Updating Maz

A few weeks ago someone from one of the guidebooks got in touch having seen this blog to ask me to provide an update on Mazabuka. Below is what I put together and reflecting on what was written on the town around four years ago it was interesting to see how Mazabuka has changed and developed. Hopefully much of this will appear in print.

Mazabuka is a large, bustling, tree-lined town, 349km from Livingstone and 124km from Lusaka ([GPS] 15º51.489'S; 027º45.747'E), which is at the centre of a very prosperous commercial-farming community. The huge Zambia Sugar company (locally referred to as the Nakambala Sugar Estates) dominates the town and the area, and you’ll see fields of mono-culture sugarcane lining the main road either side of the town.

Local facilities and amenities: Along with Choma it is the most developed of the towns between Livingstone and Lusaka. Mazabuka has a major branch of the Shoprite supermarket in the centre of the town and the Kontola Hypermarket on the roundabout leading north from the town towards Livingstone. Within the town centre you will find a range of shops selling local amenities, branches for all the major banks (Barclays, FNB, Stanbic and Standard Chartered) with ATMs, a pharmacy, two doctor’s clinics and two reasonably fast and reliable internet cafes (Hustlers and Makwembo). Also in the centre of town and as you leave to travel towards Livingstone there are a number of 24hr fuel stations.

Where to eat: The number of places to eat in Mazabuka has increased considerably in the last few years coinciding with the growth of the town. There are a number of fast food outlets serving snacks and larger meals including Big Bite, Good Time Investment, Moonzis and Mr Ds Pies. The two supermarkets also have their own fast food outlets and bakeries. In the town centre Pumuna’s restaurant offers a broader range and more substantive meals, and there is a branch of the pizza chain Debonairs.

Outside of the town there are two places to eat. On the left hand side as you leave the town centre and head towards Livingstone you will find Bethlehem Bakery. The bakery is run by the St Bakhita Catholic Church and makes fresh and tasty bread, rolls, pizza slices, focaccia, burgers, pies, chips, biscuits and drinks. It is a charitable association so any profit is used to support the most vulnerable communities in the area. There is also a small Arts centre next to the bakery. On the Lusaka side of the town around 8km from Mazabuka you will find the Pama pub which serves take-away meals and pub food all day. At the same site is a butchery which sells fresh, good quality meat from the Pama farm. A slightly more expensive and more upmarket alternative is the Nakambala restaurant located within the heart of the Zambia Sugar estate. It serves more Western style meals and can be found by asking for directions to the main Zambia Sugar gate.

Where to stay: Due to the economic growth of the town there is a wide range of simple guesthouses in Mazabuka though there is little to choose between many of them. The larger and better quality options are listed below.

Golden Pillow (8 rooms) Livingstone Road; [tel] +260 3 321026; goldenpillowlodge@yahoo.co.uk; All of the rooms are en-suite and include AC, DSTV, fridge and tea/coffee making facilities. There is a bar, restaurant and lounge with TV. The lodge is located at the top of the hill, behind a small bus stop on the left hand side as you travel to Lusaka. $–$$ Kw 150,000 – 220,000

Linga Longa (7 rooms) Chachacha Rd; [tel] 021 32 30784; [mob] 0977 875808; linga.longa@yahoo.com; A welcoming lodge with the rooms offering a mix of en-suite, AC, DSTV and fridge depending on the price. It provides secure parking and has a spacious, shaded garden to relax in. It is located close to Namusa Lodge and can be spotted by the bright green walls that enclose the lodge. $–$$ Kw 100,000 – 200,000

Namusa Lodge (7 rooms) Chachacha Rd; [mob] 0977 835392 / 0966 136353; jsumbwa@yahoo.com; Six of the seven rooms are en-suite and include DSTV, AC and fridge. There is a bar and restaurant, and the lodge is adding more rooms and internet facilities. To get there, pass Shoprite on your left, go over a cross-road and take the first right turn into Chachacha Rd and you will find Namusa is on the left. $–$$ Kw 100,000 – 150,000

Tukale Lodge (12 rooms) Nyati Rd; [tel] +26 021 3230014; [mob] +26 0977 0977 779078; [email] tukalebookings@gmail.com; A friendly lodge that provides en-suite double and single rooms, all with DSTV, AC, fridge and tea/coffee making facilities. The lodge has a restaurant, bar, garden, secure parking and wireless internet. The lodge is at the top of the hill as you leave Mazabuka to drive to Lusaka, turn left on the road that faces the golf club and radio station and then after 50metres you will find the lodge on the right. If busy there is a second Tukale Lodge nearby with 18 rooms offering the same facilities. $–$$ Kw 200,000 – 250,000

