I’ve heard both Ugandans and Zambians to be described as one of the friendliest people in Africa. I doubt you can make an official “friendliness” rank, but yes, Zambia certainly did feel welcoming upon arrival (though arriving in the midst of football victory craze might not be the standard tourist welcome).
At the same time, in many ways the two countries felt and looked very different. To begin with, while Zambia’s population is only 13 million inhabitants - compared to Uganda’s 33 million - Zambia is three times bigger than Uganda. And much of this space seems to be filled with very beautiful “Green Hills of Africa”, stretching for endless kilometres. Uganda, on the contrary, though it’s only one third in size, it has a much more varied landscape: savannah with “safari-animals”, rainforest with gorillas, fertile green hills and drylands, volcanoes and a rocky mountain range covered in snow.
The capitals don’t have much in common either. Kampala is messy, potholed, permanently jammed with traffic and with random animate or inanimate objects bordering the roads, dusty, lively, busting and busy, with only few high buildings. Lusaka felt to me much more like a big city – with many high-rise buildings, broad boulevards and streets, wide pavements, excellent pothole-free roads, somehow more impersonal, and probably also less safe.
Oh, and the driving. Coming from the Ugandan traffic system of “me first” and “if there is a space on the road, I’ll get into it, no matter what space that is”, the first time a car stopped on a zebra crossing in Lusaka, I stood there for a second or two completely astonished before I realised that it was letting me cross the street. As far as I saw, cars in Lusaka actually stick to their lanes: two lanes painted on the road, only two rows of cars - and no motorbikes, cows, chicken, broken cars, stalls, sleeping people etc. on the roadsides! Unheard of in Uganda!
Less thrilling encounter is the one with Zambian money: there are no coins in Zambia, only paper banknotes. It might make sense (it’s probably cheaper to make paper notes than coins), but handling a stack of banknotes in a nominal range between 50 and 50.000, all same size, all in very similar pale colours, is confusing at first, and annoying after a time – especially if you keep them in a little purse.
There isn’t all that much to see in Lusaka, so when we ventured into the centre of the city, more than for sightseeing it was for shopping, nice cup of coffee, a bit of low-key partying, or to browse some of the local markets.
A world altogether different from the city of Lusaka was City of Hope, where we all stayed and where my cousin Krista works as a volunteer. City of Hope is a centre run by Salesian sisters, and focuses especially on working with poor and vulnerable young people, children and orphans. Spread on large grounds on the outskirts of the capital, it is a beautiful green oasis of peace from all the bustle outside of its walls. They even have drinking water directly from the tap!
City of Hope has a home for girls, where Krista does most of her work; a section with a community primary school – some 10 round huts/houses/bandas/insakas which serve as classrooms...
... as well as a vocational training centre which teaches subjects such as IT or catering, where Krista teaches French.
We didn’t have time to attend the community school classes, but even just from the textbooks you can see that the local syllabus is slightly different from European schools. I mean, have you ever been asked at YOUR school how to safely carry spears in a crowded public place?
The rainy season which now reigns in Zambia meant that there were only very few tourists around, because you can’t access most of the national parks; but since we didn’t plan to do that anyway, we really didn’t mind. In fact, with my family arriving from a -20C winter, and I from a very dry and hot summer, the mildly warm weather with an occasional rain was perfect for all of us – and we all worked very hard on enjoying it. Even more so the day we were invited for a splendid barbecue in a friend’s house (dedicated to all those who have to wear gloves now) :-)
But not all the food was barbecues – we also tried some of the local gastronomic highlights, with varying degree of success. The first gourmet adventure was probably the most exciting one: caterpillars. Yes, the first day after arriving my cousins, my aunt and friend decided to have for lunch fried caterpillars, a very popular local fare of rather unattractive appearance. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I missed it because I was still on my endless journey from the airport – probably it is fortunately, because not only all the girls looked rather unenthusiastic when they told me afterwards about their lunch experience, but Krista got a pretty violent allergic reaction to the caterpillars: a few hours later she was covered in itchy rash, her face was swollen and she was feeling very sick. At least she now has an interesting note for her medical file - "allergy to caterpillars".
To continue with the successful exploration of the local cuisine, my other cousin Barča (pronounce as “Barcha”) who had spent a year in the DR Congo suggested that we try the dried fish you find on the local markets. The fish looked slightly more appealing than the caterpillars (though only slightly), and we fearlessly prepared a dried-fish-feast for lunch.
No rash this time, though I’m afraid that (perhaps except for Barča) none of us are likely to eat much of this dish again.
On the other hand, the local groundnuts (peanuts), fresh and tender straight from the ground, were a big success, and we all systematically worked on overdosing ourselves with them. Completely different from the dry peanuts we know, these are raw and taste more like fresh peas. You can also boil them – if you managed not to eat all before you get home – and boiled are even nicer.
