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As Terras do Fim do Mundo

a trip to the "Land at the end the Earth"

Only at the end of the school year we could go home, due to the distance and difficulty of traveling in the Cuando Cubango. Cuando Cubango was known as Terras do Fim do Mundo (Land at the end of the Earth). If one was lucky it would take only a week to travel from Nova Lisboa to Mavinga.

Cuando Cubango was a wonderful part of the country. Wild, vast and sparsely populated with the type of characters you see in movies such as The African Queen and Out of Africa. I loved it and spend all my school year dreaming about the long holidays in Mavinga. On top of the fantastic lifestyle roaming the savannas and jungles of the Cuando Cubango, there was mum's cooking: abundant and delicious. One month before school finished Mum started cooking furiously in anticipation of her boys arrival. Wherever you looked in our house we could find jars of cookies, jams and all sorts of goodies Mum knew we liked.

Nova Lisboa and the High School where Pedro and I studied

Menongue was a “big” city in those days, especially when compared with the other places in the province. With a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants, quite a few shops, the residence of the Governor and a couple of hotels, Menongue was the largest population centre in the district and the capital of the Cuando Cubango. The roads were not sealed, but as they were not that busy, dust was not a problem. The city was clean, tidy and with the Cuebe river running through it added an extra cool touch.

In Menongue we would have to wait for a supply truck or if we were really lucky a government officer travelling the province in business. In this case we would travel in “luxury” on board of a Land Rover. Depending on the luck of the draw a 4 to 8 days trip across the most beautiful wilderness in the southwest of Africa.

Filu in Menongue- Cuebe river

The trip to Mavinga would start with a relatively fast journey of 120 km to Cuito Cuanavale. It would take us the full day to travel to Cuito Cuanavale. The place was a typical “one road” village without hotels or fancy shops, situated on the banks of the Cuito Cuanavale river.

Cuito Cuanavale - Jangada

The bridge that replaced the jangada

across the Cuito Cuanavale river

It was not until the war started in the south of the country that they built a bridge across the river Cuito Cuanavale. Until then we used a jangada (large raft made with logs tied together) to cross the river. Unless one arrived before 4:00 PM the operator of the raft would refuse to take you across the river. If we were in a hurry, we would camp on the bank of the river to secure our position in the queue for the jangada crossing in the morning.

The crossing of the Cuito Cuanavale river was the first taste of adventure in the trip to Mavinga. There were no piers or a loading dock. The jangada was tightened to a couple of stumps on the river bank and the cars struggled to balance themselves on the small raft. The jangada had space for one car or truck only and was pulled by a couple of men helped by the passengers , using a steel cable laid across the river.

If you did not want to use the jangada one of the natives would take you across on a dugout canoe which was not any better or safer experience. The river was infested with crocodiles and therefore the thought of falling in the middle of the river was not something one would call fun.