October 17, 2014, Friday. It is 9:30 am and we have left the outskirts of Lusaka behind. We have now been told we can raise our windows and open our shutters. I'm still trying to figure out what that was all really about. I spent some time peering out of the crack at the top of a shutter and saw only smiling people, people shopping in the rundown bazaar, little cardboard stalls selling trinkets, tee shirts, food, people on their way to work. And slums, garbage heaps, the usual urban detritus enlivened by the circus atmosphere the passage of our train creates among the children. Are there really times when people throw rocks at the train? Or did they not want us to see the slums? But every city has those along the rail lines. Strange. 

Well, Lusaka is not a sleepy little town. It is the capitol of Zambia and its largest city, larger than Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.  John has just returned from the observation car to tell me that Gareth, the train manager, stood on the open platform at the very rear of the train where no passengers were allowed, armed with a realistic-looking paint gun to keep anyone from trying to climb aboard. Gareth is brilliant at his job, so I'm sure there is reason for his watchfulness. Nevertheless, if this were a movie, it would have to be a comedy. I'm sorry I was unable to photograph Lusaka.

This is what the outskirts of Lusaka looks like outside the city itself.

Our train!