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The building of Camp Rio Longa |
| On the 8th of August 2002, the owner of Wings
over Africa, Henk Burger and his small team arrived at the site where
Camp Rio Longa stands today and started with the construction of the ‘river
transport barge’ which was to transport all the building materials
to the island. |
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| Henk’s small team consisted of Boytjie;
a carpenter and plumber from Rehoboth, Mervin; |
| also a carpenter from Rehoboth and
Riaan from Henties Bay who was responsible for the transport of
all the building materials. |
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| Henk, was a man with a dream; a dream
and a ‘time frame’ which most thought impossible, but the
word “impossible” was and still is unknown to Henk and
his team. |
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| And so this committed team of 4 started
with the epic task of employing and training twenty two local Angolan
men from the neighouring villages and then the of importing and transporting
the materials by air, land and sea to the Longa River and Henk, Boytjie
and Mervin started with the mammoth undertaking of building a luxury
wilderness lodge on this remote paradise island. |
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| Henk’s
dream materialised when they completed the Entertainment Area and four
accommodation units by the 11th of November 2002 on Angola’s
Independence Day and welcomed the first guests (Charles Norman and
his fishing group) to Camp Rio Longa on
the 18th of November 2002. |
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| Together with all the efforts put
in by the Henk and his team, it must be noted that this “dream” was
only made possible due to the fact that our Angolan partners had the
foresight invest and develop the tourist industry in their country.
Our Angolan partners were committed to give all the assistance that
Henk
needed in order to achieve the goal which he set out for himself.
With tourism being in its infant stages in the country they too had
to deal with all the problems associated with trying to develop a new
industry in the country’s economy and this was done in the most
efficient way because of our dedicated Angolan partners. Their involvement
was imperative for the success of the lodge. |
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| Camp Rio
Longa pays special tribute
to the local community; who played a significant role with their assistance
in the actual building of the lodge. They were ever helpful and their
hard working and honest habits served to be a great advantage to get
the lodge built in such a remote area. |
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Camp Rio
Longa is operated by Wings
over Africa.
Wings’ over Africa has air charter offices in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Luanda.
Our air charter services, both passenger and cargo operate throughout
the African continent.
Wings over Africa is a family owned and run business,
our company
comprises of a team young, dynamic professionals who are totally
dedicated to service standards and customer care. |
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The following are sister companies
to Wings over Africa Charters -
• Wings Over Africa Fuel (Eros Airport, Windhoek)
• Rundu Fuel and Storage (Northern Namibia)
• Windhoek Flight Training Centre (Windhoek)
• Camp Rio Longa (Angola) |
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