Luangwa, Zambia local people will take visitors across in small boats. The town's location is strategically important. The Luangwa forms Zambia's border with Mozambique and the Zambezi forms its border with Zimbabwe. In the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia War, the Mozambican War of Independence and Mozambican Civil War it was the scene of guerrilla activity. Zambia's practical support for nationalist guerrillas led to some incursions into its territory by Rhodesian and Portuguese forces in pursuit of them. Luangwa District is far from the famous Luangwa national parks, but includes specatacular scenery and wildlife of its own. The Lower Zambezi National Park west of the town
Russia–Zambia relations state visits in 1974 and 1987. Relations between the two countries soured in 1976, when Kaunda said on the Soviet and Cuban presence in Angola, "(t)hey drove colonialism and fascism out the front door, only to let a plundering tiger and its cubs in the back door." Soviet support for the Zimbabwe African People's Union, which operated primarily out of Zambia, helped to stop relations from detiorating further, and ties became warmer after Abel Muzorewa, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia launched airstrikes inside Zambia in 1979. After the strikes, Zambia unsuccessfully sought Western military aid, which saw Zambia turning