First Impressions Africa - Lusaka Zambia

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  Lusaka, Zambia
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We finally land in Lusaka after a long throug the nigth flight across the centre of Africa and over the equator ...

As our 767 taxys in to the terminal I am greeted by what I can only say is exactly what one would expect to me greeted with in any Hollywood movie about Africa ... the terminal is tiny ... there is an array of ancient looking aircraft scattered in what look haphazard fashion around the apron ... there is an unfeasibly large number of men in military unifrom standing around looking exceedingly bored ... and acrhitecture of the terminal is concrete and straight out of the days when some of these string boxes parked in front of it were new ... it is a bit of a cliche ... perhaps sadly since Africa is not as backwards as we in the west would like to believe ... but I'm loving it ...

As I walk onto the stepway I am hit by a wall of wet tropical heat on this cloudy day ... but a reassuring wind cools the senses as we walk amid the stares of 1000 eyes towards the terminal ... people do stare a lot here ... but you don't get the impression it is with any malice ... so far everyone I have met has had a smile for me ... a friendliness abounds ...

Now as I enter the terminal I recall the prophetic words of the Zimbawean couple from the night before ... everything in Africa happens at a slow pace ... patience is a must ... I take 5th position in the queue for immigration ... amid a mass of chaos of tooing and froing as men and women with bits of paper skip past me hand the paper to the offical and head off to the baggage area ...

Lusaka 1

there are 4 people on duty for the foreigners part... but as far as I can make out only 1 is actually working and all 200 of us are going to have to wait wait as she takes about 10 minutes per person to check paperwork ... but she has a smile for me and is friendly ... god help the poor buggers at the end of the queue!!!

Stepping out of the terminal to be greeted by the driver, I check my new toy a Nokia N95 to find we are at -
15.3251 Degrees South and 28.4456 Degrees East ...altitude 1116M ... The Southern Hemishpere ... yay!!!

But it is very cloudy ... so no Southern Cross tonight ...

The 30 minute trip into town produces more cliches ... Women carrying unfeasibly large items on top of their heads in wonderful bright coloured garb ... Children playing on the fast moving road in definite danger from mad drivers as they swerve aimlessly about ... a unfeasibly large advertisement sign greets us with the slogan "Milk is always your friend" ...

Finally I arrive at my hotel to be greeted by more friendly faces ... smiles and hellos ... everyone has a welcome for you here ... on the face of it this is a very friendly place ... the recenptionsit changes some money for me and says he will owe me because he has not enough change ... proceeding to write an IOU (those words exactly) on my receipt ... I'm not sure if this is a scam or genuine ... it is only Eur1 ... but as I walk away I turn and say ... give it to my driver ... curses foiled again!!!

So my first impression ... I'm going to like it here ... life seems a lot simpler ... and the slow pace is nice for a change ... nobody seems to get too stressed ...

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Lusaka 2

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