Z is for Africa?

I'm getting excited about traveling to Africa again next month, but in the course of planning I have been sucked down a rabbit hole. I wanted to have at least a general understanding of the history of my destination - Zambia. But thanks to the internet, I ended up wondering about other "Z" references in Africa.
I quickly came up with Zimbabwe, Zaire, Zanzibar, Zambezi, Zulu, Zebra, and Zahara (Sahara). My next step down the rabbit hole was, naturally, to wonder if any of these were acceptable in Scrabble. This is what happens with rabbit holes - I haven't played the game in 20 years, but it seemed like a reasonable inquiry. I do remember that proper names are not allowed, but today I learned that a few specific ones are - and for some reason Zaire is one of them, but I never found out why (zebra is the other playable word). I also learned that Scrabble authorities briefly considered, then abandoned, allowing proper names in 2010. Nice to know.

Some other relevant discoveries:

Between 1970 and 1997, the large country in the center of Africa was named Zaire - remember Zaire, of heavyweight boxing "Rumble in the Jungle" fame? Before and after that, it was, and is, known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was named for the river, which is also know as the Zaire. Looking at the online map, be careful not to confuse the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the Republic of the Congo, its neighbor to the west.

I discovered a little bit about the history of Great Zimbabwe - the ancient stone ruins of the culture that dominated the region in the 11th century. In the late 1880's the British businessman Cecil Rhodes came to the area to secure mining rites and naturally named the area Rhodesia. But when Northern Rhodesia fought to gain their independence in 1964, the new nation was proclaimed Zimbabwe.  

 

The name Zanzibar is derived from the Persian zang-bâr signifying "black coast". The island is part of Tanzania (another z because it is a contraction of Tanganyika and Zanzibar) and has a rich history as a trading center, and happens to be the birthplace of the late Freddy Mercury, of the rock group Queen.

Zulu is a powerful name that brings up images of fierce, savage warriors. I now know that it means "heaven".
 

This all started about Zambia - so, getting back to Zambia, there is an species of zebra found nowhere else - The Crawshay's zebra is identified by narrower stripes. Also, I leaned that its lower incisors lack an infundibulum, but that was enough to make me stop the madness and get back to Zambian history.

I think the flag of Zambia has a funny configuration because most flags have more symmetry, but I imagine that I'll get used to it.The flag contains familiar elements found on other African flags - black for the people, red for their sacrifices - green for the lush flora. What is different is the orange, added for the mineral wealth of the country - copper. And the African Fish Eagle rises above all adversity. I noticed that before national independence in 1964, the flag of Northern Rhodesia also featured the eagle with a fish in his talons, but he's lost his fish in the new flag.