After a short stay in Livingstone I took the bus to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. I should have stayed in Livingstone longer as the day I traveled was one of the very few I’ve been ill on this trip, with very bad guts. A most unpleasant journey which somewhat put me off anymore long bus trips.
Lusaka itself was fairly pleasant. The center had a few concrete tower blocks that were beginning to crumble away but the rest of it was green and well laid out. It also had a lot of Aid people so every other car seemed to be their preferred mode of transport, the white land cruiser. It also meant that you could buy almost anything you wanted in the shopping malls, from South African wine to the latest books from the UK. It must be a tough life, saving the worlds poor.
As I wanted to get up to Dar es Salaam quite quickly I flew there as it was very cheap to do so and I didn’t fancy days on buses or trains. What a contrast Dar es Salaam was, hot, humid and wet, probably the most unpleasant climate you can imagine. It is also congested and everything takes place very slowly. I came here to get an Indian visa and a flight there. In contrast to African countries that let you in on the spot, getting an Indian visa takes a week and several visits to the embassy. The airline offices are also about as far away from internet one click ticket buying as you can get. Everyone queues for hours even to get to talk to someone and the people behind the desk are usually do three things at once, including organizing their social lives on their mobile phones. Some airlines will only accept payment in dollars cash. I did manage to sort everything out which meant I could go over to Zanzibar for a few days.
On the afternoon I arrived in Dar I was waiting to cross the road when I saw a familiar green truck. It was in fact the truck I’d come up from Cape Town on. I jumped aboard and had a reunion with my friends who had continued the journey. I also met up with them on Zanzibar at the beach resort of Nungwi a few days later, where we went to a Full Moon party together. This was along the coast and we went there by boat. Coming back in the early hours of the morning with the moon lighting up the sea was magical.
I have written an article on traveling through Africa by Truck (view it here ) which has been well received, with a couple of African travel websites asking to reproduce it. I’ve also written a follow up article (view here)after meeting with my fellow travelers again, as they had a very different experience.
Zanzibar is a wonderful island. Walking around Stone Town is like arriving in a complete Arab city, a maze of narrow streets, with small shops and mosques tucked into the corners. The beaches are also wonderful, the sea is turquoise and the sky blue and even though Dar may have had unpleasant weather, the sun always seems to shine in Zanzibar.
Today I am leaving Africa and flying to India via Dubai to spend Christmas in Goa.
