Visit to Mbala home to Kalambo Falls & surrounding towns

Gabriel at Kalambo Falls

In September to October 2007, I travelled to Mbala on duty. The purpose of the trip was to conduct training for small scale women miners in Mbala. This trip was organised by the Department of Vocational Education and Training in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training. It was a follow-up of an earlier trip that was made in June to Northern Province which covered Kasama, Mbala, Mpulungu, Nakonde, Isoka, Chinsali and Mpika. The training was held for two weeks. During this time we stayed at Makungo Guest House. Mbala is 1050 kilometers from Lusaka. Mbala is Zambia's most northerly large town, occupying a strategic location close to the border with Tanzania and controlling the southern approaches to Lake Tanganyika, 40 km by road to the north-east, where the port of Mpulungu is located. Under the name Abercorn, Mbala was a key outpost in British colonial control of this part of south-central Africa. Mbala is home to Kalambo Falls, Moto-moto Museum, Lake Chila, Zambia Airforce airport and Outward Bound Training School. Mbala is one of the largest producers of maize and beans. It is also rich in precious and semi-precious stones. Northern Province is the largest province in Zambia. It has 12 districts. Mpika is the largest district in Zambia. Northern Province has borders with Tanzania, Malawi and Democratic Republic of Congo. The following are the highlights of my visit:

Visit to Kalambo Falls
It was joy to see Kalambo Falls the second highest falls in Africa and 12 th highest in the world. The sight of the falls is awesome and amazing. It is one that evokes in the beholder a song of praise to the Maker of heaven and earth for his wonders in creation! The Kalambo Falls come from the Kalambo river and pour out with a mighty force into a deep rift. The only sad thing about the Kalambo Falls is that they are not as well marketed as the Victoria Falls in Livingstone. There is need to improve the road leading to Kalambo Falls which is not in very good condition. In addition tere is need to have some basic but good accommodation facilities near the falls. Currently the closest accommodation is that found in Tanzania and 8 kilometers away from the falls. Access to the falls involves crossing a river.

Visit to Moto-moto Museum
The museum is a collection made by Father Corbett of traditional items around Northern province. The items collected include carvings, materials used for teaching people about to get married, materials used for withcraft and that used by witchdoctors. I was quite impressed by the items that were used for teaching people preparing for marriage. For example, an item that can with two handles that can be held by two people symbolizing that marriage is meant for two people and should not involve have outside parties. Also shown is a carving of a fool symbolising a man who is lazy and a womaniser and does not listen to advice. Another symbol is that of a tortoise teaching that a married couple should be hospitable and not cover their heads under a shell like a tortoise does. It's interesting about how our forefathers especially in Bemba culture could have visible symbols to train people in the rites of passage such as marriage. It was interesting how my comments in the museum's register on the Internet charges being very high led to the reduction of the charges from K2000 per minute to K500 per minute! I was happy to be of help to the Mbala community in accessing Internet at a much lower price. The museum is currently the only place in Mbala that offers commercial Internet services.

Visit to Mbala Baptist Church
Since our stay in Mbala was two weeks, I was able to attend church at Mbala Baptist Church. The pastor of the Church is Edward Musonda. He was also instrumental in planting churches in other Northern Province towns under the Baptist Convention of Zambia. Mbala Baptist Church uses Chibemba in it's services. I attended a Bible study and a Sunday morning service. Though the sermon was in Chibemba, I wrote the sermon notes in English! The service was good and I felt I was in good company. I'm just amazed at how one feels at home when you visit churches which preach Christ and Him crucified. The church is currently engaged in a church building project and needs about K5 million to complete their building. In a rural town like Mbala raising such money is not so easy. Pastor Musonda is taking care of close to 100 orphans. Some of these come during the day while others are boarders. The challenge is to have sustainable financing measures for looking after these orphans. It's such a challenge and an encouragement to note the work that some believers are doing for the needy in society. Most of these orphans are due to losing their parents through the HIV & AIDS pandemic. Mbala is one of the few towns in Mbala that has a number of female headed homes due to women losing husbands due to HIV & AIDS. It was good to meet Roland too at the church. He is one of the deacons and works at the Zambia Baptist Association bookshop.

Mbala is a distant town but it has a number of tourist attractions, a vibrant agricultural industry and growing mining industry. It's a gateway to Tanzania. It's worth visiting and going their for holidays and your honeymoon. The untapped potential of Mbala in tourism needs to be tapped soon!


Visit to Mpulungu
It was great to see the Mpulungu harbour and Lake Tanganyika. Mpulungu harbour is a gateway by ships to Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Burundi. The full potential of the harbour is yet to be realised. Mpulungu has a lot of HIV & AIDS awareness programmes. This is in order to mitigate against the high levels of sexual activities common in border towns where young women with few job and learning opportunities seek to make quick monies by selling their bodies to willing partners. Lake Tanganyika is one of Africa's and the world's deepest fresh water lake. It has a variety of rare fishes.

Visit to Nakonde and Tunduma
Nakonde is a border town with Tanzania. This border is one of Zambia's most interesting one. One can get into Tunduma, a border town in Tanzania with no passport. When in Tunduma you do not feel like you have left Zambia. Tunduma is well stocked with a number of items that a number of traders and other people from Zambia travel to go and buy. The prices are very cheap. A number of these products are sourced from the Far East and Middle East. We stayed at Ukinga Hill Hotel in Tunduma. The accommodation rates are affordable, at least three times cheaper than in Nakonde. The hotel is neat with a aide variety of choice in terms of food. The food is well prepared. Tunduma is a town one would want to always return to, if only to stretch your Kwacha further!