Royal Laricio (15 rooms) [mob] 0977 825205; [email] claramuyund@yahoo.co.uk; Another friendly lodge where all rooms are en-suite with DSTV, fridge and tea/coffee making facilities. It includes a bar, restaurant, relaxing garden and conference facilities. To reach the lodge it is signposted on the right, half way up the hill as you leave town for Lusaka. $–$$ Kw 200,000 – 250,000

Elections

Finally! At last! The date of the Zambian National Elections has now been announced and they will take place on Tuesday 20th September 2011. I am quite excited and interested too. Given the amount of campaigning that has been going on for months and months (actually probably even before I arrived early last year) it will be interesting to see what will change or be different. Zambian friends assure me that I have seen and heard nothing yet, and all the politicians and their supporters will start making even more 'noise' very soon. So I doubt that this will be the last time that I write about the elections.

Back to NAC

A few weeks later we were back at NAC with high hopes and expectations and this time in front of the director General and his other senior colleagues. This was all to present again our M&E ideas but not being too sure what to expect. We had made some revisions to the work – me expanding on the critical comments (though not too directly) and Mike producing a couple of videos showing how the new system would work and its benefits. On a positive note we had their attention for over an hour and there were some good, intelligent, probing questions. There seemed to be plenty of interest in our ideas and proposals. Negative is too strong, instead we left feeling uncertain, simply not knowing if there was any endorsement or agreement and therefore what will happen next. So we will just have to wait and see.

Another office move

So with little notice – about 5 minutes – we have moved office. The new place smells a bit (someone was living here before we moved in), gets plenty of dust and dirt from the current wintery wind and definitely needs a new lick of paint. But for now this is the new office for Judy and I. Our third space in 18 months and probably not our last move . . . to be continued.

And here are the waterfalls

Starting from the left, moving clockwise, first up is Chishimba Falls near to Kasama, then the view from the top of Kalambo Falls, followed by Kundalila Falls near Serenje and lastly back to the full height of Kalambo Falls.

Pics from the warm North

It's beautiful up North

Zambia has numerous public holidays and this year with Heroes Day and Unit Day falling during the week it was a case of what shall we do. We settled for northern Zambia and lots of waterfalls. By ‘we’ I mean 12 of us, in 3 cars, covering 6 nationalities. Our final destination was Lake Tanganyika, some 800 miles from Mazabuka. Along the way we stopped at Multinondo Wilderness – one of my first trips around Zambia last year – and being in the middle of winter it was pretty chilly at night and even colder swimming in the streams close to our campsite. After a few days we continued north, trying to avoid potholes the width of the road and fairly deep too, and stayed in the town of Kasama. Here we visited some local rock art and walked around Chishimba Falls. During the trip they were probably my favourite falls as you get 3 waterfalls on one stretch of river and they got more impressive as we moved from the first to the last.

Next up was Lake Tanganyika – the second largest freshwater lake in the world and the second deepest – which shares its shores with Burundi, DRC, Tanzania and Zambia. At the Zambia port (!) of Mpulungu we packed almost all our camping belongings (there was plenty of them) onto a creaking wooden boat and set off for Isanga Bay (http://www.isangabay.com); along the during the journey the crew used buckets to remove water from the leaking hull. The reward was a picture perfect sandy beach and the promise of a relaxing time. After the chill of Multinondo to have to sprint across the sand because it was so hot was a pleasure. We spent an enjoyable few days playing volleyball and frisbee, kayaking, swimming and snorkelling. We walked to our second waterfall, Kalambo Falls, the second highest in Africa with a drop of 235 metres; impressively tall, narrow and a spectacular, scary view peering over the edge.

It was tough to leave our beach and there were a few debates about whether we really had to leave so soon. But we did and we retraced our steps along the same route, the cold weather returned which meant bathing at Kapishya hot springs after dark was a real delight. We toured through the grounds of the Shiwa Ng'andu estate (http://www.shiwangandu.com/) briefly glimpsing the very English country house built by Stewart Gore-Browne. The last stop was in Serenje, a fairly non-descript town with the attractive Kundalila waterfalls close-by. And that was the end of another great trip, well almost, as first we had to survive a scary taxi ride from Lusaka back to Mazabuka where once it started getting dark we discovered that the car had virtually no lights. We ditched the taxi as soon as we could and were rescued by a kind friend from Maz; all part of the adventure.