Located at the central coast of Angola and has got 9 districts namely: Benguela, Farta Bay, Balombo, Bocoio, Caimbambo, Chongoroi, Cubal, Ganda and Lobito covering 37,802 km2.
Benguela is known by its beaches and the harbour of Lobito which is the second most important in the country. The main cities are Benguela, Lobito and Farta Bay Did you know that: Benguela is known as the city of Acacias Rubras, because of the presence of acacia trees spread along its streets?
The weather is tropical arid and average temperature is around 24ºC through out the year. The cold wind coming from Antarctic mode-rates the temperatures in the region and reduces humidity.
Concerning altitude, we can divide the province into three different zones: littoral zone with altitude going from 0 to 500m, the central area zone with 500 to 1200m and the east zone with altitude over 1500m.
The fauna comprises basically of Zebras, Lions, Elephants, Olongos, Golungos, Buffalos, Leopard, Nanny goats, Ongivas, which can be found at Mamué at the border with Namibe province. The population is basically from Umbundu origin and Nganguela. The most spoken language is Umbundu.
The main activity is agriculture, cattle breeding and fishing. The Benguela railways (CFB) which was intended to cross the country up to the border with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, was important for the development of the region and it represented a commercial trading centre with importance in Africa.
It played an important role for the social and economical development of Angola. The history of Lobito is usually confused with the history of CFB.
Did you know that: because of the Benguela railways (CFB) the Belgian government has given 3.000km2 to Portugal by contract and the frontier advanced 100km towards east?
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