Expat Life in Luanda, Angola - Part Three
travel, stores, quality & cost of goods
Are you considering moving to Luanda, Angola for an expat assignment? Then you’re in the right place. I lived in Luanda for 3.5 years as an American expat and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about being an expat in Luanda.
Welcome back to my “Expat Life in Luanda, Angola” three part series. If you haven’t read the first two articles in this series, be sure to check them out! In the first article, I discuss the topics of poverty, food and expat housing. I also share more of my background and life in Angola.
And don’t miss the second part in this series where the topics of driving, safety and Portuguese are covered!
Now that you’ve read part one and two, let’s jump right into this article's topics…
Travel
Travel from Luanda isn’t too bad but you are pretty isolated from the US. When we lived in Luanda, there was the Houston Express which flew directly between Houston and Luanda because there were so many oilfield expats living in Luanda. However, I’m not sure if the flight is still in service. There are plenty of flights to Europe; they’re around an 8 hour overnight flight. And there are direct flights to Frankfurt, Paris, London, Brussels and Lisbon (be sure to check as flights change all the time).
If you have a short holiday or a week, some of my favorite destinations from Luanda are South Africa, East Africa and Dubai (in my opinion). Emirates Airways has a direct flight a few times a week between Dubai and Luanda that’s only 6 hours in duration. We went to Dubai twice during our time in Luanda and the flight was very quick. There’s direct flights between Nairobi and Luanda as well if you’re interested in doing safaris in east africa (you definitely should!)
And finally, the quickest and easiest travel from Luanda is to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. South Africa is a great destination to have only a 3 hour flight away from Angola because there’s so much to do. We went to Cape Town at least 5 times while we lived in Angola and I made this list of my favorite things to do in Cape Town. You can spend as little as a few days recuperating from life in Luanda or as much as a few weeks travelling around South Africa!
Stores
There are nice grocery stores in Luanda where most of the expats shop, including Candando, Kero, Casa dos Frescos and Shoprite. But expect to pay high prices for any goods shipped in from South Africa or Brazil. The food made locally in Angola will be less expensive, but most items in these higher end grocery stores will have a markup regardless if they’re Angolan products or not.
Belas Shopping is a shopping mall located in Talatona (a “suburb” of Luanda where most expats and Luanda’s elite live) and it offers many home goods and clothing shops. There was also a large food court with some good places to eat. We would go there on Sundays and I would have KFC and my husband would get Gula Gula, which was one of those buffett style restaurants I discussed in the first blog of this series. Belas Shopping also had some cell phone companies and internet providers located there so it was a good place to go and get all your needs met.
I did most of my shopping in Luanda Sul/Talatona at the above-mentioned stores but there were other places to buy goods as well. Kinda Home is similar to IKEA and located well outside of the city. When I would go there, I would plan for a 4 hour trip and eat lunch at their onsite restaurant. But a quick online search shows me they opened a new one inside the city in the neighborhood of Nova Vida. Nova Vida is an up and coming neighborhood that has a few good grocery stores and another shopping mall called Xyami Shopping.
There are also many stores in downtown Luanda where you could buy electronics, gifts/souvenirs, home goods and of course soccer team gear.
You are able to find goods in Angola and I think the availability is only getting better each year. But the quality and cost of those goods is something you’ll need to watch out for.
Access and Cost of Goods
As a westerner, the cost of living in Luanda, Angola is very high. Prices are constantly changing with the inflation rate. However, if you are earning a salary in a stable currency (USD, Euros, etc.) then the currency exchange rate will work in your favor. I wrote a blog post specifically about exchanging USD in Luanda, Angola. Be sure to read it if you’re considering moving to Luanda. But even though you will be able to buy more Kwanza with your stable currency, don’t forget the price of goods will also continue to rise.
Many restaurant menus will not have prices listed because they change weekly. Or they will have a small sticker with the price so the restaurant can place a new sticker on top each week or month - basically whenever they need to raise their menu prices.
And in grocery stores, a lot of times you’ll see signage that reads “current prices at the register”. This means you shouldn’t be surprised if the item rings up higher than the price listed on the shelf! Everyone living in Luanda understands why this happens and it’s perfectly acceptable there. Normally, I would take much more Kwanza with me than what I needed when I went grocery shopping to ensure I always had enough.
If you are earning money in Kwanza, do not expect to go out to the fancy restaurants and bars or shop at the nicer grocery stores because the cost will be too high. It was pretty widely known that only the very wealthy Angolans or expats could afford much of the entertainment, stores and food in Luanda.
Quality of Goods
The quality of goods is usually not very high in Luanda, Angola. Let’s take pillows, for example. Of course they have pillows you can buy in Luanda but to me they were not comfortable. And the prices would be very high for sub-par quality items. So that uncomfortable pillow would probably cost you the equivalent of $80 USD. It was cheaper to vacuum seal a pillow from the USA and add it in a suitcase.
Packing Your Airplane Luggage
When moving to Luanda, I suggest taking every comfort from home with you on the airplane that you reasonably can. Yes, I understand excess luggage can cost $150 each...but in my opinion it is worth the cost. Also, many companies will provide you with a luggage allowance. Ours was about $1200/year and while it didn’t fully cover our luggage costs, it helped.
Having creature comforts from your home country will make your everyday life in Luanda easier. There will be many hard days ahead of you. You’ll be grateful when you have items that make you feel like you’re back home during those times.
Conclusion - Should You Move to Luanda?
Looking back, I can now say I loved living as an expat in Luanda, Angola. But I know that’s because I’m on the other side of it. Now, I can look back fondly on my time there. And of course there were many good times and I met so many amazing people (from Angola and all over the world). But when I was in the day-to-day trenches of actually living in Luanda, it was really hard.
Living in Luanda is not a vacation or for those seeking a glamorous expat post. There were really hard days. Days where I would ask my driver to take me to the park so I could sit on a bench and cry during my lunch break. Days when all I wanted to do was move home. Days when I felt trapped there. Days when I refused to leave my house because I wanted to pretend I was back in the USA. Days when I would drink an entire bottle of South African Pinotage. But I persevered and I’m so glad I did. I learned so much about living in a completely different culture, Angola and Africa.
And most importantly, I learned a lot about myself, my capacity, skills, limits and abilities. That is what I’m most proud of when I look back at my time living in Luanda - that I didn’t give up and I kept going and trying to assimilate. And finally, I did make that assignment a success for myself and my husband. We look back very fondly of the time we spent in Angola. Now I consider Angola a forever home of mine and I actually miss it at times! I hope one day I can go back.
Living in Luanda isn’t easy but I still 100% recommend it if your company offers expat assignments there. If after reading these blogs you’re still interested in moving there then I think you should and you will be successful at it. Luanda will make you a stronger person and will remain in your heart forever.
But if you read through these three blogs and feel concerned or nervous about moving to Luanda, Angola then maybe you should do some more research or hold off.
In the past, the company we worked for would not send first-time expats to Angola and there’s clearly a reason for that. I definitely think it would have been easier to start expat life in an “easier” location like Thailand or the UK then move to Angola. But I’m glad we started off in Angola. It was good for us but you need to be self aware of what you and your family can handle or want out of life.
If you’re ready to live in a city and country that will challenge you quite often, then Luanda will make a great expat location for you.
If you’re ready to take the plunge and move abroad, check out my ultimate overseas packing checklist which has everything you need to make your new country a home!
I also have a Luanda Activity List with over 40 activities you have to do when you move to or visit Luanda, Angola! Get it here!
Please leave any questions you have about Angola life below. I would love to help anyone out that’s moving there and has specific questions.
