Mama Muxima attracts thousands of visitors in September.

The Angola Field Group invites you on a day trip to the province of Bengo, Sunday, July 10.  We will leave Luanda at 6:30 AM and drive east to Catete via Viana and then head south, crossing the Kwanza River at Cabala and then onto Muxima, a town where thousands of pilgrims converge in September for the ceremony of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao or Mama Muxima. We will see her statue in the small Catholic church which is a year-round destination for Angolans to come and pray. Towering above the church is the fort, built by the Portuguese in 1599 to control boats heading into the interior on the Kwanza River.

From Muxima we will enter Quicama National Park and drive westwards across the park to Cabo Ledo.  The Muxima – Cabo Ledo drive  will essentially be a transect showing some of the natural areas in the park but also revealing some of the activities one does not expect to find in a national park including increased subsistence farming, small villages, expanded major road infrastructure, effects of past oil production & current oil exploration, and increased developments along the coast like large-scale quarrying for cement at Cabo Ledo and the expanding beach/resort town of Zangano. Quicama still has a small undisturbed fenced-in part where game animals were re-introduced ten years ago but note, we will not be visiting that area. Before we leave the park we will meet Quicama Park Administrator, Miguel Savituma, who will give us a brief rundown on the park and be available to answer questions.

To sign up for this trip send an email to: angolafieldgroup@gmail.com

When you are registering for this trip please indicate:
* if you have room in your vehicle for more passengers and if so how many
* if you do not have transport and need a lift

Famous Muxima church and in background 16th century fort.