r/Zambia

I'll be visiting Lusaka in a few weeks with my family, and we're planning on using Yango to get around. Although we're familiar with ride services like Uber, we've never used Yango before and I have a couple of questions:

1. I've read online that drivers will often add money (or demand a "top up") to the fare total at the end of a ride. I've also read that you can pay for rides on Yango using a credit card. If it's like Uber, you pay an agreed-upon price before the ride and can add a tip afterwards. Is Yango like this, too? Is this a reasonable way to get around drivers changing the fare in the middle of the trip?

2. We're staying a little East of Ibex Meanwood and will need to get a ride to the airport at around 06:00. Is it typically difficult to get a ride through Yango at that hour near Meanwood?

I appreciate any help. Thanks!

Ah yes… here I am again, proudly contributing to the ZedMobile “Foundation.” At this point, I might as well be a regular columnist for ZedMobile rant posts on this subreddit.

But anyway… YOU are NOT going to believe this.

First off, let me be clear — I’m a full-fledged ZedMobile client. Not by force, but by hope. Hope that one day things will actually work the way they’re supposed to.

So, let’s rewind a bit. On March 26, 2026, ZedMobile posted a “Network Notice” on Facebook. Remember that date… it’s important.

I was one of the brave soldiers who bought bundles during that period. And when I say we suffered — I mean we suffered. We went a solid 5 days basically disconnected from the internet. And on the rare occasion it did connect? Speeds were crawling at a legendary 12–50 KB/s. At that point, even opening Google felt like a long-term investment.

But you know what? I understood. As a loyal customer, I told myself, “They’re working on it.” I had faith in the ZedMobile technical team. Maybe not on time… but at least before my bundle expired, right?

Oh — and just to make it sweeter, I had bought the K49 Unlimited Everything bundle. A weekly bundle… that I only got to use for about 2 days. Yes. Two. Days.

Now here’s where it gets interesting (or painful, depending on how you look at it).

After that whole situation, I went ahead and bought another K49 bundle… because clearly, I trust ZedMobile that much. Surprisingly, the network actually stabilized. Life was good again. I could browse, work, and pretend everything was normal.

But then… 3 days ago, I made the bold decision to purchase yet another K49 bundle.

Big mistake. HUGE.

I don’t think I’ve ever regretted buying something this fast in my life. Imagine having an unlimited bundle… and not even managing to use 600MB of it. Not because you don’t want to — but because the network simply said, “Not today.”

The speeds? A generous 80 KB/s max. Yes, maximum. On a good day. With luck. And maybe a prayer.

I even tried calling customer service, and all I got was:
“We’ve been experiencing technical issues lately.”

Lately?
My brother in bandwidth… it’s been almost a week.

At this point, I’m not even angry — I’m just disappointed.

And let’s not forget — when they posted that Network Notice, I was in the comments asking about compensation for unused bundles. But you know what… that’s a story for another day (and probably another rant).

So ZedMobile, if by any miracle you come across this:
PLEASE fix your network. And if possible, reimburse me for the bundles I paid for but couldn’t actually use.

Because right now, it really feels like I’m just donating money at this point.

Are Zambians and by this i mean indigenous black Zambians or black Zambian descendants who have spent a lot of time outside of Zambia more sensitive to racism ? I had a recent discussion with a childhood friend who for lack of a better term has spent the majority of his life in Zambia. This childhood friend is plugged into the incel, Christian right wing echo chamber where the Tucker Carlsons and Charlie Kirk’s are king.

So Me and this so called ‘friend’ are at constant loggerheads because of our different views of racism. I have spent a large part of my life ‘behind enemy lines’ and have seen all types of racism from subtle micro aggressions to full on Mississippi burning type overt racism. I have had friends who have lost babies due to medical negligence from doctors who did not believe that they were in that much pain due to their race. To even having teachers actively sabotaging black children simply because they showed ambition. One story that happened was a Mz***u teacher asked me what i wanted to do and i stated i wanted to be a ******* and the mz***u teacher laughed and said your people need to stick to blue collar work as statistics show that we fail at such jobs, this was despite me beating the whole class in grades. This has somewhat radicalised and has made be very vociferous towards injustice caused by one groups perceived racial superiority.

This friend thinks i am overly sensitive and making excuses as a black person because had i had stayed in Zambia i would not have those opportunities. This friend has set foot outside of the country for a short period of time to visit the west and the smiles he got when he travelled is enough evidence that racism is not that bad and people like me are just overly paranoid. Anytime i am in Zambia i point out things of how global invasivr racism affects us from attitudes, how foreigners are treated, favourable business practices to them and even how foreigners act but this friend says its all in my head. I have nearly even come to blows with some of these foreigners in Zambia.

Anyway not to bore you with all the details , the question is as per the headline. I have heard from black people who were born in the west voice their concerns how a lot of Black Africans do not understand racism like someone who has lived in the west

I’m trying to sanity-check a safari quote and would appreciate local or firsthand insight.

We’re a family of five: 2 adults and 3 children. We were quoted about $6,500 total for a 2 days / 3 nights safari package at Mopani, including flights from Lusaka.

I understand safari lodges, flights, park fees, and family travel can add up, and I’m not expecting it to be cheap. But this still struck me as much higher than I expected for such a short trip.

Does that sound normal for Mopani or similar lodges, especially when booking from Lusaka for a family? Or does this sound unusually high?

I’d also appreciate any perspective on whether this is just the reality for this kind of trip, or whether there are usually better-value options in the same general category.

Thanks.

To be specific, I live in Chalala near Lubwa police station. It’s near a tarmac and all but I’m afraid there might be some nefarious activities that happen at that time that I’m not aware of. This is the only feasible time I can run/walk because I work in Silverest and do not have a vehicle yet.

I’m looking to host a backend (Django) and trying to figure out the best local options.

• If you’re using Paratus for hosting: What are the monthly costs like for a basic VPS/cloud instance (CPU/RAM/storage)? How smooth was the signup and setup process? Any pros/cons once live?

• Or if you’re using AWS, Digital Ocean, or other international providers: How do you stay compliant with Zambia’s data protection requirements (e.g. keeping Zambian user data within the country)?

Would really appreciate honest experiences from anyone actually running production stuff here. Thanks in advance!

Hi, for a while now I have been contemplating on starting a marketing agency, I have a background in Marketing with over 3 years experience and my vision and plan is to have a marketing agency that not only caters to the Zambian market but to africa as a whole.

I specialize in Digital Marketing, Copy writing and Social media management among other things. I am a 24 year old female based in Lusaka. Lusaka based business partner/partners would be more suitable.

I am looking for people that are proactive and not timid when it comes to talking to people, and closing deals and people who is not shy of speaking infront of a camera.

If you have interest in Marketing and would like to be a part of something great, let's connect and start this journy together.