Animals and Plants
What is growing in Zambia?
Around 40 percent of the country is (still) covered with forest. In the southwest of the reigns rainforest before and on the rivers or in the heights there are deciduous trees, especially the frequent in South Africa baobabs. Some trees shed their leaves, some remain evergreen.
Due to the many bodies of water, extensive swamps are also formed, in which papyrus in particular grows. The savannah is predominant in large parts of the country. Here, too, trees grow sporadically, for example acacias.
Which animals live in Zambia?
The fauna of Zambia is much more diverse than the flora and is one of the richest in species in all of Africa. The country’s government is also doing something for the animals, which in turn attract tourists. In Zambia, 19 protected areas are waiting for tourists to visit them. This means that almost ten percent of the total area of Zambia is protected. Elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, monkeys, lions, leopards and many other animals live in Zambia.
Crocodile danger
When the rivers overflow during the rainy season, crocodiles like to frolic here. The following definitely applies here: Bathing is prohibited!
Baobab tree
“Baobab tree” is a pretty strange name, does it grow bread for monkeys? Not so wrong at all! Because the fruits that grow on the trees look a bit like bread. Not only are they eaten by monkeys, but also elephants, birds and insects. Scientifically, however, the tree is called “African baobab”.
Economy
Copper and Cobalt in Zambia
Zambia has large deposits of copper and lead most copper from throughout Africa. At the time of colonial rule, the white colonial masters exploited the copper mines, which are mainly located in the Copperbelt province in the north of the country. Copperbelt means “copper belt”. China is now showing great interest in Zambian copper.
Other metals are cobalt, tin and lead, but also gold and silver in the country. Gemstones were also found. Above all, cobalt is important, alongside copper, which is a gray heavy metal. Zambia has the second largest cobalt deposit in the world, only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a neighboring country of Zambia, more cobalt is mined.
But these treasures of the soil are not only helpful, but unfortunately often also lead to disputes about who the profits belong to. Here, too, China, which has economic interests in Zambia, is increasingly coming into play.
Since copper is the country’s most important export item, it is also heavily dependent on the copper price. If this falls, this has negative consequences for the entire economy.
Agriculture and tourism
Although Zambia has large agricultural areas, only a small part is used. 80 out of 100 Zambians work in agriculture. For a long time the cultivation of maize was mainly promoted, so that the cultivation of other products was neglected and no knowledge could be gained, for example for the cultivation of coffee or cotton.
Due to the diversity of the country and its wildlife, many tourists travel to Zambia year after year, so tourism is also an important source of income for the country.
Poverty
Even though the economy in Zambia is growing, a great many people are still poor. Often the transport links in rural areas are particularly poor. There are too few roads, too little energy supply and the connection to the modern and meanwhile indispensable means of communication such as the Internet is simply too bad.
But in order to increase the yields in agriculture, in which many Zambians work in the countryside, a better development of the infrastructure is required. But it is not only the people in the countryside who find poor living conditions; the Zambians who live in the slums of the big cities do not benefit from growth either. That is why Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa, despite the wealth of natural resources and a stable policy.
Eating in Zambia
Corn porridge
As a country located in Africa according to usaers, Zambia is a poor country and does not have a very rich cuisine. As in many South and East African countries, the national main course is a kind of corn porridge. In Zambia this porridge is called Nshima. For many people that must be enough and the porridge is also a complete meal.
If you can afford it, you can have a vegetable stew with it. A ball is formed from the porridge, a depression is pressed into the middle and the stew is then “spooned” with the help of this depression. However, only with the right hand, the left hand is reserved for other “businesses” and is not used for eating for reasons of hygiene.
This stew can also be served with meat. This can range from beef, sheep, elephant, buffalo, warthog to crocodile or monkey, any meat can be processed. Fish also belongs in the stew and there are ethnic groups that eat mice. These are boiled and dried and taste good.
Perhaps unusual for us, but there are certainly a few things that an African in our kitchen would also find very peculiar. Snails and frogs’ legs or live oysters also give some people a “yuck feeling”. Termites or caterpillars also end up in the saucepan, they are healthy and in abundance, why not eat them?
Don’t forget to wash your hands
By the way, in Zambia everyone in the family wash their hands before eating. And here a certain sequence is adhered to: The father begins before the mother and the children, who come next in line with their age. Mothers share the meal with their children. If the boys are over seven years old, they eat with the men and no longer with their mothers.
More diversity in the cities
In the country’s big cities, the cuisine is much more diverse. Many tourists also come here and in the hotels and lodges in the country you can eat according to our standards. There is also a large selection in the country’s large supermarkets. The offer in the country differs from this, which is much simpler.
