Boundless deserts, vast coastal plains and a maze of tributaries and rivers binding like veins across the country, Angola has all the biodiversity and landscapes you could imagine.
As the seventh largest country in Africa and the 24th largest in the world, its coastline on the southwest of Southern Africa welcomes the mysterious expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, journeying through tropical rainforests in the north and the hills and mountains of the western-central highlands.
Its population of 36 million people shares borders with neighbours Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Zambia – making it flush with the cultural magnificence of different influences and ethnicities.
Today, the three main ethnic groups are Ovimbundu, Ambundu and Bakongo, and over 90 different tribal groups make up its small indigenous population.
In this feature, we share beautiful portraits and rare imagery from life with some of Angola’s most isolated tribes, such as the Ovanguendelengo, Ovakuvale, Ovahanda, Ovahimba, Ovadhimba, Ovatwa, Ovamwila, Ovahakaona and Ovangambwe people living in the south provinces of Namibe and Cunene.
Reports estimate that around 25,000 of the total population are indigenous.
Groups often live in complete isolation or a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on their sheep or goats. For the most part, they are untouched by the invasive cloud of westernisation that gained ground after Dutch and Portuguese colonisation in the 15th century.
The kaleidoscope of bright colours within their clothing and materials defines their spirit against the backdrop of brown and beige arid desert landscapes – a terrain that is increasing due to desertification.
Many women like the Ovamwila significantly alter their appearance as they grow from girls to women and will often use different necklaces or hairstyles such as braids and dreadlocks to symbolise the change. Young women, once married, often have braids called nontombe – when hair is coated with a mixture of red and yellow ochre, oils, manure, herbs and crushed tree bark.Ovakuvale tribal women traditionally wear an ompota – a large square or rectangular headpiece made of colourful fabric. Their bra, called an oyonduthi, is a strap that is tied around their breasts to stop movement as they walk. Many tribal women go about daily life.
bare-breasted, free from the conservatism of Western life – they are living in the present as they are – as they have always been.
The Ovahakaona have distinct hairstyles and braids and often a front piece that is coated in black plant resin. Their tribal accessories include fine colourful beads mixed with cowrie shells.
The Ovadhimba dress with multicoloured headscarves, while the Ovahimba wear an erembi headdress made from sheepskin. Older Ovamwila women have striking necklaces called vilanda that are stacked from the décolletage area to the chin – they don’t like to take it off and the weight means that they sleep on a headrest at night.
What is wealth?
Full to bursting with the world’s natural resources, such as diamonds, gold, copper, iron and petroleum, you would think that Angola is one of the world’s wealthiest countries, but despite living above the earth’s riches, it remains one of Africa’s poorest – with corruption, weak governance and a history of war blighting economic development.
Even today, the country’s self-penned ‘elite’ make news headlines in cases of suspected fraud. But these are the riches that capitalists and those who are unconnected to the land pursue. At Fifty Four mag, as we platform and exalt Angola’s tribal groups, we share riches of an age-old, deeper, spiritual dimension – the cultural wealth of lasting traditions of the people that have come before us.
Angolan facts
- Portuguese is the official language but at home tribal languages are often spoken such as Umbundu, Kikongo and Kimbundu.
- Around 25,000 of the total population are indigenous.
- The Angolan Civil War saw over 30 years of conflict, rooted in an anti-colonial uprising but also tribal and regional tensions.
- The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that 1.3 million people in southwestern provinces are facing severe hunger.
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