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1. Zambia - The Promise Unveiled
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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Article on Zambia - The Promised Unveiled
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