THE NATURAL ANGOLA EXPERIENCE

MAR 10 - Arrival at Luanda
The entire day is dedicated to our arrivals at Luanda International Airports. The city is changing gradually from the old airport to a brand new one, so your flight might be arriving at either of those. Regardless of which airport you use, we will pick you up and transfer you to our accommodation on the city's outskirts. Try to land before 4 PM, but it is also manageable if you only arrive on one of the late evening flights. We commence our Trip Orientation by 6 PM. After introducing each other, going through the program ahead of us, and establishing some rules and regulations of newborn responsible tourism projects, we will proceed for an enjoyable Welcome Dinner. This shall be followed by an early bedtime, considering the very early departure time of the following morning. 
Accommodation: a comfortable, modern hotel near Luanda

MAR 11 - Muxima and Kissama National Park
We will set off from our accommodation at the break of daylight, to maximize our experiences despite the short window of tropical daylight. After a relatively short drive, we will arrive at Muxima, the most important religious location in Angola. The Portuguese built a military fort, as well as a church here in 1599 and the church has been continuously operational ever since, making it one of the most important Catholic sites in all of Africa. After learning about the fascinating history and enjoying the fantastic river views, we begin a gradual drive across Kissama National Park. With some birding viewing and landscape photography stops, we will arrive at Cabo Ledo just in time for a simple but enjoyable lunch. From here, we gradually drive southbound along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, frequently stopping for landscape photography or to learn more about Angola as a whole. A couple of hours before sunset, we shall arrive at our accommodation in Porto Amboim, a locally important resort town. We enjoy the beaches and some colorful birds in the gardens of our simple resort, before we meet for a recap, a dinner, and an early bedtime.
Accommodation: a comfortable, but simple resort in Porto Amboim

MAR 12 - Binga Waterfalls and Kumbira Mountains
To develop a daily routine that we get used to, we depart from our accommodation at the break of daylight again. We carry with us our breakfast, which we intend to enjoy under some giant tropical trees at the Binga Waterfalls. Upon arrival, we tend our breakfast boxes first, which will be followed by a photo session and an extended birding walk of the lush gardens and the riverside. From here, we continue our way on the marvelously bad roads, gradually climbing onto the eastern plateau of the picturesque Kumbira Mountains. With frequent photo stops, we arrive at a working coffee plantation just in time for lunch. This plantation will also be our home for the evening, so we quickly take our rooms, gather for lunch, and discuss plans for the afternoon. If time and weather allow, we will participate in a full afternoon walking tour of the coffee plantation, its magical granite outcrops, its lush gardens, and its cacophony of tropical bird species. Our usual evening recap will find us in the spacious restaurant of the working farm, where a brilliant dinner of local cuisine will also be served, marking the end of a great travel day in one of the least traveled corners of Africa. 
Accommodation: a comfortable lodge at a working coffee plantation in the mountains

MAR 13 - Kumbira Forest Reserve
Kumbira Forest Reserve is home to a great variety of birds, including some of the endemic species of Angola. Our goal today is to stretch our legs, enjoy a great walk through unique forest paths, and find as much interesting wildlife (no matter how small or big) as possible. We rise early as usual and drive a barely existing dirt road for half an hour before we arrive at some old fazenda buildings. These mark the beginning of our trail and will also serve as the location of our boxed lunches. Depending on our physical conditions, we can even set off on different trails. Either way, we expect to have a relaxed day, dedicated to getting to know some of the local creatures up close, without having to cover hours after hours on extremely long roads in an extremely large country. We return to our accommodation just around sunset and gather in the restaurant for a recap and dinner.
Accommodation: same as the previous night

MAR 14 - Waku Kungo and Bailundo
Our well-established daily routine finds us on the road just as the daylight breaks. We will drive north, through the Kumbira Mountains again for a while, before we descend into the river valleys and experience another breathtaking landscape just as we reach Waku Kungo. With frequent birding and photography stops, it will be lunchtime when we pass by a nice local resort, so we take the opportunity to pause and enjoy what the local cuisine has to offer. We drive for another 3-4 hours in the afternoon, continuing south and continuing to have frequent stops at any places we find appealing. We plan to arrive at Bailundo town a couple of hours before sunset, thus walking around our hotel to give us a short glimpse at life in rural small Angolan towns will become possible. During dinner, we discuss a few items regarding our rules, expectations, and regulations to visit Mount Moco Reserve and then Falcopolis during the next few days, and then we retire quickly to get enough rest after this epic day on the Angolan roads.
Accommodation: simple but clean hotel in Bailundo

MAR 15 - Mount Moco Reserve
Mount Moco Reserve is another one of those spots in this less-traveled country where one can get up close to a very rural lifestyle, as well as some of the rare endemic bird, butterfly, and plant species. Our day is dedicated to the exploration of this local wonderland. We drive westbound for about an hour very early in the morning, turning onto a fairly difficult dirt road soon afterward. Upon reaching the village in the middle of the reserve, we greet the chief of the community, meet our local forest guides, and set off for the day’s adventure. We will have a morning path and an afternoon route to hike and will have a break with boxed lunches in the village in between the two hikes. We plan on returning to Bailundo just after sunset, which will give us enough time to participate in an evening recap and a nice buffer dinner.
Accommodation: same as the previous night

