#2: [07-Aug-09]

01-Nov-2004 -- This was a four-day weekend in Angola, and we had some time in our hands. We left Luanda late morning on Saturday, and by nighttime we were close to the point, however, it was far too dark to attempt the hunt. We camped by the sea in a village called Egito Praia at the end of some very cool 35 km of dirt track.

In the morning, we decided to make our way to Lobito and attempt the point on our way back to Luanda. After a well spent Sunday in Benguela, we headed back North on Monday at around 12:00.

By around 13:00 we were in the worse stretch of road, close to Canjala (previously called Hanha), a place were many battles took place during the 30-year civil war. Being wary of possible uncharted minefields in the area, we asked several locals, and realising most of the land was being cultivated, we decided this point was safe enough to attempt.

As we approached the coordinates, heading north on Angola's main trunk road, linking Luanda to Benguela, we spotted a narrow track going off the road to the right. This was too good to be true, we thought: We were still 800 m from the point, and envisaging a very wet trek through the forest! After doubling back once, and having to remove Mario's car from a small creek with Leão's winch, we found another path heading straight at the point. This was definitely too much luck: The path left us a mere 15 m from the point! Kid's play at this stage...

As soon as the team finished with the photo session, it started pouring down. From then on we had 500 km of road to do back to Luanda, and it never stopped raining.