Flying Adventure: Southern Angola – Day 14 (FNCV – FYRU):

We have to leave Angola today and start our journey back to the south. But before we depart, we visit the Cuito Cuanavale Memorial and Museum, which is situated next to the airport.

Cuito Cuanavale Memorial

The Cuito Cuanavale Memorial was built to commemorate the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. It has been designed around the interpretation of the then Marxist Angolan government and Cuba about the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. Within this specific interpretation, the memorial symbolizes the resistance of Angolan forces and their socialist allies against the invasion and oppression of South Africa’s then apartheid regime. It honours the soldiers of socialist forces, who died during the battle and their sacrifices for freedom and humanity. The interpretation of the significance of the battle even goes as far as seeing it as a victory for Africa and over colonialist domination. This view is supported by other socialist liberation movements such as the ANC in South Africa and SWAPO in Namibia.

At the central stage of the memorial is a humongous AK47 rifle pointing into the air, and the bronze statues of two soldiers celebrating victory. Both built by North Korean contractors. Who else.

As he has pointed out in the previous article about the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the interpretation of the significance of the battle and its outcome can be a very controversial debate. The views represented by the memorial are thus primarily political. It is at best to a far lesser extent supported by objective fact.

The end of apartheid in South Africa and the independence of Namibia is factually more likely attributable to the failed socialist experiment in the Soviet Union and its collapse in 1987. And with that, the end of the Cold War and a new emerging world order. Moreover, South Africa’s concern was its border, not the invasion or occupation of Angola. As much as South Africa’s apartheid regime was oppressive, it did not oppress Angolans. Angola was a colony of Portugal, and Portugal released its colonies voluntarily into independence back in 1975. What ensued thereafter was a civil war amongst local factions. Not really something to celebrate or commemorate with glory. So he thinks.

The War Museum

Adjacent to the memorial is an impressive open air museum. For anyone interested in old Soviet war kit and machinery, this is a place to come to. On display is everything from T54 and T55 battle tanks, Mig and Suchoi fighter jets, Mig29 helicopters, rocket launchers and much more. All in impressively well kept condition. Not something you can easily come across anywhere else, he would think.

Flight to Rundu

After the visit to the memorial and museum it is then time to depart. Fortunately, Stefan from Angola Uncharted Safari has arranged immigration service at the airfield in Cuito Cuanavale. This saves us a detour via Menongue to exit Angola back to Namibia. Some of that valuable time saving was however crowded out by the challenges of setting a date on a stamp. It took two ladies over 45 minutes to figure out how to set the date on the stamp to stamp our passports. Eventually they gave up trying but thankfully agreed to nevertheless plant a stamp into our passports. The date was still wrong. But we did not mind that.

We then re-fueled our aircraft with some more Avgas the guys from Angola Uncharted Safari have brought in for us all the way from Luanda. Without this crucial logistical arrangement, Cuito Cuanavale had been out of reach for us. Needless to say that we were very grateful for their support and assistance (and paid the bill accordingly).

From Cuito Cuanavale we then fly south to Rundu in northern Namibia. Rundu is a small town, with a very large runway. The airfield served as an airforce base during South Africa’s border war. These days there is very little happening at that airfield. But the few souls who were around, were extremely helpful and called the immigration guys for us, and also helped us arranging some transport to get to our lodge.

Once immigration was sorted out and our transport arrived, we head off to the Taranga Safari lodge on and banks of the Okavango river. The Cuito river on which we camped the last days joins the Cubango further upstream and forms the Okavango. We will follow this same waterway further south tomorrow during out flight over the Okavango delta in Botswana.