Flying Adventure: Southern Angola – Day 8 (FYEF – FYOA – FNGI – FNEspinheira):
It is time to cross the Kunene river into Angola, to visit the Iona National Park. The Iona National Park has been on his bucket list for a very long time, so he is really excited, that this finally materializes.
Although Iona is not far from where we are, we have a few legs ahead of us. From Epupa we first fly in the opposite direction to Ondanwga, for re-fueling and exiting Namibia. On our second leg we fly straight north over the border to Ondjiva to enter Angola. Finally, from Ondjiva we fly back in a westerly direction along the Kunene river, past Epupa and finally descent into Espinheira.
Iona National Park
The reason why Iona National Park has been on the bucket list for such a long time, is the logistical challenge to get there. Iona is situated in the south west of Angola, and is extremely remote. In addition, there is no tourism activity, and thus there are no lodges or places to get supplies. And obviously there is also no aviation gasoline anywhere close. In fact, there has not been any aviation gasoline in the whole of Angola until just recently. Overcoming these challenges as only been possible thanks to the amazing assistance of Stefan van Wyk and his fantastic team from Angola Uncharted Safaris.
Iona is the oldest and largest of Angola’s national parks, and forms the northern end of the Namib desert. It is a spectacular landscape characterized by vast plains, shifting dunes and rough mountains and cliffs. It can feel like being on the moon, but with somewhat more comfortable temperatures.
Similar to the Gorongosa Park in Mozambique, the park as suffered immensely from decimation of wildlife and destruction of infrastructure during the independence and civil wars that ravaged Angola for for over four decades. The re-introduction of wildlife and conservation is challenging due to conflicting needs and demands from conservation management and local communities. He strongly hopes that these can be managed and balanced for the benefit of future generations.
Lions Cave camp
We fly to the Espinheira airstrip, which is used as a supply base by African Parks. African Parks co-manages the park with the Angolan government. It is a sandy soft runway and it is important to keep the yoke fully pulled back on landing and during roll out, to prevent the nose wheel from digging into the sand.
At the airstrip we meet Stefan’s team from Angola Uncharted Safaris. They then take us to the lions cave campsite, which they had already setup. It’s an amazing site to wind down and enjoy the beautiful sunset over Iona National Park.
Kunene river camp
On day 9 we cross through the national park to it’s southern end, where we setup camp on the shores of the Kunene river.
It is hard to get to a remoter place than this camp site. It is a stunning destination in between the huge sand dunes on the Namibia side and the rocky cliffs on the Angolan side.
As we explore the surroundings of our camp site, we spot a few crocodiles a bit further upstream. We therefore chose a different spot where we can cool down and go for a swim. Out in remote wilderness, you have to respect nature and seek peaceful co-existence. It’s what makes it so amazing.
There could hardly be a better place to take a break from the rush and noise of our everyday lives, shut down and connect with nature. Needless to say then, that we also spend day 10 of our tour at this stunning spot. Before we move on to explore a few more places of beautiful Angola.
