Zim and Zam

Last time I wrote I think we were in Livingstone, since then we have been travelling independently through Zambia and it has been nice to set our own pace and interact with the locals more.

We have met some really lovely people here in Zambia. I have found the people here to be so friendly, honest and always willing to lend a helping hand. Although we unfortunately didn't get to travel through Zimbabwe, we have met a lot a really nice Zimbabwean's in Zambia. Most of our guides on various tours and safaris have been from Zim, due to the high standard of training they get for guiding there. We have had a small insight into what life is like in Zim at the moment. I can't comprehend what they must be going through on a daily basis though, it's just so sad. In Zim the inflation rate is so high that their billion dollar notes are worth little, as a result people don't get paid because the money is worthless by the following day. They are living on IOU's. Their supermarket shelves are empty, apart from some toiletries and tea apparently (Nick would be fine though...I'm sure he could live off tea alone), basic commodoties like bread and sugar can't be found most of the time. All the people we have met buy 3-4 months worth of supplies in the neighbouring countries before they go home. I don't know how people who don't live near the boarder are coping.

The people of Zim are Zam are very similar, they share the same languages, landscapes, animals and culture across their boarder (the Zambezi river), but they find themselves in a very different situation due their leadership. Zim and Zam are like an example of ying and yang. Zim being lead by the very corrupt Robert Mugabe and Zambia was being lead by the good president Levy Mwanawasa, (unfortunately he died just over a week ago...it's such sad news for Zambia, as he was the complete opposite to Mugabe). He fought government corruption and when he entered parilment, at a time when Zambia was in a situation similar to Zimbabwe today, he turned the situation around and introduced true democracy. It's obvious he was really loved by the people here, everywhere we looked there were pictures of the man in restaurants and in taxi's. I can appreciate why Zambian's are so upset about his death and a bit anxious about the upcoming elections. I hope he is replaced by another Mwanawasa, not another Mugabe, as it makes a big difference for the average person here in Africa.

While in Zambia we did a 3 day canoe safari down the Lower Zambezi, which was great for spotting hippo's close up and a really nice way to see the animals. After that we headed to the capital Lusaka, then onto South Luangwa NP where we could pitch our tent in the tree tops and watch elephants and hippo's walk through the campsite while they ate. We also finally got to see a leopard too, the big five sightings are now complete.

We are now in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania after a 46 hour train journey through some beatuiful places. We stopped in some small little villages on the way and were always greeted by lot's of very excited children screaming "muzungu, muzungu" meaning white person.

We have had some very funny times on the buses here too, but I think Nick is witting about that, so I won't double up.
Next we are off to Zanzibar, we leave on our ferry trip tomorrow.
I hope are well at home.