Lusaka, Zambia (By Mel and Kev)

Hello from Zambia!!!
We are in Africa, I think we can’t quite believe it yet!
Last time we blogged, we were in Agra, India. On our last day there, we had breakfast in our favourite breakfast place, stay in our room for a while as they didn’t have a booking for it, so we could stay as long as we wanted, which was nice as we didn’t have to wait at the train station with our bags for several hours!
Around 3pm, we took a tukuk to the train station, waited for our train which was late (no surprise there!). We arrived in Delhi. We wanted to take the express metro to the airport as I didn’t trust the traffic in Delhi, but when we got in the metro, just buying a ticket was complicated, finding the right ticket place to buy with cash was hard, there was a bag scanner as well and we had our bags with us obviously, so we didn’t even bother trying and went back out to grab a taxi. There was a bit of traffic but not too bad. We got to the airport on time and took our first plane to Ethiopia first then our second flight to Lusaka in Zambia.
One of the things that surprised us first was, we were cold! We left India which has temperature around 40 degrees and arrived in Zambia with temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees! It was a shock! It is also a lot less crowded obviously. Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, has just over 2.73 million inhabitants, while Delhi, India’s capital has over 10 million. We got a taxi from the airport to the place we are staying. We heard no horn, and nobody try to overtake us from any side! The driving seems so relax here after 2 months in India.
The place we are staying is a disappointment. Our room is smaller that what we booked, and the beds are small, which makes our night uncomfortable. But anyway, there is worth problem in the world!
On the first day, we settled in our room as usual, then went out to explore. The roads here a wide. We walked around a bit but there is not a lot to do, so we went to a restaurant. We tried a local dish called Nshima. This can be with different type of meat (fish, chicken, Tbone) and has a little dish of vegetables and sauces to go with it, but the main thing is those big maize lump (like a very thick porridge). It was delicious but very filling. There was no way we could finish it!!!
To eat it, you grab a piece of the maize, dip it in the sauce and grab some vegetable with it, put that in your mouth and grab a piece of meat as well (well if you eat meat!). This is really good.
After that we went to bed super early, as we had a long night the one before.
Tuesday, we went to visit the museum to have an idea of Zambia’s culture and history. It was an interesting museum with several exhibition. One was about Kenneth Kaunda, also known as KK, who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule.
Here is my short geography and history lesson: Zambia is located in South-Central Africa. Its official name is Republic of Zambia. Archaeological excavation found proof of human presence dated 36 000 years old. In more recent history, Khoisan peoples then Bantu people in the 13th century inhabited the area (we learnt that in the museum which had a whole part about human evolution and the history of the country). In the 18th century, the British colonised the region. We find a map of colonised Africa: do you know that only 2 countries, Ethiopia and Liberia, never got colonised. All the other countries were colonised by a country from western Europe: maybe people who complained about people coming into their country now, should think about that once in a while! In 1964, northern Rhodesia became Republic of Zambia with Kaunda as its president. In 1973, following tribal and inter-party violence, all political parties except UNIP (Kaundra’s party) were banned through an amendment of the constitution. It lasted until 1991, when riots forced Kaundra to authorised multi-party and that is when he lost the power. It was interesting to look at that exhibition, as for me, anything one party only is a bad idea. Nonetheless Kaundra seemed to have done some good thing and help solves issues in the area with other countries fighting for the independence. But still, 18 years as a single party only country, was a long time and should have been done well before that. Since then, Zambia has had several peaceful transitions of power (which is not the case in every country in Africa). Zambia is now a country with 73 ethnic groups, and as many languages, living in relative harmony: Zambia’s motto is “One Zambia, One nation”. Christianity is its main religion (protestant as a majority). English is listed as an official language as well as the 73 ethnic languages.
I think it is enough about the lesson! We learnt a lot at the museum, but I had to do more research when writing this blog as I did remember everything!
When we were done with the museum, we went to the central bus station to inquire about ticket to Livingstone where we will go in a few weeks. We feel like we were back in India for a bit. The place is crazy with buses everywhere, people trying to get you to buy ticket for their bus. We had a guy following us, mumbling we had no idea what. It was a bit overwhelming!
After a while a guy speaking an English we could understand, asked what we were after, and we told him. He took us to one of the multiple places that sell ticket, and I could ask about price and buy our tickets. We still had the other guy following us and we understood why. When we were leaving, an argument started between the guy that was following us and the guy who talked to us on who brought us there. They probably get some cut of the money for bringing customer in. I told the guy who sold us the tickets who brought us in and left quickly and the argument was still going on.
After the bus station, we walked around the city in search of food and ATM (our never-ending search). We ended up at a shopping centre with both food and ATM! Yeah!!! This was a decent shopping centre (unlike the one in India!). In the shopping center, there is a big cheese board, probably 4 by 4 meters. We came back to that shopping center several time during the week and there are always people playing. We watch a few games and there were some really good players. Chess is apparently a growing thing in Zambia and is promoted to help develop critical thinking. Andrew and Emma got interested and want to play!
