The striking rock formation at Iona, in Tombwa, is one of the province’s most popular tourist attractions.

Although Angolan government forces are making great strides to contain UNITA rebels to certain regions while pushing them out of the diamond-rich Cuango River valley and other guerrilla strongholds, visitors wishing to take advantage of the country’s tourist facilities are advised to seek out strife-free areas such as the peaceful province of Namibe.
Mother Nature has blessed Namibe with a mild Mediterranean-like climate despite its geographical location far down along the Atlantic coast in sub-Saharan Africa. The province also boasts a wide variety of landscapes that feature some of the world’s most fascinating flora and fauna.

Adventure enthusiasts who appreciate wide-open spaces have the world’s oldest desert, the mythical Namib Desert, right at their doorstep. Also to be found in Namibe is the Iona National Park, Angola’s largest and a reserve for endangered wild animals, which has become one of the government’s top priorities. As for tourism development, the province offers countless and varied investment opportunities.
“For us, tourism is a socio-economic development issue. Our keen interest in foreign investment in the sector,
especially from reliable U.S. investors, lies in the fact that we have all the necessary ingredients for quality tourism,” explains Namibe Governor Salomao Xirimbimbi.
“We have beautiful beaches, clean water and a long stretch of coast that is ideal for aquatic sports of all kinds, including fishing,” Mr. Xirimbimbi points out. “The U.S. ambassador in Luanda has visited the province and was very impressed. In fact, he keeps joking that I should buy a private home so he can come down here more often as a tourist.”

The governor also likes to point out that Namibe possesses a natural environment ideal for a resort similar to the one in South Africa called Sun City, which was built and developed by several American companies.
“Here we have an area known as the Zone of Arco, which is a Sun City-like location, but it is all natural. So it would not be necessary to build a Sun City here because one has already been built by nature. What remains to be done is setting up the infrastructure with development capital,” Mr. Xirimbimbi explains.
“The province of Namibe also has several sites that would be excellent locations for casinos. The Baia Dos Tigres, for example, is on a corner of an island just off the coast. It is an isolated area that could easily be turned into a sort of Angolan Las Vegas or a luxury resort complex,” the governor says.

Promotion has been one of the biggest barriers to the development of Namibe’s tourism industry, he notes, but measures are underway to remedy the shortcoming.
“We are working to set up an Internet website for the province. This would make it much easier for us to relay our message to the world. We are also preparing conferences and workshops to be visited by key players in the international tourism industry. All this will make it much simpler for the U.S. investor to become informed on the opportunities the sector offers in Namibe,” Mr. Xirimbimbi points out.