Zambia is a poor country, with a massive national debt, high bank rate (over 50%) and substantial inflation - much trade is carried out in dollars or sterling. Although it is three times the size of the United Kingdom, the population is only around 11 million, with about 4 million living in or near Lusaka, the capital. There are huge tracts of undeveloped land, but the finance is not available for development.
Their one time greatest resource, copper mining, is flagging a little, and tourism is only in its infancy, despite several National Parks. But the influx for the 2001 Eclipse (and possibly also the 2002 Eclipse in northern Botswana) may kick start the tourist business. The majority of people are cheerful and friendly, and working to improve their standards of living.
In and around Lusaka
Relatively few people own cars or bicycles, so the streets are always crowded with pedestrians. For longer local journeys the main form of transport is the Minibus, very economical, and always packed full! There are many street sellers, often with stalls at the roadside
There are of course substantial developments, the Eclipse generated a lot of interest, and our local tour operator, Charles, is working hard to build up his business.
Out of Town
It was a different story away from Lusaka. The country is sparsely populated with little traffic on the roads, and small villages dotted around. The main road from Lusaka to Livingstone was undergoing substantial resurfacing, with a couple of rather long diversions!
Out of town schools are often quite a long walk, in this case 3 km of unmade road. But many children are out earning a living, or of course under school age anyway! Maize farming is a major industry, and we passed huge fields of sugar cane.
Drums take a big part in music, particularly for dancing, in these cases on the River Cruise at Maramba, a traditional village dancer and fire eater at Maramba and a professional troupe at Eureka Camp
Village Life
Paul, our driver on the last day at South Luangwa kindly invited us into his village to take some photographs. We met his delightful children (the two on the left) and an extremely photogenic youngster! I believe the ladies with the cooking pot are preparing a local sweet - sugar coated peanuts. Country life is still very traditional.
