So it is time to share the plans for this year, or at least start daydreaming about our bucket list of the places we want to go in 2016:
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1.Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe
In January we are doing an 8-day camping safari through Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Visiting the Okavango Delta, Caprivi region, Chobe National Park and the Victoria Falls… Yupi. Can’t wait for this trip! We are so excited about this true African experience 🙂 We are also going to visit Swakopmund and Dunes in Namibia and experience a few radical adventures like Quad bikes, Sandboarding, and Rafting.
Days: 15
Budget: 2750 USD/person
2. São Tomé and Principe
São Tomé and Principe consists of two islands, situated in the equatorial Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea. The distance between Angola and the islands is 1220 Kilometers and it takes about 1h50 min to get there by plane. They are small islands, São Tomé is 50 km long and 30 km wide, Principe is 30 km wide and 6 km wide, so we can check it through a nice but short road trip. Other than that, we believe it is a nice place to relax, lay by the beach and escape from the craziness of Luanda. It also has National park surrounded by forest, mountains, and waterfalls good for trekking and relieving your stress.
Budget: 1000 USD/person
Days: 7
3. Malange and waterfalls of Kalandula, Angola
Kalandula falls are situated in Malange, 350 km from Luanda, about 5 hours by car. On the Lucala River, the falls, are 105 meters high (344 feet) and 400 meters wide. They are one of the largest waterfalls by volume in Africa. The best time to visit the falls is during the rainy season from September to April. On the way to Malange, we will try to visit the black rocks of Pungo Andongo, they are a series of rock formations, spectacularly shaped in different forms.
Budget: 250 USD/ person
Days: 3 days
4. Lubango, Angola
Lubango is the capital of the Huila province. The distance between Lubango and Luanda is 900 kilometers, to get there it takes about 13h00 by car and 1h20 by plane. The major attractions of Lumbago are the Cristo Rei, Serra da Leba and Fenda da Tundavala. Cristo Rei is a statue of the Christ overlooking the city of Lubango, similar to the ones in Brazil and Portugal, is 30 meters high. Serra da Leba is a mountain range, 50 km from Lubango. It’s impressive for its altitude and for the Serra da Leba pass with 56 curves some quite dangerous – A good rival to our favorite Stelvio pass, in Italy.Fenda da Tundavala situated in Serra da Leba, with an abyss of 1500 mt is quite scaring even to look at. It is said that during the civil war they threw their enemies down the Fenda.
Budget: 500 USD/ person
Days: 4
5. Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian
We always wanted to do this one… go from Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian train. With a length of 9,289 km, it is the longest railway line in the world, it connects Moscow with Vladivostok (the city of Russia’s borders with China and North Korea). The Trans-Mongolian Railway starts in Ulan-Ude (Russia) heads south to Ulaan-Baatar (Mongolia) before making its way southeast to Beijing (China). Our aim is to visit Russia (Moscow and St Petersburg), Mongolia (Ulan Bator, Gobi desert) and China (Beijing, the great wall of China). So we are doing the Trans- Siberian until Ulan-Ude, and then catch the Trans- Mongolian train until Beijing.
Budget: 2500 USD / person
Days: 20
6. South East Asia
This one is tricky, it will depend on our the budget and time available. But if we have those two in the equation, when we finish the Trans-Mongolian instead of returning home we will explore South East Asia.
So Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia are some countries we would like to go. If not we have 2017 🙂
Budget and duration for this are still being planned.
What are your plans for this year? What is your bucket list for 2016?
Wow! I love your list. I’ve done your first trip and I have to say that it is one of our favorites ever! Angola would be interesting to travel around!
Angola has huge potential, but it’s so expensive and difficult to reach… We are trying to take as much advantage of living there to travel as we can 🙂
Interesting plans, I have noticed your budget, do you earn money during your journey or money are already collected 😉 ?
Africa is very expensive to travel, and Luanda the most expensive city in the world (we have made a post about it)
We have been saving for a while to travel 🙂
Amazinig places and great plans – and mostly the destinations that are not really popular with tourists 🙂 (apart from South-East Asia that is)
Living in Angola is itself not the most “popular” with expats
Wow! These are such amazing places!
I’d love to go there too!
Anyway, I hope you will 🙂
Good day to you and a happy new year!
Sybille ♡
The New New Girl
Thank you