Luanda

Luanda is normally dusty, hot and dry. Nevertheless on Tuesday night it experienced a torrential downpour which killed at least three people and blew open the limited storm drainage system. This then caused a traffic gridlock worthy of the one Ben Elton describes in his book of the same name. My work mate took 3 hours to complete the 8 kilometres to his house. An average speed of less than 3 km per hour. Fortunately, I was able to admire the forked lightning over Luanda bay from a dry, lofty and safe veranda.

This episode highlights one of the key issues in Luanda today, traffic. As the oil driven economy grows the number of cars is increasing exponentially. As yet there is no widespread private taxi system, though there are some minibuses plying popular routes and competing racing each other to the bus stops. However the roads are clogged with luxury 4x4s, Mercedes saloons and Citi golfs. Luanda has few grand avenues like neighbouring capitals. It does not really have a ring road, and grew slowly outward over 500 years from a city centre of tight narrow streets. To make matters worse, the oil boom is recycling resources into construction, and new towers are sprouting up in the midst of the city - attracting further traffic to the crowded centre.