Zambia (Rowley - 1991)
Sadly Zambia's a bit of a pet hate of mine. Within my one month here I was mugged three times. Not due to carelessness either. Once arriving in Zambia from Namibia, in Lusaka itself (the Capital) and once leaving Zambia and going into Zimbabwe. To be fair it was probably just coincidence or purely unlucky on my part. I met some really nice people here so it sort of evens itself out. Oh and I had more arguments with the Army and Police here than all the other Countries put together. The people here have been unjustly put through so much corruption in Governments and War that I can hardly blame them for being suspicious.
the exception
I did meet a really nice family in a small village to the North-east of Zambia, who let me stay in one of their huts for two weeks. That was really different and special for me and I could have easily stayed there for allot longer. This really gave me the chance to experience some real village life and sort of renewed my faith in the Zambian people.
Mosi-oa-Tunya...The smoke that thunders
I saw the Victoria Falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambian side and definitely preferred the Zambian side. More natural and less touristy. Both are stunning though. The local name for the falls is the Smoke that Thunders (Mosi-oa-Tunya) because from a distance it looks like smoke and the closer you get the more it sounds like thunder. Even from a distance of a mile away you can hear the rumble of it and see a fine mist.
Beware Hippos!
I spent a week at a place called the Hippo Lodge where I set up my tent near the riverbank and had great evenings watching the Hippos frolicking in the water. On quite a few occasions I had to do a hasty scramble back to the safety of my puny tent when they decided to explore land a bit. How a half centimetre of plastic protects against Hippo's is beyond me but they did leave me alone. I did hear a few stories of campers in Africa getting dragged out of their tents by Lions and attacked by Elephants. One thing to help prevent this is to never keep citrus fruit in the tent. They're a sucker for citrus fruit apparently.
conclusion
As a whole Zambia has a lot to offer a traveller...and far cheaper than any of it's neighbouring countries.