But don’t think that groundnuts are the only edible local foodstuff – quite the contrary. During the very interesting and intense day we spent in a rural village in the middle of Zambia, we were served a variety of local dishes so delicious... but I’ll talk about that a bit later.
At the same time, in many ways the two countries felt and looked very different. To begin with, while Zambia’s population is only 13 million inhabitants - compared to Uganda’s 33 million - Zambia is three times bigger than Uganda. And much of this space seems to be filled with very beautiful “Green Hills of Africa”, stretching for endless kilometres. Uganda, on the contrary, though it’s only one third in size, it has a much more varied landscape: savannah with “safari-animals”, rainforest with gorillas, fertile green hills and drylands, volcanoes and a rocky mountain range covered in snow.
The capitals don’t have much in common either. Kampala is messy, potholed, permanently jammed with traffic and with random animate or inanimate objects bordering the roads, dusty, lively, busting and busy, with only few high buildings. Lusaka felt to me much more like a big city – with many high-rise buildings, broad boulevards and streets, wide pavements, excellent pothole-free roads, somehow more impersonal, and probably also less safe.
Oh, and the driving. Coming from the Ugandan traffic system of “me first” and “if there is a space on the road, I’ll get into it, no matter what space that is”, the first time a car stopped on a zebra crossing in Lusaka, I stood there for a second or two completely astonished before I realised that it was letting me cross the street. As far as I saw, cars in Lusaka actually stick to their lanes: two lanes painted on the road, only two rows of cars - and no motorbikes, cows, chicken, broken cars, stalls, sleeping people etc. on the roadsides! Unheard of in Uganda!
Less thrilling encounter is the one with Zambian money: there are no coins in Zambia, only paper banknotes. It might make sense (it’s probably cheaper to make paper notes than coins), but handling a stack of banknotes in a nominal range between 50 and 50.000, all same size, all in very similar pale colours, is confusing at first, and annoying after a time – especially if you keep them in a little purse.
There isn’t all that much to see in Lusaka, so when we ventured into the centre of the city, more than for sightseeing it was for shopping, nice cup of coffee, a bit of low-key partying, or to browse some of the local markets.
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| Coffee time! |
A world altogether different from the city of Lusaka was City of Hope, where we all stayed and where my cousin Krista works as a volunteer. City of Hope is a centre run by Salesian sisters, and focuses especially on working with poor and vulnerable young people, children and orphans. Spread on large grounds on the outskirts of the capital, it is a beautiful green oasis of peace from all the bustle outside of its walls. They even have drinking water directly from the tap!
City of Hope has a home for girls, where Krista does most of her work; a section with a community primary school – some 10 round huts/houses/bandas/insakas which serve as classrooms...
... as well as a vocational training centre which teaches subjects such as IT or catering, where Krista teaches French.
 |
| Je voyage, tu voyages, il... |
We didn’t have time to attend the community school classes, but even just from the textbooks you can see that the local syllabus is slightly different from European schools. I mean, have you ever been asked at YOUR school how to safely carry spears in a crowded public place?
 |
| Essential health and safety rules |
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| I confess we took this photo thinking of the European winter... |
But not all the food was barbecues – we also tried some of the local gastronomic highlights, with varying degree of success. The first gourmet adventure was probably the most exciting one: caterpillars. Yes, the first day after arriving my cousins, my aunt and friend decided to have for lunch fried caterpillars, a very popular local fare of rather unattractive appearance. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I missed it because I was still on my endless journey from the airport – probably it is fortunately, because not only all the girls looked rather unenthusiastic when they told me afterwards about their lunch experience, but Krista got a pretty violent allergic reaction to the caterpillars: a few hours later she was covered in itchy rash, her face was swollen and she was feeling very sick. At least she now has an interesting note for her medical file - "allergy to caterpillars".
To continue with the successful exploration of the local cuisine, my other cousin Barča (pronounce as “Barcha”) who had spent a year in the DR Congo suggested that we try the dried fish you find on the local markets. The fish looked slightly more appealing than the caterpillars (though only slightly), and we fearlessly prepared a dried-fish-feast for lunch.
No rash this time, though I’m afraid that (perhaps except for Barča) none of us are likely to eat much of this dish again.
On the other hand, the local groundnuts (peanuts), fresh and tender straight from the ground, were a big success, and we all systematically worked on overdosing ourselves with them. Completely different from the dry peanuts we know, these are raw and taste more like fresh peas. You can also boil them – if you managed not to eat all before you get home – and boiled are even nicer.
But don’t think that groundnuts are the only edible local foodstuff – quite the contrary. During the very interesting and intense day we spent in a rural village in the middle of Zambia, we were served a variety of local dishes so delicious... but I’ll talk about that a bit later.
Como siempre, unas fotos preciosas, una gran historia... en resumen, un viaje apasionante, más aún cuando estás rodeada de tu familia.
ReplyDeleteSeguid contándonos cómo va todo y con ojos curiosos os leeremos desde aquí.
Besos a los dos
Elena