​Dag 9: Lubango na Lobito

​​(English translation below)

Dag 9: Lubango na Lobito
 
'n Lang, warm dag. Ons moes eintlik gerus het vandag. In Lubango het ons eers die berg opgery tot by die reuse Jesus-standbeeld wat oor die stad waak. Hulle sê Lubango is die Kaap sonder 'n see. Dis seker waar, maar een nag op 'n plek is te min om werklik enige opinie te vorm.
 
Nadat ons voorrade by Shoprite gekoop en die klein zoemende motorfietsies (soms met drie mense op, soms 'n paar varke of hoenders, 'n deurkosyn, 'n sak meel, 'n rol sinkplaat) trotseer het, vat ons die pad Benguela toe. 'n Pad met reuse slaggate wat jou soms eerste-rat toe dwing net om deur die goed te kom.
 
Ná omtrent drie ure in die saal moet ons rus. Dis warm. Ons lywe is seer. Afrika is 'n groot stuk aarde en mens ry nie hoofweg nie (al ís dit die hoofweg). De Witt sien 'n boom langs die pad en ons trek af, maak ons kampstoeltjies los, en sit omtrent 'n uur en rus, eet droëwors en hot-cross-buns en drink baie water. 'n Klossie kindertjies met groot wit oë staan op 'n afstand en loer. Nuuskierig oor hierdie twee vreemdes se manier van wees hier onder húlle boom. Die nuuskierigheid is só groot mens kan skaars piepie, want draai jy jou rug skuifel die toeskouertjies na regs om te kan sién.
 
Hoe nader ons aan die kus beweeg, hoe meer verander die landskap. Wat eers karoo-veld was, word stadigaan kremetartboom-wêreld, en later tipiese Kaapse weskus-fynbos. Die oorbewyding laat dit kaal en wit lyk.
 
Ons stop om ons petrolsakke vol te maak want mens weet nie wanneer mens weer petrol kry nie. Dit word donker op die pad tussen Benguala en Lobito. Ons moenie weer in die donker ry nie. Nege ure op die pad gewees vandag.
 
Die kampplek wat ons aanbeveel is, is reg op die partytjiestrand van Lobito. Dit pomp! En die parkeerplek vir die motorfietse is reg in die wemelende straat. So ons gooi ons lywe soos moeë sakke mieliemeel oor die saals, en kruie tussen die zoemponies deur na die naaste hotel.
 
Betaal, afpak, stort, eet, slaap.
 
Môre sal ons die see kan sien. Ons is aan die Weskus van Afrika.
 
 
 
Day 9: Lubango to Lobito
 
A long, hot day. We should have rested today. In Lubango, we first drove up the mountain to the giant Jesus statue that watches over the city. They say Lubango is the Cape without a sea. That's probably true, but one night in a place is too short to really form any opinion.
 
After buying supplies at Shoprite and braving the little buzzing motorbikes (sometimes with three people on them, sometimes a couple of pigs or chickens, a door frame, a bag of cornmeal, a roll of corrugated iron), we hit the road to Benguela. A road with giant potholes that sometimes force you into first gear just to get through.
 
After about three hours in the saddle, we had to rest. It's hot. Our bodies hurt. Africa is a big piece of earth and you don't drive at highway speeds (even if it ís the highway). De Witt saw a tree by the side of the road and we pulled over, untied our camping chairs, and sat and rested for about an hour, eating droëwors (dry sausage) and hot-cross buns and drinking lots of water. A bunch of little children, with big white eyes, stood at a distance and peered. Curious about these two strangers' way of being here under their tree. The curiosity was so strong that you could barely pee, because if you turned your back, the spectators shuffled to the right to séé.
 
The closer we moved to the coast, the more the landscape changed. What was once Karoo veld slowly filled with baobabs, and later became typical Cape west coast fynbos. Bare and white from over-grazing.
 
We stopped to fill our gasoline bags, because you never know when you will get gasoline again. It was getting dark on the road between Benguela and Lobito. We mustn't drive in the dark again. Been on the road for nine hours today.
 
The campsite that had been recommended to us, was right on the party beach of Lobito. It pumped! But the motorbikes had to be parked right on the teeming street. So we threw our bodies like tired sacks of cornmeal over the saddles, and slogged among the zooming ponies to the nearest hotel.
 
Pay, unpack, shower, eat, sleep.
 
Tomorrow we will be able to see the sea. We are on the West Coast of Africa.

​https://www.backabuddy.co.za/expedition-h2o-back-to-basics