Exploring a Unique Culture in an Unspoiled Landscape
Angola boasts seven biomes, making it one of the most ecologically diverse places in Africa.
Explore Angola's Ecosystems
Ready to Take Flight
With stunning topography that combines rainforests, deltas, mountains, deserts, savannahs and long sandy beaches, Angola offers endless appeal for intrepid travelers.
Recognizing its vast untapped potential as a travel destination, this African nation has identified 2,600 “tourism resources” throughout its 18 provinces, and it is opening its doors to the world. In a country of extraordinary diversity, attractions include the 344-foot Kalandula Falls in Malanje Province, and 8,600-foot Mount Moco, Angola’s highest peak.
Prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism was worth $3.4 billion annually and contributed 3.7% of Angola’s GDP in 2019, according to Knoema data. A 2018 decree by Angolan President João Lourenço allows citizens from 61 countries, including those of the European Union, to obtain visas on arrival in Angola.
A 2019 World Bank report, Creating Markets in Angola, concluded, “Angola has strong potential with 1,600 km [1,000 miles] of coast and long sandy beaches, waterfalls (including the second-largest in Africa), beautiful landscapes and geological formations, emerging national parks, and a rich cultural heritage and music scene.”
ADVANTAGE ANGOLA
It’s important to be able to travel across the country with no concerns.”
Executive Chairman, AIPEX
António Henriques Da Silva
AGRICULTURE
MANUFACTURING
For more information about investment opportunities in Angola visit AIPEX , a one-stop-shop created just for you.
LEARN MORE
WATCH ALSO
AGRICULTURE
Young Angolan photographer Jessé Manuel grew up amid the natural beauty of Huíla, in southern Angola. “Being outdoors is very inviting,” he says. “I grew up with this lifestyle. After school, I’d go hike in mountains or take a dip in rivers.”
Manuel’s images of Angola’s stunning vistas and natural beauty have attracted more than 27,000 followers to his Instagram account, many from overseas. “Being out in the desert is very different from being in Moxico [Province] with lions to keep you company,” he says of his diverse Angolan photographic adventures. “Angola is unique. From north to south, you see a systematic transition of the ecosystems, the fauna, the landscapes. My intention is to show the countless possibilities that Angola offers.”
Nature-based tourism in Angola is increasingly regarded as having investment potential, notably in the Okavango Delta, an area of rich biodiversity, and in luxury eco-lodges such as the Pululukwa resort—created with a $35 million investment—in Huíla Province. The Atlantic surf and sandy beaches of Cabo Ledo, south of the capital, Luanda, represent another tourism hub.
SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Kizomba: A Party That's Taking Over the World
A Fertile Land With a Favorable Climate
AGRICULTURE
“Kizomba means party. It’s a gathering of people inspired by a spirit of joy,” says Eduardo Paim, acknowledged as the “father of Kizomba,” a musical and dance genre that typifies Angola’s rich musical and cultural heritage.
A Party That’s Taking Over the World
READ MORE
According to António Henriques Da Silva, Executive Chairman of AIPEX, Angola’s agency for private investment and export promotion, “the ongoing reforms—political, social and economic—will trigger that space that is needed to have a healthy environment for investment promotion. It’s important to feel safe. It’s important to be in a stable space and it’s important to be able to travel across the country with no concerns.”
Confident young entrepreneurs are using technology to promote the country’s hidden wonders internationally, while Angola’s government has poured investment into the nation’s air, road and rail infrastructure to increase its accessibility. As the travel industry recovers from the impact of the pandemic, Angola’s nascent tourism sector looks set for rapid growth.
A Land Full of Rich and Varied Natural Resources
MINING
MINING
MINING
Infrastructure
“
Whether Roasted or Brewed, Catering To All
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Linking Southern Africa to the Rest of the World
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
ENERGY
Source: Springer Nature, 2020
Leaving Fossil Fuels Behind
Energy
Energy
Tourism
& CULTURE
Jessé Manuel
Photographer
You can walk from dense jungle to savannah—we have hills, we have desert zones, beaches and abundant wildlife.”
“
Angola’s natural splendor
Caterina Manzi
CEO, Join Angola
There’s an active, gorgeous culture that deserves to be shown to the world.”
“
Expect a warm welcome
Wherever visitors go among Angolan people, music will not be far away. “Angolans live music, live art. I think your typical Angolan couldn’t live without music,” says Big Nelo, an Angolan music artist who fuses R&B and hip hop with Kizomba—a sensual and graceful music and dance style that is the southwest African nation’s most popular genre and is gaining worldwide exposure.
Big Nelo has performed around the world, but says there is nowhere like Angola for a special evening of music and dance. “Our nightlife is second to none,” he says. “We have a unique and special human warmth and a joyful, warm and welcoming people.”
One visitor who “fell in love” with Angola and its rich artistic culture is Caterina Manzi, CEO of Join Angola, a cultural association NGO which promotes the best of Angola music and culture to visitors from all over the world. “Living here, meeting friends and dancing here—there’s an active, gorgeous culture of artists, dancers and musicians that deserves to be shown to the world,” she says.
“Angola has a lot to offer. We are in the process of changing the perception that foreigners have about our country and even about ourselves and what we want to achieve,” says Da Silva. Angola’s “potential is not yet explored. Its natural beauty is not yet known. There’s huge opportunity for the country and for all of those that are seeking new adventures.”
Such is the popularity of Kizomba that, according to musician C4Pedro, visitors to Angola will see it “on every corner.” The slow rhythms danced to by couples, it is a musical style that calls for fluidity, synchronicity and elegant footwork.
Although the lyrics are predominantly in Portuguese, this has not limited its appeal. Beyond its popularity in Angola, Portugal and Brazil, Kizomba festivals take place all over Europe and even as far as China.
BACK
Broadleaf Forest
Desert
Flooded Grassland
Mangrove
Mountainous Grassland
Savannah
Tropical Forest
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
AGRICULTURE
MINING
MANUFACTURING
Infrastructure
ENERGY
For more information about investment opportunities in Angola visit AIPEX , a one-stop-shop created just for you.
LEARN MORE