garden.

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