Rulan Heunis, a retired Eastern Cape engineer and businessman, has visited southwestern Angola before, but last year he and a guide explored the north and east. In the three months they spent there (no, him and his wife aren’t divorced), they became well-acquainted with their recovery equipment.

Angola is not ready to host tourists at all, and the east of the country poses a formidable challenge to experienced 4x4 enthusiasts − even those with a masochistic streak.

The distances are huge, the roads extremely bad throughout and there are simply no tourism facilities. Nowhere in eastern Angola for example, could we find a single mechanic who vaguely fits the description of reliable and acceptable.

It is, of course, a place that provides abundant opportunities to adrenaline junkies. On a majestic scale, eastern Angola offers exposure to a distinctive lifestyle, best described as “designer dilapidation”.

If you therefore want to visit the east of Angola by road, consider it carefully, and prepare well before hitting the road.

Conditions are better along the west coast.

Tourist facilities are still very limited, but the roads are generally better, fuel more readily available and there is little to no danger of landmines.

This makes the west coast very attractive to people who like exploring distant and foreign places.

In the south, the coast is an angler’s paradise, but don’t travel along the coastline south of Tombua without an experienced guide.

I go cold when I recall how the sea at Baía dos Tigres almost claimed my vehicle, and that was right at the start of the tour.

Very little information is available about planning a trip to Angola.

Some internet reports have useful information, but it’s probably best just to go, inquiring and discovering things as you go along.

It is precisely this uncertainty which makes Angola that much more interesting than other destinations to the south.