Zambia – First Week

IBD’s Team #7 arrived to Zambia on May 19^th. After 3 days of safari in the South Luangwa National Park, which Silvia already described, we visited COMACO’s (our client) Conservation Trading Center (CTC) in Mfuwe.

Back in Lusaka, after two meetings with our boss, we took a bus to Lundazi to visit the main CTC of the company. The bus was uncomfortable (it had 5 seats per row instead of the usual 4), the road very bumpy, and the journey long (12 hours and a half), but we made it. We stayed at the Castle Hotel (which is really a castle!), where we had a good time despite the lack of running water.

The first day of work in Lundazi we had many interviews with key staff and we learnt about the production process. The second day we went to the field to visit some farmers with an extension officer to see the real COMACO impact.

The bus trip back to Lusaka was 16 hours long, interrupted by a few mechanical break downs, but I guess it’s all part of the Zambia experience.

Now in Lusaka, we have been working hard for a few days, gathering data and interviewing people, but we still have a long way to go. Getting consistent data is very challenging around here, but we are confident the project will be successful.