The network connections are down since Sunday morning now. I couldn’t post Saturday entry in my journal until now. Heavy rains on Saturday night seem to have disabled the satellite transmitter dish. It does not help my work much down here but I am kind of used to B-plans after so many years in Angola.
This morning the rain continues despite the end of the Kassimbu season some 3 weeks ago. The Kassimbu – an Ovibundu word – stands for the period July/October caracterised by skies packed with low altitude dark clouds, (relatively) low temperatures (10-20 C), and sporadic rains. The most impressive about the Kassimbu is that, at its peak, the sun is seldom seen picking through the thick layers of clouds for months. As if a permanent storm about to unleash its furry was hovering over Angola but just never breaking out. As odd as it seems it scarcely rains despite the clouds.
On Saturday night I found back some old friends I left there in June. My Portuguese is somewhat rusty but a few of the local brew bring back the essential vocabulary. The night ends very late. It is almost 3 am when I get back to the guesthouse. But the night will be short. During the little gathering I was invited to a little mountain bike raid along the Catumbela River on Sunday morning 8am.
Not surprisingly I had a very hard time waking up. I almost gave up jumping out of bed but the prospects of such a raid just kicked me out of my lazyness.
The raid started quietly. We rode across banana and cornfields for about 15 kms before reaching the banks of the Catumbela River. It is a large shallow river that looks more like an Oued (Saharan dry river) than a European river. We are just 2 kms away from it reaching the Ocean. The water is brown and large leaves and pieces of wood are floating by. These are the signs of dense rains up in the mountains.
We took upstream on a small trail a few meters away from the water. The start of the trail was just a pure pleasure. 70 cms wide in average, quite technical with sharp up and down hills, stones scattered on the path and very narrow passages between water and wild sugar canes. All with the immense African scenery all around. What a moment!
Along the trail we met several farmers surprised to see 4 high-speed riders on the wild. We often stopped to have a quick chat with them and also learn about the path ahead.
Soon the trail lead to a cliff with the trail carved within. For about 10 kms we spent most of the time carrying the bikes on our backs, climbing up and down rocks and carved stairs, with the water several meters beneath. At on point the trail was so narrow that it did not exceed 30 cms, all carved inside the cliff. We reached the end of that portion to find a 7-meter ladder leading down to just above the water, directly onto a rail maintained by poles. Fortunately there was no splash and all 4 of us managed to carry the bikes down the ladder onto the rail and then perform a 5-meter equilibrium walk back to the trail. All with a few small crocos bathing in the sun on the other bank.
The farmers warned us about colonies of baboons that live along the sides of the river and can be quite aggressive but we didn’t meet any. The rest of the trail was more like the start. Less extreme and we could spend more time actually sitting on the bike. After an other 20 kms we took left off the banks and rode uphill to reach a larger trail that led us back to Lobito.
I spent the rest of Sunday recovering from this nice raid. The mind still somewhere along the Catumbela River, I took lunch in a small bar by the ocean. Later I continued touring the city to great my old friends.
Monday morning with the sunburns and the soar muscles, back at work.
The construction yard has turned into a nightmare from the combination of dust and rain. Manitowoc cranes and multiwheel trucks have difficulties crawling around. The same havoc is found across the city. Rain, as essential as it is to this country which Southern boarder reaches the Namibe Desert, is a double-sided coin. It brings life and helps good crops, but also destroys transportation systems, flashes ailing electricity network, and melts clay houses.