The fish eagle hovers proudly on the Zambian flag and is the national bird.

Luangwa Valley - considered one of Africa's last remaining true wilderness reserves, more photographic tourists visit the Luangwa than hunters however it remains on of the region's most prolific wildlife repositories.

Victoria falls - one of the largest spectacular waterfalls of the world, this mighty chasm is known as "mosi o tunya" or the smoke that thunders. Today the town of Livingstone is buzzing with excitement, entertainment and luxury lodges and hotels for any type of traveller.

Levy Mwanawasa was Zambia's second democratically elected president after Frederick Chiluba both of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy party. Sadly he passed away in 2008 and in a closely contested election, Rupia Banda became Zambia's 4 president for an interim 3 year period.

Kenneth David Kaunda was Zambia's first president, considered the "father of the nation" for his opposition to British rule in the late 1950's. Under Kaunda Zambia gradually fell from a prospering nation to an aid-dependent dictator state. Despite other African leaders' admiration for him, Kaunda is solely responsible for the total collapse of a country which had one of the brightest futures in Africa. Sadly under his rule, the wildlife of Zambia suffered its worst defeat as ivory was used to fund politicians every whim and fancy and mass slaughter by the Zambian National Defense Force reduced the population to almost nil. Rhino were completely eradicated during this period, especially in the Luangwa National Park where the Zambian army, deployed for anti-poaching, embarked upon a frenzy of poaching.

Norman Carr was Zambia's wildlife doyen, involved in the establishment and running of many of the national parks and reserves. His best loved place was the Luangwa Valley where he spent many years in the anti-poaching struggle. Now buried in the valley, he is remembered through a fine lodge, Kapani which he built on the banks of an ox-bow lake.

Zambia is home to over 30 ethnic groups or tribes with the main divisions being Bemba in the north, Nyanja in the east, Lozi in the west and Tonga in the south. Fortunately tribal and ethnic differences are not cause for any conflict and the Zambian people are a friendly nation.

English is the official language and is widely spoken in the cities and towns. The majority of Zambia's 9.3 million people are concentrated around the major cities and towns seeking employment from the mining and industrial sectors of the economy.

There are a considerable amount of Zambians still living in their traditional manner, tending crops and raising livestock out in the rural expanse and many of the younger generation return to their villages when they retire.

For years the Zambian economy benefited from the fortunes of soaring copper prices worldwide and holding some of the richest of the worlds copper reserves there seemed no looking back. In the early 1970s falling copper prices and the gradual effect of mismanagement of the mining industry took its toll on the economy and Zambia was suddenly faced with the burden of having to take large loans from the IMF and World Bank to survive.

Today Zambia has one of the highest foreign debt figures in Africa and the future has only recently been brightened with the privatisation of the copper mines back into the hands of Anglo-American Corporation (the original owner before nationalisation by Kaunda). However, Anglo has pulled out of Zambia again and the mines are currently up for sale sending the copperbelt economy into crisis once again.

There is a small but significant manufacturing industry and a renewed interest in the agricultural sector as government restrictions are gradually being lifted.

The tourism sector is grossly undeveloped, possibly due to cumbersome governmental restrictions. Zambia's greatest asset is her wildlife and proper, future-orientated utilisation of this resource should be a priority to the current government.

Zambia's weather is very mild with the country falling into the summer rainfall belt of southern tropical Africa. Most locals refer to two seasons being the wet season and the dry season.

December to April is the wet season with humid conditions through most of the country with the bush at its most spectacular, a tapestry of greens. Temperatures range from 19°C to 32°C.

May to August is the Zambian winter and the most comfortable hunting period with cool, dry day temperatures around 25°C and evenings from 10°C. The long grass from the wet season begins to lie down or gets burnt and access is easier as the water starts to dry up.

September to November are "suicide" months with hot dry conditions rising up to 40°C, making hunting almost unbearable. It is however one of the best buffalo and lion seasons with the game concentrating around the rivers and waterholes.

Although Zambia is mostly a flat large plateau and lacks spectacular mountains and escarpments, it does have a few plusses to its credit. It is home to some of the largest tracts of evergreen tropical forest in the world, has one of the largest river and waterfall systems in southern Africa and boasts some of Africa's largest national parks and accompanying unfenced hunting concessions.

Most of the flat plateau area is covered by miombo woodland, an open vegetation type that allows grass and shrubs to grow beneath the trees. This makes for fine hunting as the woodland is often interspersed by large open dambos or plains. It is home to a myriad of birds, plants and animal life providing excellent browsing and grazing for antelope and larger game. In the northern areas bordering Zaire/Congo the miombo is much thicker signaling the start of the tropical rainforests of the central African belt.

The western parts of Zambia are covered by Kalahari sands yet the vegetation is not exactly desert-like. In some areas the vegetation is close to miombo woodland while across the Zambezi River, towards the Angolan border, large floodplains occur. This is one of the country's largest game management areas and is largely devoid of game, except in certain seasons when the wildebeest migration is on.

Zambia has a number of large floodplains which support a variety of unique species. These floodplains occur where major rivers and their tributaries burst their banks and flow onto large flat plains. The most significant are the Bangwelu Swamps, the Kafue Flats and the Busanga Plains, all of which are prominent hunting areas.

Zambia's two largest valleys, the Luangwa and the Zambezi are relatively shallow and do not sport major escarpments. They are characterised by open riverine and mopane woodland on the flat valley floors with miombo type vegetation in the foothills of the valley escarpment.

Evidence of early man in Zambia dates back to over 100 000 years with some significant archeological sights found in Kabwe.

Early slave trading caravans and raids often penetrated as deep as Zambia, the Swahili slave traders bartering with cloth, beads and rifles. The earliest European contact coincided with Bantu displacement from the great wars initiated by Shaka Zulu.

Zambia was put on the map by British explorer, David Livingstone looking to establish a line of mission stations to combat slavery, seek the source of the Nile and spread the Christian belief. This served as the introduction to many of the prospectors, traders, ivory hunters and settlers needed to embark upon wagon treks to reach this promised land.

Developments in the south, known as Southern Rhodesia soon dictated the annexure of the land by the British and featured deeply in one man's aspirations to build a railroad from Cape to Cairo. The man was Cecil John Rhodes, who is today regarded in mixed terms as a creator of Southern Africa or a greedy bigot.

The land, now under the control of the British South Africa company, was declared a colony under direct British control around 1924. This might have had something to do with the discovery of the extremely rich copper reserves in the north of the country. As was common to the region, British and other settlers were encouraged to claim the land, some of which are still there today. Lusaka was declared the capital in 1936 and has remained so to this day, with the push for independence from the British starting in the 1950s. A school teacher by the name of Kenneth David Kaunda, after years of protesting and campaigning, was declared president in 1963. His rule of "humanism" embarked the country on a poverty collision course with the IMF and World Bank. Today, he has been declared unwanted and stateless as his place of birth has not been determined and it suspected he is Malawian!

After democratic elections in 1991, Frederick Chiluba, an ex-unionist became president and embarked upon a policy of liberalisation and economic reform, aimed at pacifying the IMF and World Bank. Chiluba reached the end of his tenure as president in 2001 with Levy Mwanawasa succeeding him.