Zambia Travel - A Safari at the Heart of Africa

Zambia is a well kept secret in the heart of Africa. It has emerged in recent years as an engaging attraction to tempt even the most well travelled. The country is endowed with a wealth of beautiful sceneries, magnificent physical features, unspoilt swathes of plains and an abundance of wildlife. The highlights for the visitor are its national parks - for the animals and bird-life; Victoria falls -one of the world's most outstanding natural attractions, and the Zambezi river- which offers adventure types great canoeing, white-water rafting and bungee jumping.

Zambia lies in the northern frontier of southern Africa, and is squashed between East and Central Africa. This landlocked country has more neighbours than any country needs. It shares its borders with eight countries: Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi and Mozambique to the east, Zimbabwe to the south-east, Botswana and Namibia to the south, Angola to the west and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north-west.

Zambia's capital and its largest city is Lusaka. The city sits on the site of a historic village, and is named after Lusaaka -the village headsman at its modern foundation. The railway arrived here in 1905, and for this reason and its fairly central location in the country, Lusaka snatched the privilege of hosting the capital from Livingstone in 1935.

The city today serves as Zambia's nerve centre for its social, economic and cultural life. Lusaka is the country's transport hub and is the usual entry port for international visitors. It is linked by direct flights from Europe, and has connections via regional hubs in Kenya and South Africa.

Almost half of Zambia's people live in urban areas. The people are predominantly Bantu, and converse in more than 70 languages. Some of the common tongues are Bemba, Lozi, Kaonda, Luvale, Tonga, and English is widely spoken, and is the country's official language. The people’s staple food is nsima -a form of fire-baked maize meal, which in its many forms is popular in many other parts of Africa. Nsima is usually relished with vegetables, meat dishes, fermented milk and sometimes stewed beans.

Stretching over 750,000 sq. km, Zambia is in the most an elevated tableland out laid with numerous river valleys, and occasionally interrupted by hills and mountains. The flora is mainly woodlands, flooded grass plains and riverine forests. The woodlands are commonly of the miombo, mopane and baikraea variety.

The country enjoys a network of rivers, and a good numbers of lakes. It is cushioned between two of Africa's major river basins: the Congo in the north, and the Zambezi to the south. Within Zambia, mighty Zambezi is strengthened principally by the Luangwa and Kafue rivers. The Zambezi ultimately crushes into Victoria Falls, and then flows steadily into Lake Kariba.

The area between the Zambezi and the Lake Tanganyika Valley is virtually high plateau. Moving from south to north, the plateau rises from 1,000 m to about 2,000 m. Towards the Malawi border, Zambia’s hill country emerges at Mafinga Hills, which is at its highest at Kongera (2,187 m) - also the country’s highest point. Towards the west, the hills face off with the Muchinga Mountains, standing at 1,892 m.

The territory that is today referred to as Zambia was originally inhabited by San bushmen -a hunter-gatherer peoples. Around the 4th century BC, a southward bound Bantu migration brought new inhabitants to the region. The Bantu were a sedentary lot of farmers, who also traded in iron, copper and pottery wares. They established themselves on their new lands and created kingdoms such as Barotseland of the Lozi people.

From about 1000 AD, the Bantu were trading with Arabs from their East African coast bases, and later in the 18th century with the Portuguese who had established in Mozambique. Ivory, cotton textiles, and slaves were the most common trade fare, while copper was the means of exchange.

Dr. David Livingstone in 1851 was the first European on record to set foot in Zambia. Livingstone was a was a British missionary, whose business in these parts was to look for a route into the interior of southern Africa, and he also hoped to introduce Christianity. Though not very successful himself, he paved the way for other missionaries, and fought a good fight against the terrible slave trade.

By 1888, the territory came under the control of the British South Africa Company (BSAC). BSAC eventually named it Northern Rhodesia, and set their base in the city of Livingstone. In 1924 the territory was put under the direct control of the British crown. Mineral wealth kept the British quite busy in this colony, and it is only after a long struggle that they granted Northern Rhodesia independence in 1963. The country then changed its name to Zambia, after the Zambezi River.

Copper was for long Zambia's main foreign exchange earner, and for the first 5 years after independence the country did well. The vagaries of the world’s commodity markets caught up with Zambia in the 1970's, throwing the economy into disarray. After a long period of denial, it was only in the early 1990's that serious efforts to reform the economy were embarked on.

After the shock of over reliance on copper, Zambia is now taking tourism seriously. Wildlife tourism revolves mainly around 8 of its 19 national parks: South Luangwa, Kafue, Nsumbu, Lochinvar, Lower Zambezi, Kasanka, North Luangwa and Mosi-oa-Tunya. These are parks with a viable tourist infrastructure, including good lodge accommodation and camp facilities. Most of the others are hardly accessible, and are still largely in their natural state.

Zambia’s jewel in the crown for an African safari is South Luangwa National Park. It was founded in 1938 as a game reserve, and converted to a national park in 1972. The park is set in Zambia’s eastern region, overlooking the Muchinga Escarpments. It covers 9,000 square km, including most of the Luangwa River Valley on the west bank of the Luangwa River.

The river is the lifeblood of this mostly savannah woodland park. Miombo woodlands rule the heights, while the valley harbours mopane woodlands. The regions around the river serve as flood plains.

The park is popular for its immense wildlife populations. Relative to its size, the density of wildlife is unmatched, and it ranks with Africa's top-of-the-list safari destinations. With a count of 60 animal species and over 400 varieties of birds, South Luangwa is colourful and full of life year round. Grazers, browsers, predators and scavengers of all manner of shapes and sizes roam the parks' horizons.

Common residents here include elephant, buffalo, giraffe and a variety of antelopes. Some species such as Thorneycroft’s giraffe, Cookson’s wildebeest, and Crawshay’s zebra are almost exclusive to the park. Lions and hyenas are also regulars, and share the wilds with the elusive leopard and the rare Africa wild dog. March to June is the best time to catch up with the African wild dog here.

The Luangwa River is afloat with numerous waterfowl and large families of crocodile. More abundant though are the hippopotamus, and it is at Luangwa that the world’s largest single population of hippos is found. Birdlife is prolific, and the variety on display includes egrets, wood ibis, vultures, crested cranes and saddle bill storks among numerous other local species.

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