West Africa Series: Angola
Title: A Journey Beyond Expectations: Exploring the Contrasts of Luanda, Angola Upon setting foot on the shores of Luanda, Angola, I was immediately met with an indescribable, overpowering stench – an assault on the senses that lingered in the port. This visceral encounter transported me back to the pages of Robert Kaplan's "The Ends of the Earth," a literary companion from my college days where Kaplan chronicles his journeys across West Africa, Central Europe and Asia. Although Angola is not mentioned in the book, Kaplan’s opening section on West Africa is particularly disturbing. Kaplan's poignant narrative, “an odor of sour sweat, rotting fruit, hot iron and dust, urine drying on sun-warmed stone, feces and fly infested meat" serves as a stark metaphor, shedding light on the environmental and human degradation embedded in the fabric of West Africa. Kaplan’s narrative delves into the profound impact of colonialism, illustrating how the weight of history stifl...