Cherono-notes from Kapiri Zambia, Daresalaam Tanzania

so i left lusaka on thursday to catch a bus to kapiri mposhi, which is where the train leaves for Dar es Salaam. I must say, that assumption that i have that it is only in south africa where people assume that if you are black, you should speak their language is also very true in Zambia...it was abit hard getting around coz half of the time everyone was speaking in another language. anyway so got to the train station, ended up meeting such interesting people,

highlights,

a) meeting the body guard of former zambian president kenneth kaunda, chatting with train station guards about african countries and zambia. it was so funny coz when the guards were asking me about south africa, all they cared about was that zambia is peaceful, south african is full of crime, why would you want to live there...one of them asked me, which would you prefer zambia or south africa and when i responded south africa, the look of disgust on his face was so funny, from then on he became really cold and bossy about wehre i could sit n put my bags, also shocking was the views they had about africans,black people versus europeans. they all told me, white people brought civilization to africa, africans were walking around in barks and skins, if it wasn't for the europeans where would we be, infact tanzanians were living like animals just 10 years ago so white people brought development, that's why we are called developing nations!!!!! all in all in the guards were very helpful, i really enjoyed their company and they all made sure that i had everything ready for the train ride.

b) THE TRAIN RIDE WAS AMAZING, notice i say the ride, not the train, the train is ok, its actually abit of a joke but can't be picky coz the ride makes the difference, we passed through a national park on the way to dar, got to see hippos, giraffe,zebra, was hoping for an elephant but didn't happen. would defnitely recommend the trip to everyone and anyone, but i think its better from mbeya tanzania, its shorter and its the best part of the trip. with less people. coz the people who take the train in zambia are only getting to the border, not into tanzania

c)evyerone here loves isidingo, (fyi: isidingo is a south african soapie) whenever people heard i had travelled from south africa, they would always ask about isidingo and all the characters, apparently its of the most watched soaps in Zambia.

c) all the people who've helped me out througout the trip, i'm really impressed by how some people went out of their way to make sure everything was ok with the journey.

d) Dar es Salaam, i love it, the weather is nice and humid, the city is chilled out, saw a nice sun rise this morning. heading for zanbiar later in the day

low lights

a) zambian women who lighten their skin, its quite a fad here, the compartment i was in, had 4 other women and all of them used some sort of skin lightener on their faces which from what i've seen on the train has really horrific efects, for some they get a reddish tint around their eyes cheeks, as wel as side burns, and moustaches and then the worst i saw was scaling that happened around the eyes, the skins starts to crack and turn a dark brown color. not a nice thought

interesting to note

men were much more friendlier than women,in helping out with directions and general knowledge. women sometimes tended to be abit hostile...also of the people i met, the guys would always be like, take a picture of me, please snap me, and when i asked a group of women if i could take a picture, they were completely against it. i'm not saying this is true of all the women and the men, it was just interesting