Getting To Know Zambia: Learning In Lusaka

Eleven hours on a bus gives you, amongst other things, plenty of time to think and, in the case of our monster trek to Lusaka, the chance to reflect on our three weeks in Malawi. Did we enjoy it? There were many elements which we absolutely loved, but we’re not certain that “enjoy” is an appropriate word, simply because life is so different, and because so many things are decidedly difficult, that travelling the country requires constant effort.

Let’s start with the good. Wonderful scenery, amazing locations, and a population which effortlessly earns its reputation as the “warm heart of Africa”. Friendly, helpful people everywhere. However, Malawi is a very under developed country and the lack of infrastructure is at times a challenge. Getting anywhere, even over short distances, is an exercise in logistics. In addition, there may be some great points from which to view magnificent scenery, but each location is otherwise very limited in terms of worthwhile destinations. It’s not like you’ll find a wealth of museums, architecture or iconic buildings, it’s just not like that. Nor will you find organised walking trails or the like. All this, coupled with the difficulty of getting around, feels a little….restrictive.

Lastly, we are not usually in the habit of eating, and thus spending our evenings, at the accommodation in which we stay. In Malawi there are really no alternatives, the lack of infrastructure and lack of development means that restaurants as we know them don’t exist in any number. Or indeed at all. Following on from Kenya safari where evenings were inevitably spent at our remote lodge, there’s only really been Diani, and to a lesser extent Cape Maclear, where we’ve had the freedom to “go out”. It feels like there’s a piece of our travel jigsaw missing, as a result.

Conclusions? Malawi is a beautiful country with spectacular scenery and lovely people, but it’s not without its challenges. Fair to say it wouldn’t be everyone’s ideal destination……especially if you aren’t willing to risk driving. For us, with the benefit of a rental car, the positives easily outweighed those negatives and we have experienced a beautiful country.

And so to Zambia, by reputation one of Africa’s more peaceful, stable countries and one with, on the face of it anyway, a genuine democracy. As we make our way on, we are expecting to find that Malawi remains the least developed country we see, and that things will change noticeably as the journey unfolds. Lusaka suggests that we have made a correct assumption in that respect.

Our passage through Zambia will be a brief one now, due to a change of plan – a change of plan born entirely out of economics and budgeting. In fact, we weren’t even meant to be in Lusaka yet, the intention was to spend a night in Chipata and then head up to the national park at South Luangwa, but the cost of that option was enough to blow our minds let alone our budget. More than one safari lodge wanted more than £3,000 for a 3-night stay…no, really, they did. The cheapest we found was around £850. Do we really want to spend that much money on three days doing something we’ve already done in Kenya and will be doing again in Namibia? No, is the short answer.

And so we’re in Lusaka instead, where the subject which dominates every conversation is drought. “The south has had no rain in nearly two years”, someone said back in Chipata; it’s the first subject anyone talks about here in Lusaka, and it’s the opening item when we catch a glimpse of TV news. It’s also one of the main reasons behind the “power shedding” policy of the Government, long bouts of power outage across the entire nation, which seemingly started out at 4 hours per session but are now regularly longer than 24 hours.

With limited time here we take the unusual step, for us, of pre-ordering a guide for a walking tour of the city on our first day in Lusaka. Darius is good, too, talking us through Zambia’s complex history, diverse population and current political situation, as well as taking us on a tour which really shows the city’s different sides, from the cramped downtown with its manic markets to the gleaming shopping malls which feel no different from the West, and to the grand embassies and parliamentary buildings of which photography is strictly illegal.

Freedom monument, Lusaka

Lusaka is sprawling and not necessarily spectacular, but is striking in one very definite way. On the journey here we spent long hours watching rural Zambia pass by the bus window, looking like little or nothing has changed in a very long time: straw and bamboo houses, tribal communities and tiny remote villages where roadside fires and idle bodies were the dominant sights. Here in Lusaka, we’re in a different world, one where evidence of investment is clear, where there are cinemas and well stocked supermarkets, where KFC, Shoprite and Steers betray footholds from other economies. Two different worlds in one country, already.

