1860公里的坦贊鐵路／李明熙
貫連坦桑尼亞和贊比亞的坦贊鐵路，是 1970 年代由中國興建的。當年中國出錢出力，為了跟非洲國家友好，爭取支持加入聯合國，而坦贊鐵路一直被視為中非「兄弟情誼」的豐碑。
車票不能網上訂購，只有親臨車站或致電留座。我們還在倫敦時便長途致電 Dar Es Salaam 總站，接線生只記下我的全名及出發日期，便說出發日提早來付款取票。我們怕電話中出了誤會，提早了一天到車站，看到自己的大名準確無誤地寫在日誌上，放下心頭大石。因為若買單獨頭等車票，男女則不能共處於同一車廂，所以我們只好訂下整個 4 張卧舖廂。
坦贊鐵路一週 2 班，一班快線，一班普通線。快線列車用的是 2016 年中國製新車，而我們坐的是普通線列車，除了餐車是新車廂外，從頭等車廂內的鐵頁風扇製造年代推算，應該有 40 年以上的歷史。洗手間和浴室嘛，若不怕插錯腳進路軌，還是可用的。頭等廂的好處是早午晚餐有專人送上，而價錢也十分合理。列車上的酒吧卡，有超冷飲料，我們一天來回購買幾次。
入贊比亞境時，因為特區護照上寫著中國籍，花了不少時間解釋「香港中國籍不是中國中國籍」。最後要打開 WiFi 蛋，即場示範登上官網申請一次 E-Visa，顯示香港免簽證，才不用付 50 美元。
入境後，黑巿兌換的買手馬上登車，因為手上的先令（Shilling）連在餐車也不能用，只好賤賣，美元兌克瓦查（Kwacha）的滙率還可接受，多兌一點免得三更半夜到達火車站，沒有提款機時就身無分文。坦贊鐵路的時間表，由出發開始就已經延誤，最後火車延誤 12 小時，淩晨 2 點才到總站 New Kapiri Mposhi。
Waterless Victoria Falls／Kimberlogic
Victoria Falls is classified as the largest waterfall on earth. It is not the tallest nor the widest, but combining its height and width makes it the largest sheet of falling water. Unfortunately, we never got to see this large sheet of falling water.
In mid November we visited the falls at its driest point. Zambia’s wet season begins at the end of November and the falls hit its peak flow in April. Being November before the rains, the falls is only at a tenth of the flow as it would be in April. This made for viewing a lot of rocks with a few water spouts.
Even though the falls were quite dry, we still managed to have a lovely time there. We arrived at the park in the morning around nine and were practically the only visitors there. We walked the pathways to see the falls and stopped at every possible viewing spot. We even walked above the falls to see the small islands that appear in the Zambezi River during dry season.
There are a lot of activities offered at and around the falls such as: bungee jumping, safaris, rafting and even swimming at the crest of the falls. Ming Hay had been here before and done most of these activities. The only thing that slightly interested me was the swimming in Devil’s Pool at the crest, but the outside temperature was quite cool, the water cold and the tours expensive and fully booked, so we decided just to enjoy the sight of the falls.
Since we entered Zambia in the wee hours of the morning through a land border on the train, I only purchased a single entry visa (although I did not enquire about the other types of visas, it didn’t seem like the immigration officers had the time, patience or resources to offer me another kind of visa). Having only a single entry visa, we were unable to cross the bridge to the Zimbabwe side to view the falls. Being dry season, I don’t feel as though I missed anything except more rock viewing.
Having a few days in Livingstone, Zambia was very relaxing for us, maybe because this town feels like a small tourist town in the USA. The official language in Zambia is English, so it is very easy to talk to people and visit any establishment without fear of a communication issue. The standard of living here is quite good; they have nice restaurants and coffee shops, good supermarkets, the people are friendly and it is a safe town.
There isn’t much to do in the town, but after the few days we were treated like locals at certain restaurants and by the random people we would repeatedly see and talk to on the street each day. Being on a world tour and constantly moving to the next town, city or country, it was nice to have some down time in one place and become familiar with the town and the people.
我們的 #Home2HomeTravel
