THE ULTIMATE ANGOLA EXPERIENCE

FEB 23 - 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

FEB 24 - 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

FEB 25 - 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

FEB 26 - The Atlantic Coast
Our well-established daily routine finds us on the road just as the daylight breaks. We will drive through the southern part of the Kumbira Mountains, enjoying more granite outcrops and riverside landscape. After reaching the coastline again, we turn south and travel a fair distance to Lobito, which is one of the most important colonial seaside towns. We have lunch at a beach restaurant and walk around the old colonial center called Restinga. From here, a short drive takes us to Benguela, another important coastal town. We walk its beaches shortly, just to have a feeling of this locally famous destination, before we continue our journey southbound along the coastal road. Frequent photo stops of floodplains, mountains, and remote beaches do not allow us to reach our accommodation before mid-afternoon, but this will still give us enough time to participate in an afternoon hike and casual birding walk to the nearby sea cliffs. Recap and dinner will take place at our resort.
Accommodation: a comfortable, ’locally unique’ seaside resort in Baia Farta

FEB 27 - Namibe Reserve
Our morning destination is Moçâmedes, the gateway to the exploration of the deserts of Southern Angola. Our drive is still quite long, especially due to the absence of pavement on a long section of the way. But the scenery and the surrounding habitat change every hour, keeping us busy with photography, birdwatching, and road-fixing activities. We plan to reach our excellent colonial accommodation on the main pedestrian street of Moçâmedes just in time for lunch. We quickly check in, enjoy our lunch, and then set off for an afternoon exploration of the Namibe Reserve. Lake Arcos with Curoca Village will give us the first glimpse and experience of this photogenic rock desert and its inhabitants, while Colinas Canyon will provide us with a lovely sunset walk and photography opportunity. We will stay here till the last bits of daylight are gone, and return to our comfortable hotel after dark. Recap and dinner will close the day as usual, although a short walk to experience the night scene of this friendly town is very much recommended. 
Accommodation: excellent 4-star city hotel in Moçâmedes

FEB 28 - Tundavala Gap
We rise to some fascinating experiences this morning, so departing before sunrise is not only a routine anymore but also a necessity to make sure we have an adequate amount of time for everything we planned. The landscape and habitat change by the minute, as we leave the desert behind and reach some savannah landscape on the way to Lubango. Bigger and bigger granite formations rise on the horizon as we go, and soon we find ourselves in front of sheer cliffs, thinking there is no way we can climb them. But some engineers built the Leba Pass for us, allowing for a gradual ascent up the escarpment, providing us with brilliant landscape photography and some adrenalin for those afraid of heights. Needless to say, the fast-changing environment makes sure the flowers, trees, and birds change as well, giving us plenty to look at and explore along the way. Once on the plateau, another lookout gives us great views of Lubango City, before we reach our accommodation for the day. We take our rooms, enjoy a short lunch break, but set off right afterward to explore the nearby Tundavala Gap. This large, steep canyon is a world-class geological formation that provides us with breathtaking views, excellent photography, and some lovely hikes and birdwatching opportunities for the rest of the afternoon. Once the Sun has dropped below the horizon, we gradually descend from this 2,200m high peak and make our way back to the lodge for a recap and dinner. 
Accommodation: enjoyable nature lodge near Tundavala Gap

MAR 01 - Central Angola
Angola is a huge country, nearly twice the size of Texas. For anyone attempting to see as much of it as possible in a reasonable time frame, spending a fair share of time on the road is unavoidable. This is a nice way of saying that we have a long road trip ahead of us on this day. We leave our lovely accommodation behind early in the morning and make our way through the ever-changing landscapes, gradually heading north and then eastward and approaching the location of the recently discovered roosting site of 2 million falcons. We take a quick lunch in Ganda and plan to arrive at Bailundo town a couple of hours after sunset. During dinner, we discuss a few items regarding our rules, expectations, and regulations to visit Falcopolis during the next couple of 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 02 - 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 1 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 2-3 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 disturbances 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. Termite swarms near the roost site in the late afternoon sunlight offer a unique opportunity to take pictures of birds hunting for the termites in the lower air. Finally, the murmuration of the hundreds of thousands of falcons in the sunset with the thunderstorm clouds in the background is the peak photographic event of the day.  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 03 - 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 with the first thermals to hunt in high altitudes and we took a short walk to find some of the other bird species that are unique to the area, we will be back to 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 04 - 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 05 - Calandula Falls and Kinjila Forest
Surprise! You may not believe it, but we won’t have an early morning wake-up call, or a breakfast well before the sun rises. After an unparalleled but incredibly tiresome experience on the roads of a giant country, we finally treat ourselves to a casual morning. Since we are staying right at Calandula Falls, it does not require anyone’s guidance to visit the falls. The entire morning is free for us to wake up at any given time and visit the falls in any way we choose. The first organized event is a meeting at 10 am, when those of us who are ready for some more birding, can take a short drive to Kinjila Forest. Besides stretching our legs after so much time was spent sitting in vehicles, we will be searching for some of the endemic bird species that can not be seen anywhere else in the world. At the end of the hike, we return to our accommodation, visit the Falls one last time, and then enjoy a specially prepared buffet dinner. To close off a relaxing day in the African wilderness, 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 06 - Calandula Falls and Luanda
Surprise! You may not believe it, but we won’t have an early morning wake-up call, or a breakfast well before the sun rises. After an unparalleled but incredibly tiresome experience on the roads of a giant country, we finally treat ourselves to a casual morning. Since we are staying right at Calandula Falls, it does not require anyone’s guidance to visit the falls. The entire morning is free for us to wake up at any given time and visit the falls in any way we choose. The first organized event is a meeting at 10 am, when those of us who are ready for some more birding, can take a short drive to Kinjila Forest. Besides stretching our legs after so much time was spent sitting in vehicles, we will be searching for some of the endemic bird species that can not be seen anywhere else in the world. At the end of the hike, we return to our accommodation, visit the Falls one last time, and then enjoy a specially prepared buffet dinner. To close off a relaxing day in the African wilderness, 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: a comfortable, modern hotel near Luanda

MAR 07 - 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 Ultimate Angola Experience.