MAR 16 - Falcopolis
The Red-footed Falcons only gather in large numbers for the night (it is called 'roosting' in the world of ornithology), thus experiencing this newly discovered natural wonder is only possible early in the mornings and late afternoons. For this, we depart from our accommodation an hour before dawn and arrive at the roosting site just as the first lights break the horizon. We carefully approach the site and watch 2 million falcons wake up and prepare for their daily activities. Which is not very complicated here: it usually involves eating as many termites as they can, to get as fat as they can, before they commence their journey to their breeding sites in Europe or Asia. They start being more and more active as the sunlight arrives, giving us amazing viewing or photographing opportunities. Around two hours after sunrise, the birds will be off for their daily feeding trips, leaving only trees and bushes behind that are heavily marked by their digestive activities. They will start coming back around 2 hrs before sunset, so we have the rest of the day for us to enjoy the location and learn as much as we can about the project and its broader environment. We have a lovely conference room available to us in the village, where we will spend a few hours, listening to formal and informal talks (scientists, volunteers, municipal leaders, government officials, and many others) before we head to the local restaurant for a very simple but tasty lunch. After lunch, we set off in search of the small local hippopotamus population, which also includes a visit to a local family and listening to their own stories about life in Angola after the civil war, as well as their relation to the event of falcons darkening their skies for one month every year. Two hours before sunset, we will arrive at the roosting site again and climb a small viewing platform that we set up at the edge of the roost. Evenings are the most sensitive time for the comfort of these birds, where disturbance must be kept to the very minimum. They must be allowed to land and get into night mode without any outside disturbance. For about 2-3 hrs, from the comfort of our platform, we will watch them arrive, choose actual night sites, interact with each other, and start relaxing and digesting after a hard day of termite hunting. We will stay on the platform until complete darkness, pull out very slowly, and make our way back to our hotel in Bailundo. An evening recap, dinner, and some chats around the fire will close our day and prepare us for more falcon experiences the following morning.
Accommodation: same as the previous night

MAR 17 - Falcopolis
Our day will be very similar to the previous one. We will arrive at the falcons before the first lights do and spread around the site in small groups, to minimize the disturbance and maximize our experiences. As soon as all the falcons left and we took a short walk to find some of the other bird species that are unique to the area, we will be back in our classroom for a few more hours. At this time, we will have much more informal sessions, asking the scientists and their volunteers all and any questions that arose from our personal experiences thus far. After lunch, we will choose from an array of interesting short activities based on the weather conditions, and then we will be back on our platform a few hours before sunset and let two million falcons amuse us and entertain us with their unique and delicate aerial dances and interactions. After dark, we will pull out quietly and return to our accommodation for a recap and a surprise dinner.
Accommodation: same as the previous night

MAR 18 - Waku Kungo, Dondo, Calandula
If there is one destination that can not be excluded from an epic Angola tour, then it is the majestic Calandula Falls. There are always bigger, there are always better, there are always taller waterfalls than what one is looking at, but yet, Calandula is a destination very much worth on its own. Now, the huge size of the country comes in the way again and makes us spend another long day on the road. Perhaps the longest on our entire itinerary. We head north to Waku Kungo from Bailundo very early in the morning, crossing the brilliant landscape of river floodplains and granite outcrops. Late lunch will be served for us in Dondo, where we turn eastbound and tackle another long stretch of diverse African landscapes before we reach our destination. We are covering nearly 600 km throughout the day, which makes it impossible to predict an exact time of arrival. Depending on the road conditions, we might be there before sunset, but we might also get held up several times en route and arrive only hours after sunset. Either way, we will get you there safely and promise one thing: checking into a clean room and sharing a nice Angolan dinner with new friends without a bus moving under our feet has never been as appreciated as it will be this evening.
Accommodation: very nicely located hotel, overlooking the Falls

MAR 19 - Calandula Falls and Kinjila Forest
Just as avid nature lovers do, we disregard the tiredness caused by the long road the day prior. We rise early and depart for yet another great biodiversity hotspot of Angola: the Kinjila Forest. After greeting the locals and acquiring our local guides, off we go on a long early morning walk in the forest, searching for all creatures, no matter their size. Of course, some more endemic bird species are on top of our list, but we come with an open mind to anything that flowers in front of us or flies or crawls by. At this time, we are not far from our accommodation, so we do not take full boxed lunches with us, only some snacks. For lunch, we return to our accommodation shortly after midday and then enjoy a full afternoon of perfect relaxation. Visiting the waterfalls or doing some more bird photography in the lush gardens are just some of the many opportunities to entertain ourselves. Sitting in the garden on sunchairs, reading a book, and overlooking the falls is also an appealing option at the end of a long African road trip. After recap and a specially prepared buffet dinner, we may sit on the verandah and enjoy an evening cocktail, to which the roaring sound of the falling water can provide the background music.
Accommodation: same as the previous night

MAR 20 - Calandula Falls and Luanda
Besides Falcopolis, Angola is known for one additional wildlife phenomenon: it is home to the only population of the Gaint Sable Antelope. Once we have risen again at our own pace and possibly looked at the falls or checked out some garden birds after breakfast, we get together and participate in a short workshop about these majestic animals. They live close to here, in Cangandala National Park. It is currently not open for visitors, but the park’s management, together with leaders of local and international organizations, will be kind enough to meet us at our hotel and give us some very interesting talks and presentations. The Giant Sable Antelope was thought to have gone extinct during the chaotic decades of civil war, but with the right effort and dedication, a few individuals were eventually discovered and their population is slowly recovering ever since. After learning a huge array of facts and interesting stories about these majestic animals, we enjoy an early lunch and then get on the road one last time on this itinerary. Our destination is a hotel we know very well from our first evening in Angola. The one close to Luanda and close to the airports, which will allow us to depart without any stress the following day. Upon arrival and upon washing off the dust of this extremely tiring and epic road trip, we gather for a thorough recap and a special Farewell Dinner.
Accommodation: a comfortable, modern hotel near Luanda

MAR 21 - Departure from Luanda
Our last day will be designed around the departure time of our flights. Whenever that flight might be, we will transfer you to the appropriate airport in a timely manner. This is the official end of our Natural Angola Experience.