A Zambian Foray

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I woke up this morning with a determined air about me "Today" I said to myself "Today I go to Zambia" anyway after breakfast/shower/water bottle topping up I was off trundling through town feeling the temperature gradually rise as I did so (I left at about 8:00 and it was already getting HOT) I arrived at the border and had my leaving Zimbabwe stamp by the bored looking immigration chap, I then walked the roughly 400 km's of "no mans land" between Zimbabwe and Zambia...."No Man's Land" HA it totally belongs to beggars and purveyors of crappy ornaments....Anyway me and several hundred Africans (I was the only white person in sight OH YEAH go me i'm a real traveler) eventually reached the Zambian border post where I used my lack of melatonin to jump the queue of the 5,000 (A lot of people complain about getting special treatment because they're white, personally I think it rocks) I exited the customs building beaming with delight at successfully getting myself on foot across an African border without being mugged/beaten up/ripped off so enamored was I with the world in general and so chuffed with my little self that I took the next major step in becoming a roving world traveler....I got a 3rd world taxi ON MY OWN!! Yes for the princely sum of 10US I was allowed to be squeezed into the passenger seat of ancient blue....thing? And driven to the centre of Livingstone. Livingstone....Livingstone....Something positive to say about Livingstone, um, the sun shines really brightly there! Hahaha no really it's an alright kinda town, has a real frontier feel like it was thrown up overnight, I was assured by my taxi driver that it is "Growing" Hmmm. Wandered up and down the main street for a while and realized that i'd been in Zimbabwe way too long as the sight of shop shelves groaning with food and overstocked beer fridges literally had me gawping with unabashed shock. I was then wandering back to where I had agreed to meet my taxi driver earlier when I accidentally hailed another taxi, he waved at me you see and I thought it may have been the same chappy from earlier so I happily waved back, next thing I know he's pulled over and i'm sitting in the back having agreed to part with another 10 bucks to drive me to the border post. I rocked up there and after getting my passport stamped to show that I had indeed legally and officially left Zambia set off to walk the 400km of no mans land back to Zimbabwe, roughly 10 minutes into my walk a taxi screeches to a halt in front of me and if by magic the door swings open to greet me "Hey my friend! Hop in let's go!" Shouts the taxi (driver) How much I enquire "Ah my friend it is for free!" For real?! I said "Aahahaha yes my friend for real" Excellent. So I climbed in and was driven the rest of the way to the Zimbabwe end of no mans land my faith in the good of humanity dually restored. This was however promptly shattered when a taxi driver on the Zim side offered to drive me to my hostel for 25 dollars. No thanks buddy I wanted to go to the other side of town not buy the whole taxi company. Thus ended my Zambian foray, and not only do I have another stamp in my passport as well as another country on my list but I'm also left with a sense of achievement!!

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