Then back to the room to do some schoolwork for the kids and some planning for us: we have to do a shopping list (we haven’t done that in a while) as we are going camping around the national park of Zambia in a few days!
Another thing we need to be grateful for in Australia and all the rich countries, is electricity. In Zambia, there is electricity outage every day, several times a day. The place we are staying as some big batteries that kick in when the power drops off to keep the light on, fridges and basic things. We can’t charge computer or phones though. This is a privilege to have a reliable access to electricity, we should not forgot that.
Wednesday was a not much to do day. We have been looking for things to do in Lusaka and there is not a lot to do for tourists around here. We looked for shows, cultural things and surprisingly, for a capital, there is none!
We had breakfast at a local small restaurant on the side of the road: we order 2 Nshima and that was huge!!!! One with T-bone and one with fish. We could not finish it all!!!! But it was delicious!
After that we went back to our room to do some blogging and schoolwork. I found a dance class for that evening, Salsa and Kzomba. We were excited to do something. When it was time to go, we tried to book a taxi through an app like Uber, but no taxi was available. We tried for a while but to no avail. We know there is some small bus/van type thing going around the city, but they don’t seem to have a fix stop point, so you just need to know their route and stop one, but as foreigner we have no clue about it, so we haven’t used one. We ended up back to our room watching a new Asterix series on Netflix (the kids love Asterix).
Thursday, we went in hunt of breakfast and only found a petrol station who did very average food. We found out later that it was a public holiday (1st of May of course!), so a lot of shops were closed. We then went to see Snow White at the cinema (luckily it was open). We haven’t been to the cinema for a while and it was nice. The movie wasn’t bad. Not the best Disney, but not the worse either! On the way back to our room, we walked pass a massage place and as we had nothing to do, we went to have a massage! We didn’t manage to find massage when we were in India as the few places we contacted didn’t do massage for kids or didn’t answer… Well, we’ll get massage in Zambia! They were advertising a Zambian massage, but apparently it is a rough one for people after doing sport type thing. We asked for a Swedish massage instead and it was nice. We had better massage in the past but a massage is a massage, and I won’t complain!
Then back to the room, Nshima for dinner and more Asterix before bed.
Friday is our last full day in Lusaka. We are finishing our blog for here, going to see one more movie, “the Minecraft movie” and pack as tomorrow we are getting a car with rooftop tent and all set up for camping. We are going on a safari trip in 2 of the national parks in Zambia. We are very excited!!!!
Mel

28.4.2025. Yesterday was spent waiting and riding a train, not much happened. We got to the airport in Delhi without any real hiccups. We got on the plane at around 1:30am, Andrew wanted to stay up for take off, he loves it, but was sound asleep before that. Landed in Ethiopia around 6am, and waited a few hours. Hopped onto our next plane, bound for Lusaka, Zambia. We landed, went through all the immigration and customs stuff, walked out into Zambia, Africa for the first time. It's cold here! We're so used to it being 35° by 9am. It's 24° after 1pm, not what I was expecting of Africa. I'm not complaining, far from it, when I think Africa I think bloody hot. Well not at this time of year, fantastic weather. We found an ATM at the airport that worked, holy crap! Found out later it charged a lot more fees though. Hopped in a taxi and headed off towards our stay. First thing I noticed was a lot less traffic, bigger roads and wide open country. Green grass and trees. No horns!! Zambia has around 22 million people, and Lusaka, it's capital city, where we are has almost 3.5 million people. A Lot less people here, they're not in each other's pockets. India has over 2 billion people and Mumbai has more people than all of Zambia, it's a nice change. We didn't do much today, we checked in, had a little look around. Found somewhere to eat not far from our stay. Tried nshima for the first time, it's a thick “porridge” of several grains, maize, millet and a few others I can't remember. Comes with sides of chopped greens and some tomato stuff and a little bit of chilli. Also a couple chicken legs. Really nice, not disappointed with our first one. We went back to our room, brushed our teeth. Since we were all knackered from our flights, we went to bed, even though it was only 7:30.
29.4.2025. I woke up after a reasonable sleep, not the best. They do breakfast here so I thought we could do that so we didn't have to search straight away. Pretty average, omelette and toast with some tea. No idea what that will cost us, we'll find out when we check out I guess. What to do now? We saw that there is a national museum here, let's do that. After working out a taxi app for Zambia, since uber doesn't work here, we booked one and we're off to the museum. Pretty fascinating, the bottom floor was mostly about Kenneth Kaunda. He was instrumental in Zambia's bid for independence from British rule, and became Zambia's first president in 1964. The top floor consisted of displays of human development and evolution. We saw skulls of early hominids. Lots of tools and weapons through the ages, and even saw a replica of an old iron ore smelter. A tall, hollow dirt pile with layers of iron ore, wood and charcoal. It had air holes at the bottom for it to breathe and once lit, it would get hot enough to smelt the iron ore, which would pool in the bottom. An exhibit further in, showed how they made bellows out of animal hide and wood. Allowing them to work the metal further. We saw an exhibit showing what they had found when excavating a cave. The deeper they dug, the older the artifacts they found got. Afterwards we went for a bit of a walk, and found a statue dedicated to their fight for independence. We found a fruit we had never tried before, the African horned cucumber, or Kiwano melon. Tangy! I see why they call it a cucumber, very much like one on the inside, the taste is different though. One of the guys said put some salt on it, that really changed the flavour, the tanginess was gone. Either way, it was not my favourite fruit but I'm glad I tried it. We went for more of a walk, towards the bus depot, we need a bus in about 15 days. This was just a reconnaissance mission, but we ended up with bus tickets anyway. We also needed more money again, so the search for an ATM was on. We ended up at a mall, where the second one we tried worked for us. We had a bit of a look around, found a cinema we will probably hit up. Had something to eat around 3pm, and watched some young siblings play chess on a huge board in the mall. We made our way back to our room, showered, relaxed and researched Zambia. Afterwards we watched a little netflix, we can watch avatar- the last Airbender here, and hit the fart sack.
