Travelers accept solo trips with unfamiliar faces
Solo trips with strangers have become popular as travelers seek freedom, reflection and authentic experiences.
- A group of African Americans traveled to Angola to explore their ancestral roots and learn about the transatlantic slave trade.
- The trip aims to promote and recognize healing between African Americans and Angola, and participants call it a life-changing experience.
Masangano, Angola – As the sun hit us, we slowly walked along the dirt roads, stirring up red dust towards the centuries-old fort on the hill here.
The chatter has subsided. The 21 of us understood the gravity of the moment. We were terrified of history lessons first.
On one side of the road there was still a church built by the Portuguese in the 15th century. On the other side was the Kwanza River for centuries of masking its beauty, which transported human cargo.
It was in the villages that about 400 years ago, the Angolans marched into enslavement lives on distant lands, including those that would likely become America.
Masangano, east of the Angola capital Luanda, was one of several stops on the Tucker family’s Angola heritage tour. The group of Americans took a tour early this summer to explore places that the Angolans were forced to leave but still remember.
The timing of the 10-day trip made it special. That was 50th Angola’s independence from Portugal. And it was the fifth time the Tucker family in Hampton, Virginia had their annual heritage tour.
At the heart of the tour was an effort to recognize the relationship between African Americans and Africans and the rich history that bound us. Just like her daughter Amaya and sister Serena, the trip was a constant tour.
We were seeing an increasing number of African Americans wanting to learn more about the roots of our American and our fatherland ancestors.
It tells the powerful story of resilient people who tried to fight Enthravah, including Portuguese and fellow Africans.
“We don’t want to change history,” said tour guide Fernando Kabrai. “you can’t.”
There were bumpy rides along the black roads, with people speaking in languages that we didn’t understand, including Portuguese and local dialects.
Tears blew when the village leaders and guides recounted the painful history of slavery. But there was smiles, laughs, and Amen as we learned about the culture and people, including Queen Nazinga, who refused to succumb to the colonists.
It was a journey, not a holiday.
“You’re making a difference.”
For the dynamic people of the tour, it was a richer experience. There were educators, city leaders of Hampton, university students, business owners, retired people, and opera singers. They ranged from 20 to 83 years old.
Some of my fellow travelers were called The Trip Life-changing. Educators said they left better equipment to teach our history.
“You’re making a difference by being here,” Carolita Jones Cope, travel coordinator and Tucker’s family, told the group.
We visited the National Museum of Slavery, the Museum of Anthropology, the breathtaking Carandara Falls and the Black Rocks of Pangoandongo.
We celebrated Angolan culture and art on a walking tour in Luanda, paying homage to those enslaved centuries ago.
At one stop, our Angolan friends sang their national anthem. We proudly continued to “sing and sing with all our voices.”
We spent the night learning Senba, a high-spiritual Angolan dance, ran out fans and showed off our friend’s “boots,” a popular line dance at home.
We were amazed as the landscape transformed from a crowded city centre to dusty villages and majestic rock formations. We were immersed in the beauty of Angola.
“The importance of healing”
Tuckers believes they are two descendants of about 20 Africans who were believed to have been taken away from the interior of Angola in 1619 and taken to the British colony of Hampton.
more: In 2019, USA Today took me to Angola. Last year, I went back to the “home” with my family.
They were treated as special guests and were fully equipped with police escorts. They were greeted by Sobas (the village chief) and the Minister of State. Each of us was blessed by the king before we climbed the black rock.
“Welcome,” the local official said repeatedly.
The story continues below.
“Homecoming”: invited to Africa as a guest of the US President
Wanda Tucker visits Angola and encourages more Americans to explore and preserve family history.
At one stop, Hampton’s vice-mayor Steve Brown shared that his city is not proud of its role in slavery, but he cherished the sister city partnership with Marange, an Angola city we visited.
“We recognize the importance of healing,” Brown said. “We recognize the importance of working together.”
A long journey
Tuckers began a family tour after Wanda Tucker traveled to Angola with USA Today in 2019 as part of the 1619 Searching for Answers project.
The tour, sponsored by the William Tucker 1964 Society, is a nonprofit organization founded to educate people about family history and became an annual trip.
$3,000 per person covered ground transport to sites, meals, private tours and accommodation, including five-star hotels like the countryside of Cajonbo Resort.
Angola helped not require a tourist visa for those staying less than 30 days.
The airfares we booked ourselves ran about $2,000 each. Be prepared for a long trip. The flight, including stops in Ethiopia, took over 20 hours.
You need to be passionate about taking this journey. And we were.
Bring toilet paper with you
Stay patient and stuff with toilet paper. Finding toilet paper in places with “modern convenience” or in toilets can be difficult.
There were other challenges. Our bus driver had to navigate around some road crater-sized potholes. Historic sites may be several hours apart.
Mobile phone services are particularly uneven inside. Bring the European block and charge your phone.
We reminded us not to drink water repeatedly. Some of our group paid a price to forget.
In some respects, the country is still recovering from the 27 civil war that ended in 2002.
“We’re going to write history rather than erase it.”
Angola is still working on ways to leverage the African American heritage tourism market. Ghana has long been a destination for African Americans to learn more about their starving ancestors and slavery. Ghana is an English-speaking country with better infrastructure and is understood when it comes to its slave castles.
However, in December, Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to visit Angola, acknowledging his ties to slavery.
“We’re going to write history rather than erase it,” Biden told the crowd, seeing him from the foot of the National Museum of Slavery.
The museum is the gateway for once enslaved Angolans to board their boats, reminiscent of its history. Shackles are for glass. The wall features a baptism bowl that was used to baptize captured Africans before being given a new name and pushed against the ship.
We were standing at the doorway where they were the last time they were in Angola soil.
more: She was captured, enslaved and survived. Meet Angela, the first African woman named in Jamestown
While boosting tourism is the goal, Angolan officials also hope that more Americans will invest not only in their own countries but also in other African countries. “The future of the world lies in Africa,” Joa Diogo Gaspa, governor of Quanza Norte, the province of Angola, told me.
Back home, the day after my trip, when my daughter took a friend to the Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, she had a fresh experience that history books couldn’t teach, and it warmed my heart.
more: I was writing about America’s first Africans during the colonial era. I was also determined to find my ancestors.
The museum’s exhibition on the transatlantic slave trade featured a photograph of Queen Nuzinga. Amaya was able to share the way that she had just climbed the layer of black rock that the Queen had tried to protect her people.
That alone was worth the trip.
