Cities & Towns in Zambia

Zambia is one of Africa’s most urbanised countries, with over 44% of the population living in its towns and cities. And as Zambia’s economy continues to grow (at one of the fastest rates in the developing world), it seems this trend will increase in years to come, with more and more poor rural dwellers moving to urban areas, many of which have already seen substantial development since the 1990s.

The capital Lusaka is at the core of this movement and has become one of Africa’s fastest growing cities. The steady increase of tourism throughout the country as a whole has brought further development and better tourist infrastructure to once small provincial towns like Livingstone and Chingola, as well as to commercial and industrial centres like Ndola and Kitwe.

With all this in mind, in many of Zambia’s towns and cities there is a sense of restlessness and perpetual motion, complimented by an increasingly cosmopolitan mix of people, cultures and commodities from all over the country and far beyond its borders too. To overlook Zambia’s urban centres is to overlook the people of Zambia.

CHINGOLA
Chingola is the most picturesque of the Copperbelt towns with a profusion of trees and flowers. The higher rainfall that this part of the country gets is very evident in the greenery throughout the suburbs. Chingola is home to the biggest open-cast mine in Africa.

Where to stay: There are three hotels with basic facilities but all are clean and comfortable, catering mainly for businessmen. Lima Hotel, Nchanga Hotel and Musunshya Hotel. (See listings for hotels)

Protea Hotels have just opened a prestigious new 40 room hotel in Chingola located in a residential area with a good restaurant and a lively bar. It has a swimming pool, internet cafe, shops and an ATM machine and all rooms are airconditioned. An excellent choice for wedding parties, banqueting and conference facilities. The Hotel is only 1 km from the Championship Golf Course, Nchanga and an easy drive to the other excellent Copperbelt Golf courses – Mufulira, Konkola and Chubuluma. Protea also has a Safari Lodge just outside Lusaka.

Sightseeing: It is possible to visit the open cast mine. One needs to get a permit from the mine office at the end of Fern Ave. If you’re a golfing enthusiast, it said that Nchanga Golf course in Chingola is one of the most beautiful and well kept courses in Africa. A must if you’re this far north is a visit to Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

KITWE
Sixty four kilometres west of Ndola is Kitwe, the hub of the Copperbelt and the principle industrial and commercial centre of the area. The city owes its existence to the copper mining industry but a considerable number of secondary industries have been established. Planned on modern lines, Kitwe has a large shopping area with hotels, a cinema and theatre.

With the upsurge of copper prices in the 1950’s Kitwe developed from a small township to the second largest city in Zambia, obtaining city status in 1966. It then developed as an industrial and commercial area and later an important agricultural area. The good central position of the city in the Copperbelt area made it the most popular choice for industrial developers. Other industries include furniture manufacturing, batteries, clothing, asbestos and cement production, and consumer goods manufacturing. Kitwe also has three well equipped hospitals.

LIVINGSTONE
Named after the famous Victorian missionary explorer, Dr David Livingstone, who explored this area extensively, Livingstone Town was established in 1905.

As a major European settlement, being close to the Zambezi River crossing over to Southern Rhodesia, the town was made the capital of Northern Rhodesia in 1911. As the capital, it enjoyed excellent facilities far superior to anything elsewhere in the country, as can be seen from the surviving Edwardian buildings that line the city’s main road. Livingstone even had the distinction of having the country’s first newspaper. The capital was moved to Lusaka in 1935 and the bustling city has become a quiet town, but still retaining a special charm. A major event in 2011 was the installation of the town’s first set of traffic lights! The proximity to the Zambezi River and the spectacular Victoria Falls has led Livingstone to become a base for travelers from all over the world wanting to explore this Wonder of the World.

There are several Adventure Companies offering Riverboarding, White water rafting, Canoeing, Horse riding trails, Abseiling, as well as Boat cruises, Walks with lions, Elephant back safaris, Quad bikes riding, Kayaking and tours to the Victoria Falls, Mukuni Cultural Village and the places of interest in Livingstone.

LUSAKA – CAPITOL OF ZAMBIA
Lusaka has become something of a boom town of late. New buildings are going up everywhere and many chain stores and shopping malls are springing up all over the sprawling suburbs.

