- Zambia
- (8)
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Value rating: *****
We were very pleasantly surprised by KuOmboko Hostel in Lusaka, Zambia. We book a private room doubled bed for only 24$/night (shared bathroom). The hostel is well-equipped: laundry facilities, a fun and lively bar (that brings in more locals than guests), a 24 hour internet cafe, safe and secure rooms, a flexible restaurant (they will get very creative to aid vegetarians), and most importantly -- a terrific, friendly, and helpful staff. The place feels secure and is somewhat clean (although prepare for lots of little creepy crawlers and bugs in the shared area). For the money, this is a terrific bet and one that won't "bite" too hard on your pocketbook...
Plot 9926, Mankanta Close, P.O.Box 33284, Lusaka, Zambia
Forget those factory-line safaris where you sit in a cramped minibus following a line other minibuses through a crowded wildlife park. If you want a genuinely wild experience, you need to do it on foot. A walking safari through the South Luangwa National Park is a unique experience, staying in comfortable bush camps, each day exploring a new section of the park and experiencing the raw thrill of encounters with animals in the wild.
A superb camp on the banks of the Luangwa River run by Robin Pope Safaris. Intimate, atmospheric and superb walking safaris and game drives in the national park. Hard to fault.
Lusaka is not a necessarily a great place to visit but it was wonderful to live there.
The people are great, warm and friendly.
Whilst the Falls and safaris tend to attract everyone's attention a weekend in Lusaka could be fun.
Start a Friday night with a 20z quality Zambeef steak at the Marlin restaurant which is in the Lusaka club. It is a step back in time but the garlic or black pepper steak is sublime.
Then head to Browns which may not be a salubrious joint but is busy on a Friday and has a mixed clientele. Have a bottle of Mosi and a Rumba dance.
Lusaka Club is off the roundabout on Los Angeles Boulevard.
I stayed at Tafika camp run by Remote Africa Safaris who specialise in walking safaris. The camp’s reed and thatch chalets overlook the Luangwa river in a far northern corner of South Luangwa national park. The next day we walked four hours to spend a night at Crocodile Camp, a row of simple clay huts on the banks of a watering hole. We didn’t see much big game but that didn’t seem to matter. At night we drank beers in a makeshift bar watching warthogs frolic in front of us.
The Bushcamp Company offers less wild but no less beautiful camps with hot and cold running water, sunken baths and gourmet food.
Accommodation tips from our travel through Zambia in 2006.
It can be accessed from Lusaka, but covers nearly the same area as Belgium, this is the largest park in Zambia and one of the biggest in the world.
With a terrain ranging from the lush riverine forest of the Kafue River to the vast grassland of the Busanga Plains, the park rewards wildlife enthusiasts with glimpses of a generous variety of carnivores and an abundance of their prey.
If you are visiting Zambia, Victoria Falls is not a place to miss. These incredible falls are on the border with Zambia and Zimbabwe, formerly Northern and Southern Rhodesia before independence in the 1960s, they can be seen from either side of the border.
Although you may think that going to a waterfall may not take long, I recommend that you set aside the good part of a day to visit them. There are lots of places to walk around and you will love the refreshing 'Mosi au-Tunya' (The Smoke that Thunders), the spray that is constantly thrown into the air by the falls.
Be cautious with children however, Zambian health and safety regulations are not as strict as in the UK! In some places, there are very low railings and the constant spray from the falls makes some paths slippery.
The sunset at the falls is incredible, there are beautiful scenes if you sit at the top of the falls as the sun sets. Make sure you are well protected against mosquitoes, the damp air makes it very popular with them.
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