Oil wealth has positioned this African Nation to “play” on the big world stage. While struggling with poverty, corruption and high unemployment, they are now engaged with China, the United States and Europe in trade and in improving their infrastructure. Years of civil war have held back their pursuit even after they gained independence from Portugual.

What I noticed, without verification by experts, was how the Chinese impact in Angola benefitted the locals but not as much as it benefitted them. Infrastucture such as new roads, a new airport and other new buildings after their wars was mostly provided by Chinese “loans” and labor. Oil revenues were used as collateral. Interesting to me was how the local communities did not benefit as much as one might expect when these projects were erected. China brought in its own workers, put them up in their housing and encouraged them to eat in their restaurants. As one might imagine these loans often benefitted the elite and not the general populace.

Our local tour guide took us to the following sites: The Fortaleza De Sao Miguel, a Portuguese fortress that protected the town but today it holds the Museum of the Armed Forces. Another stop was a cathredral famous for its architectural style and nearby the Memorial of Agostinho Neto, who led the war for independence. While these all reflected the new wealth the National Museum of Slavery is a modest display housed at the property of the largest slave-trader on the African coast. Our day ended at the Miradouro Da Lua (viewpoint of the moon)where we took in the interesting rock formations in the huge canyon and were to eat lunch here. However, there was a recent outbreak of cholera, so all consumption of food and drink was wisely discouraged. I was upset with myself that I forgot to bring bottled water from the ship as it was a long and very hot day!

The second port in Angola where my ship stopped was in Namibe. Here they are developing tourism supported by their mineral exports. The port had been rehabilitated and enlarged, many dam projects are to be completed soon and they are busy promoting Desert Camping experiences in their first and largest National Park called Iona. There are populations of zebra, oryx and springbok here.

Both Sao Tome and Angola were new countries for me and a much easier journey to get there!