ARRIVAL
One thing that strikes you on arriving in this part of Africa is the massive landmass as compared to the human population. This cannot be hard to miss as when you compare Zambia to Nigeria, if humans were evenly spread (aka population density), while you get 226 persons per sqkm in Nigeria, there would be just 17 persons for the same space in Zambia. Sharp guys would be racking brains right now as per agriculture, real estate and other things to do with such space. Zambia knows that land is not a problem and does not compromise space when nationhood is at stake. The massive land space at their airports, the road spans and green spaces within the city clearly attest to this.
The weather is another factor that confronts one on getting off the plane. With a temperature range of 6°C-24°C, theirs is a relatively cold country.
The visa process was pretty cheap and straightforward. The Immigration Officer simply asked if it was my first time in their country, before going ahead to welcome me to Zambia. You can guess what would have followed this discussion in some airports elsewhere (I no call name oh).
Since we wanted to start from the major highlight of the country, which was located in the southernmost part of the country, it meant heading to the local wing of the airport for a flight to the Livingstone District of the Southern Province (one of the 10 provinces) of Zambia.
With the benefit of hindsight, a Kenya Airways flight could have taken us all the way to Livingstone.
We got a ride to the hotel from a driver who was awestruck to be providing his services to an “Ebuka” from Nigeria. Marveled in part that you guys – Nigerians – do not visit this region and here was an original one in his car and on the other part, for whatever image Nollywood had created in his head. He would later ask if I was an actor. Anyway, a few minutes later, we were at our destination and having traveled for the whole day (and the previous day too), the body needed that bath, food and sleep.
Arriving in Zambia was the task for Day 1 and it was an endearing arrival. With sights from the airport ride to the hotel, the coming days in this cold “harmattany” country were already looking promising.
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