• VICTORIA Falls Bridge offers one of the deepest bungee jump spots in the world.

By HUMPHREY NKONDE –
IT has been projected that Zambia will this year reach the million mark in attracting tourists and the strategy is to lure visitors from highly populated countries like China our major tourist destination Livingstone, the seat of the Victoria Falls.
According to statistics obtained from the Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) during the Zambia International Trade Fair, there were 946,969 tourists who came to Zambia in 2014.
The number in 2014 increased marginally from 914,576, which was the number of tourists that Zambia attracted in 2013.
Most of the numbers will be attributed to Livingstone, the seat of the Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and a UNESCO heritage site shared with neighbouring Zimbabwe.
In 2013, Livingstone was the venue for the 20th General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the other one was Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Town.
Zambia’s projection of the one million mark as the number of tourists in 2015 follows the UNWTO meeting, which spurred tourism activities and helped to promote Zambia as an attractive tourist destination.
One of the problems facing tourism in general and Livingstone in particular is that there are no direct flights from other international cities, which could be one of the reasons government has decided to revive the national airline next year.
This problem is being addressed by the Government by reviving the national airline following the liquidation of Zambia Airways in 1994.
Addressing the National Assembly on September 18, 2015 this year, President Edgar Lungu said the national airline would be revived next year.
Since the number of tourists coming from China is growing, some of the direct flights can be planned for China.
Last year, there were 67, 000 visitors who came to Zambia, according to statistics that were released to the press.
ZTB recognises China as one of its tourist source countries, which last year culminated in the tourism institution and the Zambian Embassy in Beijing collaborating with the China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market, China’s leading outbound travel and tourism exhibition.
Other collaborations were with the China Central Television and China Southern Airlines to promote Zambia as a tourist destination for Chinese visitors.
Owing to the growing number of Chinese tourists, most notably to Livingstone, the town has seen high-class hospitality infrastructure coming up to cater to their needs.
The three-star Chinese-styled Oriental Swan and Golden Chopsticks hotels were both built with Chinese investment and ensure Chinese tourists enjoy familiar surroundings while in Livingstone.
Government is at the moment looking for an investor to construct another big hotel of international standards in Livingstone near the Victoria Falls to increase the city’s bed spaces.
Some jobs have been created for Zambians in tourism industry as a result of the investments by the Chinese.
The Smoke that Thunders
All the facilities, infrastructure and flight upgrades have one purpose – to get people to Livingstone to see the thundering curtain of water that leaves most people speechless on first sight.
From the time Scottish explorer David Livingstone (after whom the town is named) sighted the Victoria Falls on November 16, 1855, the spectacular two-kilometre wide and more than 100-meter deep natural wonder, called the Smoke that Thunders by the local people, has attracted thousands of tourists from all over the world.
It was the directive of Cecil John Rhodes, the British imperialist founder of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), that the bridge over the Victoria Falls should be constructed in such a way that road and rail passengers would be able to view the cascading waters as they crossed the Zambezi.
The bridge was officially opened in 1905 by Sir George Darwin, the son of the famous biologist Charles Darwin whose On the Origin of the Species paper argued that Africa was the cradle of humanity where the species evolved from primates.
Today, besides being a crossing facility between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls Bridge offers one of the deepest bungee jump spots in the world.
Jumpers throw themselves into the depths of the Zambezi gorge from ropes fastened to the parapet of the bridge and it has become something of a pilgrimage for adrenalin junkies to test their mettle here.
The area surrounding the falls is covered by a dense spray during the rainy season from November to April, requiring visitors to use raincoats and umbrellas if they wish to go near the falling waters or view rainbows in the gorge.
The Knife Edge Bridge, a few meters in front of the falls, is obscured by the spray during this time, but in the dry season, visitors strategically position themselves there to take photographs of the falling water as well as the Victoria Falls Bridge.
However, some Chinese visitors to Livingstone complained that they lacked literature on Zambia’s tourism, particularly Livingstone, in Chinese.
Livingstone’s attractions
The Livingstone Museum is a repository of Zambian history and culture and recently a group of Chinese visitors was at Zambia’s oldest facility.
It was opened by the British colonial government in 1934, making it the oldest in the country.
Local artworks from artists living in the Mukuni and Songwe settlements around Livingstone are sold at the museum, providing them much-needed employment.
They are very popular with Chinese tourists.
For wildlife lovers, the 66-square-km Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, stretching for about 12 km up the Zambezi above the falls, is a great area to enjoy the likes of the hippopotamus, crocodile, elephant, buffalo, giraffe and rhinoceros.
The park’s small area allows visitors to drive comfortably in their own vehicles or take advantage of the organized tours on offer.
As an added attraction, elephant-back safaris have been introduced recently.
At the Mukuni Research Centre, where the endangered cheetah is bred for conservation, visitors can be educated about the world’s fastest animal and walk with them.
Other attractions – white water rafting, canoeing, abseiling, micro lighting, jet boating and horseback trails – make Livingstone a great getaway for escaping the rat race.
The town’s Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport has been renovated by Zambian and Chinese contractors and the National Airports Corp. has added an ultra-modern terminal. The airport has a throughput capacity of one million passengers.
But the number of current travellers is hovering around 200,000, combining domestic and international arrivals, operating at about one-fifth capacity only.
With the envisaged national airline that would be revived in 2016, Livingstone and other tourist destinations in Zambia can attract tourists from China, the world’s second largest economy.
The author is a resident correspondent for Beijing-published ChinAfrica magazine in which he reports on tourism, construction, aviation and other sectors.