Beautiful Country, Ugly City
Day 256
We were up at 5:30am, an hour that has become quite common for us to rise at. Our bus to Lusaka left at 7am and lucky enough it was a 500 meter walk from the hostel. We had a quick breakfast of cereal from the bag we’ve been carrying around and were off.
The main street of Livingstone was already a busy place at this hour. People starting business before the heat of the day set in. The scene around the bus was busy as people loaded just about everything you could imagine on the bus. Jordana boarded the bus to claim our seats and I handed our bags to someone to load in the cargo hold. “Hi, how are you?” A man asked as I waited for the bags to be stored. I figured he was trying to sell me something. “I’m good, how about you?” “Fine, where are you from? London?” I’m not sure why he guessed London, maybe most people he met were from London. I told him no, Toronto and we chatted briefly about Canada and he wished me a safe journey. I boarded the bus and can’t say I’ve seen a bus like this before, 5 seats in each aisle. I squeezed in the narrow seat. Jordana and I had the first row on the left side, which had rows of 2. On the right side of the bus each row had three seats. That equalled a lot of people, although as we pulled away we were surprised that they didn’t allow standing passengers on this bus. Safety first I guess.
About 10km outside of Livingstone the road deteriorated and turned into a mess of potholes. We dogged huge potholes and there seemed to be more dirt than paved sections. Moving along at a max speed of 20km/h I was beginning to wonder if we’d make the 400km to Lusaka before night fall. The road eventually improved and so did the scenery. Zambia was definitely remote and beautiful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a green country before. The green on the countryside was only broken by the occasional muddy river and the basic mud brick homes of the small villages we passed through.
For lunch we stopped at a rest stop, Zambian style. I really had to use the bathroom but to be honest I was a bit nervous. I walked in and there was one long trough. The stench in the 30 degree plus heat was disgusting and to top it off I have stage fright when it comes to urinating in public bathrooms. I was the first one in so I quickly did my business and just as people started to enter I finished before my fright took over. I literally breathed a sigh of relief as I exited and washed my hands at an outdoor tap. A small snack stand sold chips (french fries) that looked really good and fresh so I bought two paper bags for lunch. Back on the bus we enjoyed some of the best chips I’ve had in a long time. The rest of the way to Lusaka was hot but the scenery was beautiful. The so called real Africa was dotted with traditional villages and little signs of the western world. That is until we reached Lusaka.
Like a dusty slap in the face we entered the centre of the capital. Immediately it looked like everything that’s wrong with an African city was also wrong with Lusaka. Ugly concrete buildings, dusty streets and piles of garbage. It was a huge contrast to the Zambian countryside. The bus station was one of the most chaotic and dirty we’ve seen anywhere in the world. “Taxi! Taxi! Mzungu, Taxi!” The drivers were shouting at us before we even walked of the bus, actually before the bus had even stopped. We got our bags as taxi drivers tried to grab them from us. “No, that’s my bag thank you.” I said. We got away, found a bus company that had a bus to Lilongwe, Malawi in 2 days and finally jumped in a taxi.
We arrived at Kiboko Backpackers that was more of a hotel than a backpackers. I think we were the only backpackers when we arrived, most guests were business men. It was an OK place to stay, if a bit dirty. I saw more than my share of roaches in the share bathroom. We pulled down our mosquito nets, tucked them in the bed and felt safe from the mosquitos and roaches. I think we were both so tried from the hot day of travel that we were both quickly asleep as heavy rain began to fall outside. I missed the beauty and simplicity of the Zambian countryside, Lusaka is definitely not a place to linger. We don’t plan to linger but 2 nights may be 2 too many.
Tags: Africa, Livingstone, Lusaka, Zambia
Michael Coroneos
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