General Info

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Currency Economy Political Overview Local Time Electrical Power Weather Public Holidays Housing Telephones tour

Land: Angola is one of the largest countries in Africa with a surface area of 1 246 700km

Coastline: 1 600km

Capital: Luanda

Provinces: 18

Population:

Approximately 11 million people with between 3 and 5 million living in Luanda

Literacy rate: 42%

Religions: Roman Catholic 38%, Protestant 15%, Indigenous beliefs 47%

Official language:

Portuguese

Currency:

The Kwanza

Economy:

Exports include: oil, diamonds, coffee, various minerals, fish, timber, sisal

Imports include: machinery, food, medicines, chemical products, vehicles and spare parts, textiles, military goods, electrical goods

Agricultural products produced include: tobacco, sugarcane, bananas, vegetables, livestock, fish, coffee

Political:

Date of Independence: 11 November 1975 from Portugal

President: President José Eduardo dos Santos

Main Political Parties: The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)

Local Time

 Angola is one hour ahead of GMT.

Electrical Power

 Electric current is 220v. The type of plugs used are the round two prong types.

Weather

Luanda has a moderate climate.
The months of February, March and April are very hot with high humidity and its is also the time of the heaviest rain.
Temperatures seldom reach more than 38 degrees c. Luanda receives light rain during September/October the time of small rains ("pequenas chuvas")

The cool dusty season starts from mid-May to mid-August ("Cassimbo"), during this period the weather is nearly always overcast but with no rain.
Dust pollution during this period is very high.
This is also the so called "winter" season although temperatures never drop lower than 18 degrees c.

Angolan Public Holidays

	New Years Day	1 January
	MPLA Anniversary	4 February
	Carnival Day	Feb/March*
	Good Friday	Mar/ April*
	Workers Day	1 May
	Agostinho Neto Day	17 September
	All Souls Day	1 November
	Angolan Independence Day	11 November
	Christmas Day	25 December

 *Exact date depends on the Easter Holiday.

More General Information

Credit Cards - The use of these is very limited here so always first confirm with a restaurant or hotel if they will accept it or not.

Housing - There is a shortage of good houses. Suitable apartments are hard to find. There are some housing camps on the outskirts of the city but these are far out and traffic into the city can be extremely congested especially in the rainy season. Rental of a standard family house will cost around $5 000 per month. Houses in and around the city vary in price according to the area. In a good neighbourhood a family house will cost anything from $6 000 to $10 000. Sometimes houses can be rented including the furniture for not much difference in the price.

Apartments if you can find one cost about $6 000 for a two bedroom, two bathroom unit.

Television -  Angolan Television Network (TPA) only broadcasts in Portuguese. Satellite television is available on the C-band from DSTV. JEMBAS are the agents for DSTV in Angola. Tel: 320-629

Telephones - Landlines are sometimes hard to come by. Angola Telecom is the country's  service provider. Local and International communications can sometimes be difficult in that connections are often lost and there can be a lot of interference making it difficult to hear the person you are talking too.

Calls cost about $0.08 per unit. A unit being 3 minutes.

There are two cell phone service providers, Telemovel and Unitel. In order to make a call to a cell phone from a landline one must first dial 091 or 092 depending on the service provider of the person you are trying to call.

Internet -  There are currently four Internet service providers.

www.ebonet.net  - Ebonet

www.snet.co.ao - SNET

www.netangola.com - NetAngola

www.multitel.co.ao - Multitel

What to see and do