In 1987, on an end-of-term break from teaching in Zimbabwe’s cotton country, I walked across the border from Victoria Falls to Livingstone. It was my first venture into Zambia: just a casual afternoon jaunt with friends. But my first impressions were not great: the Hotel Intercontinental offered three, equally vibrant, flavours of locally-produced TipTop but little else. So, after our lurid, poolside drinks, we left the empty hotel and happily retreated to our campsite in Zimbabwe.
It was eight years and a great deal of other African adventure before I ventured back to Zambia. But in 1995, commissioned to write the first Bradt Travel Guide to the country, I once again crossed the bridge into Livingstone. This time I had a serious research job to do and a good degree of trepidation. I wasn’t even sure if there was a market for travel to Zambia.