Zambia Travel Information
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Climate
Zambia has three distinct seasons. December to April: warm and wet, May to August: cool and dry. September to November: hot and dry. Average temperatures in Summer range from 25° C to 35° C and in winter from 6° C to 24° C.
Currency:
The Kwacha has denominations of 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 and 10 000, 20 000 and 50 000 kwacha notes. As of Jan 2005 US$1 = K4800
Government:
The government of Zambia is elected in a multi-party general election every five years. Up until 1991, when the first multy-party elections were held, the country was ruled by Kenneth Kaunda in a one party state. The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and their leader Levy PAtrick Mwanawasa, are now the ruling government for the second term. Their economic policy is to move Zambia from a centralised, state driven economy to a more liberal open market economy that is private sector driven. The Government has put in place the necessary incentives to encourage private investment which includes privatisation of State owned companies, rehabilitation of strategic infrastructure, a stable monetary policy and the recent enactment of the Competition and Fair Trade Act.
Language:
There are over 73 dialects spoken in Zambia, but the official language is English. All media and business is in English and most Zambians speak it fairly well. Bemba is the next most commonly understood language, followed by Nyanja Tonga, Luvale, Lozi, Mambwe and Tumbuka.
Medical services:
Medical services are underdeveloped and only in Lusaka, Ndola and Livingstone can you find anything resembling western standards. There are a number of small clinics in Lusaka which are better than the general hospitals, but the clinics in the rural areas have little more than quinine, aspirin and band aids.
Tipping:
Tipping is discouraged as it is included as service charge on your bill.
Time:
Zambia is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, one hour ahead of Central European Time, seven hours ahead of Eastern USA time and ten hours ahead of Western USA time. ^Travel Tips
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| People: |
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Zambia has one of the lowest population to land ratio’s in Africa. Only 10 million people in a country half the size of Europe. The employment opportunities offered in the post independence era in the copper mines and associated industries led to a strong rural-urban migration. The result has been to make Zambia one of the most urbanised countries in Africa. About one fifth of the population lives on the Copperbelt to the north of the capital, but the biggest concentration of people is in Lusaka itself with an estimated population of over 2 million. This has resulted in massive tracts of uninhabited land across the country.
Culture:
Zambia’s contemporary culture is a blend of values, norms, material and spiritual traditions of more than 70 ethnically diverse people. Most of the tribes of Zambia moved into the area in a series of migratory waves a few centuries ago. They grew in numbers and many travelled in search of establishing new kingdoms, farming land and pastures.
Before the colonial period, the region now known as Zambia was the home of a number of free states. Each having comprehensive economic links with each other and the outside world along trade routes to the east and west coast of Africa. The main exports were copper, ivory and slaves in exchange for textiles, jewellery, salt and hardware.During the colonial period, the process of industrialisation and urbanisation saw ethnically different people brought together by economic interests. This, as well as the very definite influence of western standards, generated a new culture without conscious effort of politically determined guidelines.
Many of the rural inhabitants however, have retained their indigenous and traditional customs and values. After Independence in 1964, the government recognised the role culture was to play in the overall development of a new nation and began to explore the question of a National identity.
Institutions to protect and promote Zambia’s culture were created, including the National Heritage Conservation Commission. Private museums were also founded and cultural villages were established to promote the expression of artistic talents. ^Travel Tips
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| Visa: |
1. ENTRY VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR DIPLOMATS, UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL ACCREDITED TO ZAMBIA.
Gratis or official visas could be obtained at Zambian Missions Abroad or Ports of entry on presentation of letters of accreditation.
Persons in category 1. above who are not accredited to Zambia could also obtain entry visas at Zambian Missions Abroad, or Ports of entry on presentation of official / Diplomatic Passports.
2. DELEGATES COMING TO ZAMBIA ON CONFIRMED GOVERNMENT BUSINESS.
Delegates from International Organisations coming to Zambia could obtain entry visas at Zambian Missions Abroad or Ports of entry provided they produce official invitation letters.
Persons in 2.1 above, includes delegates from countries listed at 3.9 provided they have confirmed letters of invitation from relevant Ministries, Departments or International Organisations represented in Zambia.
Types of Visas:
Single entry
Double entry
Multiple entry
Transit
Double Transit
Re-entry
Gratis
Day Tripper
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| History: |
The Great Rift Valley, which cleaves the earth from the Lower Zambezi River in Southern Zambia to the headwaters of the River Jordan in Egypt, is now known to be one of the cradles of the human race, and Zambia’s present population lives on lands that have been inhabited by our forebears for almost uncountable aeons.
"Very deep is the well of the past" Thomas Mann
Archaeologists have established that in the northern African Rift Valley, the civilizing process got underway at least 3 million years ago, and crude stone implements, similar to some of that age found in Kenya, have also been found beside the Zambezi river.
Early stone age sites have been unearthed in many parts of Zambia, the most significant being at the Kalambo Falls in the North and at Victoria Falls in the south. At the former there is evidence that primitive humans began using fire systematically some 60 000 years ago. At the latter, a complex has been fully exposed showing the development of skills from the most distant past (this ‘dig’ is enclosed at the Field Museum at the Victoria Falls).
The skull of Broken Hill Man, dated to 70 000 years ago, gives an indication of what humans of that period looked like. It was during the next phase - the middle Stone Age - with its refinement in the manufacture of tools, differentiation between populations, and burial of the dead, that modern man probably emerged in Zambia, at least 25 000 years ago.
We may imagine family groups of small-statured people living near water and sustaining themselves by hunting the abundant game as well as gathering fruits, tubers and honey from their surroundings (some skulls show serious tooth decay caused by honey?) They would often be on the move, following the antelope as they migrated with the seasons. By 15 000 years ago, the Late Stone Age commenced.
People began to live in caves and rock shelters, the walls of which they decorated with paintings. Very few of these have survived Zambia’s seasonally humid climate, and those which have, do not display the sophistication found in the Rock Art found in Zimbabwe or South Africa. But a surviving drawing of an eland at Katolola in the Eastern Province suggests that this art was more than decorative, that it had a ritual or religious meaning: it has been shown in South Africa that this animal was sacred to the Late Stone Age people there.
This spiritual and artistic development occurred alongside another, the invention of the bow and arrow, which revolutionised hunting and also gave humans a mechanical weapon of war and a musical instrument! Although the people of the Late Stone Age neither tilled the soil nor kept livestock, we could not fail to recognise ourselves in them. ^Travel Tips
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