Zambia: Where is it then?

The bottom half of Africa



Chop the continent of Africa in half at around the equator and Zambia is sort of in the middle of the bottom half. It's landlocked, so the Bantu don't bother learning to swim and open their eyes wide in amazement when you try to describe the sea, and bordered by Conrad's massive Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Tanzania in the north and Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the south. Malawi lies directly east across the nearest thing to the sea, Lake Tanganyika, where the Zambians get a lot of their fish. The Zambians like fish, especially the little ones called Kapenta; they provide a cheaper source of protein than meat or caterpillars.

The country is big, with a total area of 752, 614 square kilometres and is drained by two major rivers, the Zambezi, the river the country takes it's name from, bordering Zimbabwe in the south and the African Queen Congo flowing north. The sprawling Zambezi basin covers three quarters of the country, the remaining quarter the basin for the Congo. A number of rivers flow across the Zambezi basin; the Kabompo, Lungwebungu and the Luangwa and Kafue, the confluence of which marks the Zimbabwean border. In the southwest of the country, near the former capital Livingstone, the waters of the Zambezi drop over 100 metres at the site of the famous Victoria Falls, whence it flows into Lake Kariba, site of the infamous dam.

The Zambezi across to Zimbabwe



A landlocked country creates it's own dynamics and is important in the history of the nation, the past and present day economics and in the well documented and devastating spread of pandemics, notably HIV and Aids. It also means there are more that usual  big match football derbies for the Chipolopolo national team. Little excuse is needed for a national football tournament with neighbours at any level, at any time of the year. The stakes and interest are always high and even the Seventh Day Adventist find ample justification to gather in front on the television for the Saturday matches.