Darius is proud of recent developments in Zambia, proud of what he believes is its genuine democracy, supportive of the Government’s efforts to strengthen the economy (“we’re doing alright” is his stock commentary), and happy to try and explain Zambia’s complex story.

He whets our appetite enough for us to make a beeline next day for the National Museum, where we try our damnedest to understand that complex tale. The museum is, as Darius was, eulogistic in its praise of national hero Kenneth Kaunda – in fact about a quarter of its floor space is dedicated to a veritable Kaunda biography. Our feeling is that not only is that idolisation justified but so is the praise for subsequent Governments and Presidents – after all, achieving relative peace, harmony and democracy in a country with 73 different ethnic groups is pretty impressive. And that number of 73 doesn’t include latter day immigrants from Europe and elsewhere.

Within the museum, a map of the historical migrations of the different tribes and where those people are now settled, really brings home the reality of this disparate population, not least in the fact that more than 70 different tribal languages are still spoken within Zambia’s borders. The museum walks us through the different eras of the country, through its time as Northern Rhodesia and the period of British control managed virtually entirely by the British South Africa Company run by Cecil Rhodes. Sections of the narrative are less than complimentary about the so called “Scramble for Africa” when European powers competed to exploit the natural resources of the region.

In answer to our questions, Darius tells us that contemporary Zambians view the British colonial era with mixed feelings. There is an awareness that “we” brought structure, organisation and strength to the economy, but it is coupled with a resentment that we unashamedly plundered the region’s resources. Well, like it or not, that’s precisely what colonising nations did. All of them.

Rhodes it was who conceived of the grandiose scheme of the Cape To Cairo Railway, which, had it been completed, would have been a monumental civil engineering project enabling freight to travel the whole length of the continent in both directions. It didn’t, of course, ever get completed, but the sections that do exist have and still do enable Zambia to export its natural resources such as copper. Which of course was always one of Rhodes’s money making aims. As a result, Zambia has direct rail access to two ports, Cape Town and Dar Es Salaam, the Dar alternative being prioritised as a second alternative during the years of sanctions against trade with South Africa.

Our relationship with Lusaka has been a bit like travellers’ speed dating, a rapid intake of information which no doubt only scratches the surface of the complex character beneath. Lusaka is not what anyone could call an attractive city, its modern advances having plainly been piecemeal, resulting in odd juxtaposing of old, new, decrepit, shiny, traditional and blandly modern. The only real buzz is around the markets where the atmosphere is lively and edgy at the same time: don’t walk through here with unguarded pockets.

There are though some peaceful green spaces, a bold Anglican cathedral and a sight which has followed us through two countries: the improbable but stunning colour of the jacaranda blossoms painting amazing deep lilac blotches against both city concrete and rural dust.

Our speed dating session is done. We journey south again now, teaming up once again with our old friend David Livingstone in the city which bears his name.

Taking the road out of Lusaka towards the airport it feels irreconcilable that we are still in the same country as the empty barren lands and remote tribal villages that we spent hours passing on the bus a few short days ago.  Miles and miles of ever more arid land and skeletal leafless trees passed by that day, dotted by market clusters reminiscent of Malawi, and the occasional bush village with bamboo roofs on tiny houses. Now, on the airport road, it’s swanky head offices of insurance companies, giant hotels with in-house casinos and drive thru fast food outlets. The two faces of Zambia are poles apart, one covering the greater part of the country’s geography, the other the lion’s share of its economy. It’s hard to imagine how the two halves ever meet.

The airport is clean and modern too, and today the domestic terminal is quiet and relaxed. There’s an endearing bit of “old school” about it as we walk across the concrete apron to our waiting prop plane rather than being ferried a couple of hundred yards by bus like at most airports.

Just under an hour later the little prop plane is touching down at Livingstone and we’re smiling at the fact that the luggage carousel is a static wooden bench. We’re further amused when our backpacks are two of the first three bags out.

And so to Livingstone where the mighty Zambezi forms the border with Zimbabwe and cascades over the Victoria Falls….