Lusaka - July 2nd

July 2nd, 2008:

Short: Pitful nights sleep, Stroll downtown Lusaka, Tour the Central Market, Cause a mini-uprising, Hang out in the "Arcade", Take in a movie, and have a drink with the "elite" of Zambia


Long: Last night we slept in a dorm that accommodated a diverse mix of people, some of which snored loudly, and others that woke and left the room around 5 am. Needless to say, we both struggled to wake up this morning and this made the decision to stay another day in Lusaka much easier.

After showering we walked the five minutes from the Hostel to downtown Lusaka. Our original goal was to find a decent place for coffee and breakfast, but we ended up walking around downtown for almost two hours. Lusaka is one of the larger cities we have visited thus far, but still fairly small with just over one million people. We walked the busy main avenue first, and finding few cafes, decided to walk to the Lusaka central market instead. On the way to the market we picked up a local newspaper. Reading the local papers of each country we have visited has become a pastime for us over the last few weeks as it is a great way to get a flavor for what issues are important to the country. We have also decided that sticking a local paper under our arm when walking around a city convinces people that you might not actually be a tourist, and therefore not worth hassling (This will need more testing!).

We walked a few blocks back from the main street and the environment became increasingly chaotic. We had entered the hardware/construction quarter of downtown and people were running around from shop to shop doing whatever it is they do. Some of the vendors had large stores, but many were simply wooden shacks specializing in a piece of hardware. One hour into our walk we were amazed at two things: One, despite a lot of stares, we were yet to be hassled to buy anything. Two, we had not seen a single white person. At one point a person came up to us and thought we were lost, we kindly explained that we were not lost, and simply wanted to see the market.

After getting some direction from others we arrived at the central Lusaka market, a large, covered, pavilion selling everything from clothing to meat and live chickens. After walking the entire length of the market our stay was cut short when I tried to surreptitiously capture a picture of the meat section. After quickly taking a picture a women began yelling, “No pictures, No Pictures,” and many others then began to chime in. I apologized and both Niki and I quickly walked away leaving a great deal of commotion behind. We have found Africans to be very camera shy and, in general, we ask for permission to take pictures of people. However, unlike other places, we have found many Africans do not appreciate you taking pictures of anything, even when people are not the focus. In this case they were either offended, or there had been previous regulatory issues related to sanitation in the market…we have no idea. Either way we exited the market and hopped a taxi to one of two upscale, expat, shopping areas in the city. We had walked downtown for over two hours and, amazingly, we experienced almost no hassling and saw absolutely no white people, although the latter was about to change.

There are two shopping centers in Lusaka that cater specifically to wealthy locals and expats, and the discrepancy between these areas and the rest of the city is striking. The area we went to, called the “Arcade,” was where Sipho has taken us last night for dinner. Interestingly, more than half of the people we saw here were white. We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing at this center and even managed to take in a movie (Hancock was terrible!). Towards the end of the afternoon Sipho called and told us he would again pick us up at our hostel and take us for drinks at his brother’s place. Around seven that evening we both found ourselves being driven to Sipho’s younger brother’s (Guy) place by a few of Sipho’s friends. We arrived at a gated home/compound, parked, were greeted by Guy and his wife, and led to their pool house. The next few hours were hilarious for both Niki and I. These people didn’t know us at all, but their hospitality was unbelievable. No one ever asked who we were, or why we were there with Sipho. With no questions asked, they let us be a part of their world for a few hours. We drank, listened closely to their conversations, and watched the Wimbledon tennis match. We learned that Guy is the CEO of Engen-Zambia, one of the larger petrol companies in Africa. The entire group was clearly well educated (mostly in the U.K.), and certainly part of what might be considered the “elite” of Zambia. They were certainly opinionated, especially when it came to politics, but we don’t have the space in this blog to go there! Similar to the previous night, we had a great time, and eventually headed back to the hostel.