Hello Lusaka - Thursday 14th April 2011

Addis Ababa airport at 7am local time isn't exactly a hive of activity, so we were all left kicking our heels for a couple of hours until check-in for the onward flight to Zambia.

For most of us, this was our first time to Africa, and the excitement was really kicking in. Adrenalin was keeping us awake, as some of the group had struggled to sleep on the journey through the night.

Surprisingly, the airport terminal was quite a modern structure, similar to what you would expect to see anywhere in Europe. The flight carrier, Ethiopian Airlines were excellent, with great facilities on board, screens in the headrests, and free (take note holiday companies) headsets. I had never imagined being able to watch The IT Crowd while flying above Sudan.

Take off once more to Lusaka was about half an hour late (10:00), with another long flight ahead. This flight would take a route via Harare in Zimbabwe to collect passengers, before our final destination.

This flight allowed us to take in some African scenery, with the journey into Zimbabwe passing over the mighty Zambezi river.

Lusaka Airport terminal building

Finally, after 24 hours of travel, we arrived at Lusaka at 2:30 local time (one hour ahead of UK), the landing being a bit bumpier than the earlier one. The airport terminal building really belonged to the colonial era, and was a sign that Zambia would be a bit of a culture shock to us all.

Our flight was the only one in at the time, so there was no fighting to get to the baggage collection; the only queueing was to get past the immigration desk.

Each of us had to give our fingerprints electronically on arrival, along with paying a US$50 immigration fee.

We were then collected by a minibus from the University of Zambia, which had a trailer attached for our suitcases and bags, and took us through the outskirts of the city to the university campus, where we would stay the night.

The archway on the airport road

The road out of the airport went through an archway into/out of the country, celebrating the 45th anniversary of independence in 2010. The country was known as Northern Rhodesia until 1965, when it broke away from the British Empire.

Samsung TV advertising

The drive through Lusaka surprised us, with Spar and Barclays Bank being two familiar names there, along with seeing posters of Chelsea FC players advertising Samsung TVs.

A poster in the reception area of the
 Commonwealth Centre

It was clear that HIV/AIDS has a large effect on this country, with posters and notices giving advice on healthy living.

The temperature was very warm, although bearable, but we would have plenty of time to get used to this in the days ahead.

We arrived at the University of Zambia campus after a short drive, and decamped at the Commonwealth Youth Centre there for our overnight stay. The first major hassle for Cliff came when the reception there didn't know we were arriving! The first chance to see how laid back Zambians really are; we had been told that timekeeping didn't really mean much to Zambians, so 'Zambia time' was now the order of the day.

An example of Zambian security measures -
note the glass on the top of the wall

The accommodation was basic, although comfortable enough; what you would expect from shared student accommodation, without the hot water.

Our main thoughts now were just to relax for the rest of the day, with an evening meal of beef, chicken and/or fish heads (!!) with rice and pasta. Unsurprisingly the fish heads were left by most, so it was on to the bar for a couple of beers to chill us out before the next day's travel to Kabwe.