Lubango

Lubango sits at around seventeen hundred and sixty metres on the Huila plateau, founded in 1885 by settlers from Madeira, which is why the older architecture has a distinctly Portuguese island character. The altitude makes it cool and green compared with the coast. A Cristo Rei statue stands on the ridge above the city, modelled on the one in Lisbon, and the escarpment edges nearby give the province its best-known viewpoints. It is the base for everything in Huila.

History

About a thousand Portuguese settlers from Madeira came to the area in 1882, and the settlement was founded in 1885 for the island colonists, at 1,760 metres in a valley of the Huíla Plateau; by 1910 more than 1,700 Portuguese lived there, and by 1923 the Moçâmedes Railway linked it with the coast. The Portuguese government made it a city and renamed it Sá da Bandeira after the first Marquis of Sá da Bandeira, and it grew into a farming and transport centre with its own airport and railway works, while Basters who had come from Namibia settled here. After independence it took back the name Lubango (Wikipedia, Lubango).

Highlights

• The Cristo Rei - a Christ statue on the ridge, modelled on the Lisbon original.
• The colonial centre - Madeiran-influenced buildings around the older streets.
• The altitude - a cool green plateau city well above the coastal heat.
• The escarpment - the plateau edge and its viewpoints a short drive away.

When to go

May to September is the dry season, cool and clear, and the best time. The rains from October to April bring afternoon storms and green landscape. Nights are cold in the dry months.

What to expect

The city itself has limited sightseeing; it is a base rather than a destination. Prices are high relative to what is offered. Portuguese is essential outside hotels.

Nearby

Tundavala is on the escarpment above, and Serra da Leba is on the road down to the coast.

Key facts