The road development isn’t quite keeping up so peak hour traffic is finally becoming like other cities, but it has an optimistic air of a town on the rise. For many, this is the perfect example of what economic liberalisation has done for the country. And viewed from the villages, Lusaka is the glittering capital which still persuades rural Zambians to migrate to the city in search of jobs and dreams. Well over 60% of its 2 million inhabitants are unemployed, but there are surprisingly few beggars. Although petty theft occurs, most people try to make an honest living selling their wares or services, always with a friendly smile.

The markets are a hive of activity as the thousands of stalls are set up, upgraded and cleared away every day. A myriad of motor spares dealers, restaurants, hairdressers, fishmongers, fruitsellers and rows and rows of “salaula” – stalls of discarded clothing from the West sold to Africa by the bale. The capital covers an area of over 70km2 and is one of the fastest-growing cities in central Africa. It’s population almost trebled in the immediate post-independence era and continues to grow daily. There has been no influx control and the city is bursting at the seams. Grossly inadequate municipal facilities are hard-pressed to cope with the ever-increasing demand. It is a sprawling, metropolis with many multi-storey buildings, high-walled suburbs and busy shanty towns. Development has brought together people of many nationalities, making it a bustling centre for economic, political and cultural activities. The city lies at the junction of the main highways to the north, east, south and west, and at an altitude of 1300 metres above sea level. There are air links to most of the major tourist destinations in Zambia from Lusaka International Airport.

NDOLA
An important commercial centre in Zambia, Ndola lies some 320 kilometers north of Lusaka. It is the gateway to the mineral producing region of the country. Like Lusaka, the development of Ndola has been rapid and extensive.

There are many manufacturing industries here, including a major copper refinery. Although copper is still Zambia’s largest foreign exchange earner and the mainstay of the national economy, the city of Ndola has established itself as a commercial and light industrial centre of considerable importance, as well as being the junction and distribution centre for the Copperbelt complex. The oil pipeline from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania ends its 1700 km journey at the Ndola refinery.

Modern factories, offices and shops line the Central Business District A big attraction in Ndola is the annual Zambia International Trade Fair in July. A number of newspapers and journals are printed in the city, two of which serve the country – the Times of Zambia and the Sunday Times.

SIAVONGA
Siavonga has become known as the ‘Riviera of Zambia’ as the town is spread out along the north bank of Lake Kariba and is host to holidaymakers, both local and international, all year round.

The ‘riviera’ image is enhanced by an affluent Zambian community that is developing as business people from out of town invest in holiday homes in the area. Tthe spectacular Dam Wall is nearby, which is also the Kariba border crossing into Zimbabwe. Only a two and a half hour drive on good roads from Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, it is both a popular weekend getaway as well as a conference destination for the Lusaka businiess community.

The Zambezi Valley is very hot in the summer months (October to March) but luckily cooled by the summer rains. IN winter it is warm – to cool and dry (April to September).

THE COPPERBELT
Early European prospectors were shocked at the extent of tribal diggings found on the Copperbelt and the Katanga pedicle. Even before the Lunda and Mwata Kazembe Empires of last century, copper was in circulation in the form of ingots or crosses. Used as currency in central African trade it was somewhat eclipsed in value with the increase in slave trade. In keeping with the attitudes of the time, many prospectors refused to believe that the local tribes people were in fact responsible for the digging.

The early European discoveries by prospectors like William Collier (reputed to have made his discovery on the site where he had shot a roan antelope) in 1902, had to await economic viability before any serious mining attempts were undertaken. It was only in the 1920s that a technical breakthrough was achieved that made the mining of the then Northern Rhodesia’s ‘red gold’ highly profitable. And the fortunes of the country were irrevocably changed.

The claims that made up the Copperbelt were divided between two conglomerates – the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa and the U.K. Selection Trust. (Later the Roan Selection Trust – RST) An initial boom in the industry was affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s. International gearing up for the hostilities that resulted in World War 2 created the next boom which lasted until the early seventies. This broad outline does not even begin to illustrate the enormous impact that copper has had on the country which is Zambia today.

It was copper that motivated infrastructural development in a country low on the priority list in the Colonial repertoire. It was copper that shaped colonial policies towards a federation with the then Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi). It was copper that created the social realities that fomented trade unions and the birth of Zambian Nationalism. Zambia was born with a ‘copper spoon in its mouth’. A newly independent Zambia based political and socio-economic policies and strategies on the fortunes of copper.

With the collapse of copper prices, Zambia has become a nation foundering, struggling to find a replacement for foreign exchange earnings. Copper, once the country’s saving grace, has become its albatross.