The Proflight tickets were not quite that cheap yesterday, but our Hamburgers are still on their way to South Luangwa. The other three of us have chosen a programme for the next two days which is rich in contrast.
Even if you can move from shopping mall to shopping mall in Lusaka, without a visit to the city centre you are missing “the real Africa”. I suggest that we pay a visit to the City Market, which has more than 1,000 stalls: Meat, shoes, clothes, eggs … but also repairs of all kinds or printing services are available in tiny spaces. A huge supply! And besides there are about 1,000 street vendors around the City Market.
A woman sells us a peeled pineapple right at the street. She is a skillful minimalist and manages to peel the fruit without touching it. We get it in a small plastic bag and some tooth-picks as well, so that we can share.
Later we have our real lunch in a green environment, on the vast “Showgrounds” area. Outside the main trade fair period at the end of July/beginning of August, it’s pretty quiet here, by Lusaka standards. In the “Golden Leaf” restaurant we get a Zambian meal for little money. Fish, meat and vegetables are served with nshima, the staple food made from maize flour and water. It is generally eaten with one’s fingers, but that’s a skilfull procedure which needs practicing.
Just a few hundred metres away from the “Golden Leaf” we find open-air artists’ workshops. Here, recycling art can be spotted, too.
Karin