Zambia is a landlocked country in south central Africa. It won independence from Great Britain in 1964 and has been an island of stability, politically, compared with some of its neighbours. It is a remarkable place to visit, incorporating the vibrant capital Lusaka, Victoria Falls and the Zambezi, the largest game sanctuary in Africa (Kafue National Park) and places of remarkable unspoilt nature.

• Zambia Tourism

• The Times of Zambia

• The Zambian news site

• Zambia Online, a politically-oriented site

• The Lowdown, a popular monthly magazine

• Zamnet, the largest ISP

• Zambia Society Trust news page

• Visit Zambia Campaign

Zambia is also a very poor nation, ranking 166^th out of 177 in the 2003 UN Development Report. As far as internet and telecommunications is concerned, lack of capital is holding Zambia back. For example, all internet access in Zambia is currently via US/European satellites, which means that (a) an email sent between 2 users in Zambia may well be routed via Florida, and (b) each web document request takes about 0.25 seconds to simply reach the destination server. Lack of financial resources and political will, as well as an excess of bureaucracy within and outside Zambia mean that connection to one of the undersea telecommunications cables is still a long way off.

• UN Development data on Zambia

• UN Development programme fact sheet

• CIA factbook

• Wikipedia on Zambia

• The internet is very slow

Development agencies in Zambia:

• InWEnt, which recently sponsored an OSS conference

• SIDA, a Swedish organisation

All photos on this page copyright (C) 2006 Marcelle Olivier