I had to make a short trip to Lusaka Zambia for business meetings but I did use the Bradt Zambia guide. My review will only focus on a small portion of the guide because of my short stay and the fact that I was only in the capital city, Lusaka. Because of the enormous appeal of Zambia for folks interested in wild game, much of the guide discusses where wild game can be seen, the types of wild game in Zambia, the expectations when hiring a guide or booking a reservation at a facility near a large game reserve. As I went through the guide, this is the major focus of this 534 page book.Zambia is a large country, larger than Nevada and California combined. Yet it is not densely populated and much of the country is not developed or populated. I went to Zambia in January, during the hot and wet season. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not too hot or wet during my short stay. Locals indicated that daily short downpours were expected from December to April, but luckily my stay did not include rain. Whereas the country is 99.9% black Africans, most of Bantu descent, I saw very few white Europeans outside of our hotel or business offices. The South African Airline flights into and out of Zambia were 99% black African customers. The customs lines where passports are checked confirmed my impressions. When driving down Cairo Road in the center of the Lusaka business district, all the folks were black African. In the flea market we visited, I only saw two white folks among at least 1000 black Africans. This is an interesting perception even for an American who is constantly in contact with black African Americans on a daily basis. To become part of a tiny racial minority, even for just a few days, among a much larger racial majority is actually a welcome learning experience. For example, when we were walking in the flea market we stood out dramatically from the multitude of black African vendors and customers, and we were approached by vendors telling us about their products and prices at least 50 yards before we even came to their stall and goods. This makes shopping a bit hard because it is difficult looking at the goods in front of you when a vendor is telling you to hurry and come see the goods that they have on display down the path.English is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants, government offices, whereas you will also hear black Africans talk to each other in more indigenous language. The currency is the kwacha. The exchange rate was such that 5,000 kwacha was equal to about 1 US dollar. Thus 10,000 kwacha was $2.00. Our hotel, the Intercontinental, exchanged dollars for kwacha but did not offer the service of changing kwacha back to dollars. In fact, this service is rare so changing large numbers of dollars into kwacha is only appropriate if you need to make many purchases or will be in Zambia for an extended time. We ate several meals in the Hotel Intercontinental restaurant where US prices were the norm, for example the breakfast buffet was around $21. Soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and local beers are easily found. We found that service charges were added to restaurant bills but additional tipping is often expected and is given directly to the server. Copper is the largest export for Zambia and the exchange rate between kwacha and dollars is strongly influenced by the copper market.The guide suggests using a driver and indicates that very few visitors drive themselves around and thus hire drivers. We used a driver for our business trips within Lusaka. Driving is also British style on the left side of the road. Another reason for a driver is you are a US citizen. Driving on the left side at busy round-abouts and intersections is sometimes confusing. Between the airport and downtown Lusaka, you will drive through multiple poor villages with people living in shelters that strike an American as inadequate. We arrived on a Saturday night and thus had Sunday available to go to a local game reserve before starting business meetings on Monday. We drove outside the city of Lusaka into more sparsely populated villages and communities until we reached a 600 acre game reserve that offered a buffet lunch and a 90 minute ride through the game reserve for twenty dollars. Here we saw Zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, large Leland and small puku antelope, elegant twisted horned lechwe and warthogs. This was pretty amazing and indicates that even the business traveler can get a small experience of the natural resources and wildlife of Zambia.There are entry visas and exit visas required to both enter and leave Zambia and they are usually paid in US dollars for US citizens. I believe the entry visa was $50 and the exit visa was $25.Because wild type polio may be present, I had a polio, tetanus, and typhoid shot. I also took malaria prophylaxis days before going and 7 days after leaving Zambia since all of Zambia is in the active Malaria zone. Because I got bit by a mosquito in my hotel room on my first night, I continued to monitor my temperature when I returned to the USA since the malaria prophylaxis is not 100% effective. I also used insect repellants with DEET. I have been back for 3 weeks and have no symptoms of any health problem however Malaria may take 4 months to fully develop to a symptomatic level. However, infectious diseases are not the major killer of foreign visitors to Zambia, it is auto accidents instead. I drank bottled water throughout my stay because I was told that the Lusaka water treatment plant may have power shortages, will lose water pressure, and thus contaminants may then enter the water supply lines periodically as the power surges.Our hotel was in the part of the city with the embassies. The Danish and Chinese and Japanese embassies can all be seen from the hotel. However, even in these neighborhoods we were warned not to go out walking at night and to take taxis between sites if we went out after dark in Lusaka. Lusaka is a large city with 10% of the national population living there. However there are very few high-rise structures and for the most part the city is composed of buildings less than 4 stories in height and thus is densely populated and feels `horizontal'. Taxis to and from the airport to downtown Lusaka cost around $20 one way whereas within the city, prices are lower from city site to site. The large hotels have private vans and also cost around $20.The guide was helpful for a first time visitor with sections on health and safety as well as a chapter on the capital city. I would recommend it for any visitor but especially for someone interested in longer stays and trips planned to see more natural game in natural settings.
