A Real Life Game of Frogger

I was warned before coming out that one of the biggest dangers I'd face in Lusaka is walking on the sidewalk, especially at night, as cars don't adhere to the arbitrary division between road and sidewalk and, at night, sometimes forget to turn on their headlights. In my first few days here, I noticed both those things. But with a shopping center across Great East Road (one of Zambia's--and Lusaka's--most important roads/highways) from my hotel, I knew I would need to brave the crossing eventually.

Arcades Shopping Mall

 Of course, I'm not dumb enough to try this for the first time at night, so with today being a Saturday and no work, I decided it was a perfect time to do some exploring of Arcades (the shopping mall across the street) and Manda Hill Mall (an enclosed Western-style shopping mall about a mile down the road). I loved the game Frogger growing up--it's a little daring even though if Frogger went splat it's not like I really died (more on this in a minute)--but never thought I'd get the chance to play a real version of it! :) I've traveled to crazy cities before--Dar es Saaam and Tirana come to mind--but none were as intense as Lusaka in this regard.

Manda Hill Mall

There are two things that make the Lusaka version of crossing the road at this particular location that much more intense, although thankfully there are no crocodiles that I know of around this part of Lusaka. First, it's maybe one hundred yards from a major traffic circle, and the University of Zambia is along that traffic circle as well. Second is the proliferation of minibuses. And no, unlike in East Africa where they're called matatu or daladala, in Zambia, they still call them minibuses (I asked a local, and he seemed confused by my question). Thankfully this morning during my first crossing there was a parade for International Women's Day which effectively blocked cars from traveling west and caused a serious traffic jam going east, making the crossing easier. However, my attempt later in the day to go to the supermarket and dinner--a lovely Thai restaurant apparently owned by an actual Thai family that settled in Lusaka--was a little more daring. Especially because it was dusk, but not dark. But I made it across the road twice(!), in part by following the locals, but also because eventually there's a big enough break in the cars and minibuses to permit a quick jog across.

So there you go, I got to play real-life Frogger today, and I'm pretty sure I'll get to play it many more times in the coming months since all the good restaurants are on that side of the street. For this post's video: I brought four books with me, including all three in the Divergent trilogy, and I finished the first book earlier today while laying by the pool (tough life, right?). If you haven't read it yet, I strongly suggest that you do. However, that now means I want to see the movie, which I might be able to since there are movie theaters in both malls. Anyway, here's a trailer for the movie: