The Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis) At this time of the year, in the gardens and woodlands, is heard a pleasant ringing bird call – ‘twee-wee-wee, twee-wee,wee’. Time and again it echoes in the shady shrubs and canopies. On hearing this call, one need only look in the direction of the sound and one will see […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Archives' Category
In The Garden
How often do you buy a plant and when you get home wonder ”Where on earth do I put it?” I do it all the time. I have a little row of plants waiting sorrowfully in their black plastic bags for me to decide where they should be planted. There is only one answer – […]
Read the rest of this entry »Eating Out
Chang Thai Had an early supper at the Chang Thai on Monday night. Chang Thai is in the banking park next to Arcades, between Plates Wine Bar and Mint Lounge. A waitress greeted us with a warm smile and reassured us that we were not too early for dinner. We chose a table on the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Fool on the Hill
Following on from last month’s rant on escalating security problems … in addition to installing all the normal precautions of alarms, motion detectors, Kevlar PJ’s for the kids, response teams and a rather natty shark pool under the new glass floor of my office, it was decided that we should supplement our aging trio of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Mole in the Hole
Remember, Remember I think it was in 1605 that naughty old Guy Fawkes was found to have parked considerable loads of Gunpowder in the cellars of the old Houses of Parliament so that when King James the First of England (The Scots call him James the Sixth; funny lot the Scots, when government vehicles appeared […]
Read the rest of this entry »Wonder Women
Developing more female motorbike riders is an on-going challenge for the Lusaka Motor Cycle Club (LMCC). Like most motor sports the equipment, track and training opportunities as well as attendance at competitive events doesn’t come cheap. However, motor sport provides an exciting spectator event and a great advertising opportunity for corporate sponsors all over the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Wacky Wildlife Eating Waste
In the September issue of The Lowdown we wrote about the pressure under which Africa’s wildlife is struggling to survive with the onslaught of commercial poaching operations whose prime purpose seems to be the export of wildlife body parts to other countries. Kachere Art Studio share the same concern as we do – that these […]
Read the rest of this entry »No More Timbers To Shiver
Heading into town on Saturday 20 October, I was surprised to see tree branches blocking access to Haile Selassie Avenue from the traffic circle at Longacres. Not having time to glance up the road whilst trying to dodge some of the Corolla Crowd who were doing their strange manoeuvres, I continued on in the direction […]
Read the rest of this entry »A Million Years of Heritage
The LuangwaValley- those three words evoke images of elephant, lion, leopard or perhaps a carmine bee eater. Whatever your wildlife preference, the Valley is renowned for its natural beauty, and rightly so. Less well-known is its long and rich cultural history. Did you know that people have lived in the Valley for at least one […]
Read the rest of this entry »Cookie Cutter
There are two major sides to the ‘biscuit’ story in Zambia, one that relates to the frightening levels of child stunting and malnutrition and the other that is about sharp business acumen and an eye for opportunity. Shortly after independence our school children received milk in a school feeding programme. Linked to this was […]
Read the rest of this entry »Steady As A Rock
This month, as we celebrate Zambia’s forty eighth year of Independence, we look at another Zambian symbol – Mulungushi Rock of Authority. As a child and teenager, we often heard about Mulungushi Rock on the news, always in the context of a UNIP meeting. Not being much interested in politics, I never thought too […]
Read the rest of this entry »Protecting Kasanka’s Bats – The Necessity Of Tourism Policies
The annual migration of straw-coloured fruit bats Eidolon helvum is regarded as one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the world and it takes place in Zambia’s Kasanka National Park. For example, CNN recently listed it as one of the 20 “must-see places in the world” and in his latest book “Ultimate Wildlife Experiences”, esteemed […]
Read the rest of this entry »Electric Light Orchestrated
Once again, suppliers of electricity, ZESCO, have submitted a proposed tariff increase, to become effective November this year. At press time, this application was still in the hands of the Energy Regulation Board (ERB), the date for submissions from the public having expired. I don’t believe that there is even one ZESCO customer in […]
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