30.4.2025. We're hungry for breakfast, but not from our stay again. I found a place on GMaps, let's see if it's open. We walked out way over there, about 10min. The place I was looking for was not open, however there was another place that looked open. It was indeed, when we asked they said yes. There looked like there were lots of grills outside in the street, but this was the only place that had smoke rising. The guy asked us what we'd like, nshima please. Ok, we have fish and T-bone nshima, one of each please. Turns out that's too much nshima for us, especially when you get a whole grilled fish and a heap of pieces of T-bone. By the way, the T-bone was delicious and the fish may have been better. It was soo good. They butterflied it, and grilled it, worth a go for sure. The place was empty until 9:30, when some others turned up, starting to think they start a bit later here like in India. I watched the guys on the grill for a bit. The meat was cooked on one side, then passed through some mesh to another guy. He had chopped up a heap of tomato, onion and greens(like Bok Choy), then placed it on a big piece of paper stuff. Chopped up some of the meat and added it to the pile of veges. Folded up the paper around all the food, poured in some oil and salt. Tied the top of the paper at the top so it looked like a sack, and placed it on the grill. Saw the other people eat that, looked good, going to try that next time. Andrew was happy, he ate a ton of meat. Mel and Emma were happy with the fish, and I was happy because I ate everything. After we had no idea what to do, there doesn't seem to be a lot to do here. We went back to the room, we all blogged and the kids some school work. Mel was feeling a bit shit, so they had a nap. The kids did well with the school work so I let them play some games on their computers. The day had slipped away, but we are going to a salsa dance class tonight. Thought we had better eat before that, so dinner was sorted at a restaurant near by. Afterwards we tried to order a taxi, no luck. Mel tried a heap of times, even adding the max amount you can to the fare, but no one would take it. We were standing out the front of the restaurant for around 20mins trying for a taxi. Mel said, if it's this hard now, are we gonna be able to get a taxi back later? We decided to scratch the idea, we just went back to our room a bit disappointed. We watched a bit of Netflix until Mel's computer went flat, the power had been out for ages here. Has been out everyday here at some point, sometimes multiple times. So we played card games. Finished the night with Mel nodding off early and the kids getting some kindle time.
1.5.2025. We wanted breakfast, so I found a cafe on GMaps. Turns out it's closed, even tho GMaps says it's open. There's another across the road, closed too. Alright then, let's head towards the mall and see what we can find. We saw another cafe sign, behind gates and security. Asked the guard there if it was open, no it's not. He said if we want food we can go to the servo nearby. Did that, never again. Was pretty crap and not cheap. We walked a bit further and came across a little cafe, we were still looking for a coffee, so we stopped in there. The guy told us they're open at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so maybe that's a spot for brekky tomorrow. We made it to the mall, our intentions? Get more money and watch a movie. More kwacha in our pocket and a massive box of popcorn for the kids, we watched Snow White. Afterwards we walked around the mall again, looked through a supermarket here to get an idea of what we can get in a couple days time. Bought some chocolate, because it's been ages since Mel had some, sat down and had another coffee. Not a fan of how they make coffee here so far, too big and weak, havta try and espresso next time. Anyway, time to get moving again. On the walk back to our room, we found a massage place. Why not? We've had a massage in every country except India so far. The traditional massage was very deep tissue and used for sporty people apparently, they recommended the Swedish massage, so that's what we got. Mel said theirs was a relaxing massage, mine was still pretty deep tissue. My calf muscle was hurting a bit after. We got back to the room, blogged a bit, showered and headed out for some dinner. Nshima is on the menu again. We got fish and chicken, and the two were enough for the four of us. Played some games then headed back for sleep.
2.5.2025. Grandma's birthday today! We had a video call to wish her happy birthday and to have a chat. Heading out for some brekky, and later hitting the cinema again. This time we're gonna watch the Minecraft movie, we'll see how that goes. We need more money, so hitting the ATM again. Worked out roughly how much money we're gonna need to get around and it's a lot. Zambia may still be one of the poorest countries, but it ain't cheap, not for tourists wanting to see wildlife. Then the plan is to pack this arvo, as we need to get a taxi and pick up our hire car tomorrow morning. That's it, see ya.
Kev.Read more