What you need to know about Huambo

Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa, is the capital of the province of Huambo in Angola. The city is located about 220 km E from Benguela and 600 km SE from Luanda. The city is the second largest in Angola, after the capital city, Luanda. Huambo is a main hub on the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB) (the Benguela Railway), which runs from the port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s southernmost province, Katanga. Huambo is served by the Albano Machado Airport (formerly Nova Lisboa Airport).
Situated in the Angolan central highlands, Huambo is located near the headwaters of the Kunene River.

Population: 822,000
Area: 2 609 km²


Huambo features a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwb), with a wet season from October through April and a dry season between May and September. Despite its location in the tropics, due to its high altitude, Huambo features spring-like temperatures throughout the course of the year, a characteristic common among cities with this climate. The city sees plentiful precipitation during the course of the year, averaging nearly 1500 mm of rain. Temperatures in Huambo are only slightly higher than in city of Pretoria located almost 2000 km further south-east.

The main activity of the population is agriculture and the province was once considered the barn of Angola, with crop being the main maize.
The province was badly affected by the war and is under reconstruction and working to regain the country’s second industrial park.
Mineral reserves are yet to be explored and in terms of tourism is a region with enormous potential because of its rivers and elevations that allow ecotourism, adventure sports etc.


