Angola

Oil wealth made Luanda one of the most expensive cities on earth

Angola scrapped visa requirements for most Western nationalities in 2023, which changed it overnight from one of the hardest African countries to visit to one of the easiest. It is also enormous, oil-rich, and recovering from a civil war that ran from 1975 to 2002 and left it heavily mined in places.

Luanda has repeatedly been ranked the most expensive city in the world for expatriates, a consequence of oil money, imported everything and a severe housing shortage. That said, prices for independent travellers are more manageable than that ranking suggests, and the city has an Atlantic corniche and a strong kizomba and semba music scene.

The landscape is the draw. Kalandula Falls is among the largest waterfalls in Africa by volume. Tundavala Gap in the south is an escarpment with a thousand-metre drop and views over the plain. The Namibe desert has welwitschia plants that live for over a thousand years. Kissama National Park, restocked after the war, is slowly recovering its wildlife.

Annual events and festivals

• Carnival, Luanda (Feb-Mar) — a national competition of neighbourhood groups with Brazilian and Angolan influences.
• Independence Day (11 Nov) — marks 1975 independence from Portugal.
• Festival de Musica do Sumbe (varies) — a coastal music festival.
• Peace Day (4 Apr) — marks the 2002 end of the civil war.
• Nossa Senhora da Muxima (Sep) — a major Catholic pilgrimage to a riverside shrine.
• Kizomba and semba nights (year round) — Angola gave the world kizomba, and Luanda is where it is danced properly.
• Feast of Santa Efigenia, Massangano (varies) — a historic religious celebration.
• Luanda International Jazz Festival (varies) — a growing event in the capital.
• Mucubal and Himba ceremonies, south (varies) — traditional pastoralist gatherings.
• Christmas (Dec) — widely celebrated in a majority Christian country.