Welcome to my Angola Blog

Wednesday evening in Boston - work ridiculously busy - why is it always that way when you are trying to get away? Last day in the office tomorrow.

Friday is a day of pure travel. Pick up in Boston 6.30am for flight to JFK - then 11am depart JFK for Johannesburg - 15 hours. Connect in JB and arrive Luanda Saturday lunch time.

My trip this time is with Unicef and I am traveling with three other donors - we will be visiting projects on the ground in Angola funded by US fund for Unicef.

July is considered winter season in Angola with milder temps and cold at night. Angola is five hours ahead of NYC or same time as Dublin. Note to self look at atlas and see how that is possible. Currency of Angola is the Kwanza.

This extract from my briefing book is good:

Visitors to Angola are advised not to photograph sites and installations of military or security interest, including govt buildings, as this can result in fines and possibly arrest.

And a good extract from Wikipedia:

Angola's economy has undergone a period of transformation in recent years, moving from the disarray caused by a quarter century of civil war to being the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest in the world. In 2004, China's Eximbank approved a $2 billion line of credit to Angola. The loan is being used to rebuild Angola's infrastructure, and has also limited the influence of the International Monetary Fund in the country.^[6]

Growth is almost entirely driven by rising oil production which surpassed 1.4 million barrels per day (220,000 m³/d) in late-2005 and was expected to grow to 2 million barrels per day (320,000 m³/d) by 2007. Control of the oil industry is consolidated in Sonangol Group, a conglomerate which is owned by the Angolan government. In December 2006, Angola was admitted as a member of OPEC.^[7] The economy grew 18% in 2005, 26% in 2006 and 17.6% in 2007 and it's expected to stay above 10% for the rest of the decade. The security brought about by the 2002 peace settlement has led to the resettlement of 4 million displaced persons, thus resulting in large-scale increases in agriculture production.

Famously Princess Diana visited Angola in 1997 observing landmines left over from civil war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=YseI_CWlCcg&feature=related