South Luangwa accommodation, Zambia

Our village is home to the Kunda tribe and is located adjacent to world-famous wildlife safari destination, South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. We offer travellers the opportunity to visit a genuine Zambian rural village and to get involved with local people and village life.

It is possible to stay in the village overnight or for a few days – or to visit us just for the day – to get to know the Kunda people and experience a part of our lives. A visit to our village is an uplifting experience that will find a place in your heart, and stay with you forever.

The villagers have built four roundavel huts with mud walls and thatched roofs for guests. Each has two beds complete with clean linen, blankets and mosquito nets. There are open-air showers surrounded by reed screens, for which villagers heat water over an open fire for you to use in the mornings and evenings. Toilets are traditional ‘long-drops’ with a comfortable, wooden throne to sit upon.

Visitors take all meals in the village’s chitenge – a thatched, open-sided shelter with traditional wooden chairs and reed mats. Traditional fare is freshly made over an open fire and served to guests three times a day (breakfast, lunch and evening meal). 

The food is delicious and includes the staple Zambian food nshima (ground maize that sets like polenta), along with a variety of vegetable and meat relishes including ndiyo zo vundula (ground peanut and pumpkin leaves), nyemba (red bean stew), nyama ya mbuzi (goat), nkhuku (chicken) and nsomba (fish).

Tea, coffee and boiled, filtered water are also available throughout the day. The local brew Seven Days Beer and Kachasu (very strong spirit) are also beverages that should be sampled!

Upon arrival an itinerary based on the wishes and interests of the visitor is drawn up. A walk in the bush to hear about the different trees and their traditional medicinal uses, visits to the Chief’s Palace or the local health clinic, attending a local church service, or seeing how the children are taught in the nearby school are among the many options. If you are a teacher why not offer to give a lesson yourself!

Spirits and other non-physical entities play an important role in Zambian belief. To learn about this fascinating aspect of Kunda culture, a visit to a traditional healer can be arranged. Or why not take a visit to the sacred place where rainmaker ceremonies are conducted and where a Chief in 1876 was turned into a Baobab tree!

The villagers are fascinated with the different cultures they meet and love to exchange ideas and experiences with visitors. Probably the best way to get to know the local people and their ‘ways of living’ is to take part in daily life activities. Visitors are invited to join the villagers when they go into the fields to work or to the lagoons to fish, or when the women are grinding maize using stones, carrying water on their heads or preparing traditional local dishes like stiff maize porridge (Nshima) with relish made out of local meat, peanuts and pumpkin leaves.

In the village there is no electricity but that does not mean that overnight guests have to go to bed at sunset! In the dark, tropical night, villagers and school children will entertain you with drumming, dances and drama and the finest storytellers will recount the old Kunda stories with everyone seated around the fire.

Experts have dubbed South Luangwa National Park as one of the greatest wildlife sanctuaries in the world; the concentration of game is among the most intense in Africa. There are 60 different animal species and over 400 different bird species. We can put you in touch with camps and lodges who run a variety of safaris.

We are located in the Luangwa Valley, bordering South Luangwa National Park, in Zambia’s Eastern Province. International flights convenient for the Luangwa Valley arrive in Lusaka, Zambia ’s capital, or into neighbouring Malawi (Lilongwe). From Lusaka or Lilongwe the Luangwa Valley can easily be reached by an internal flight, private vehicle or coach/bus.

Internal flights: Fly from Lusaka or Lilongwe to Mfuwe Airport, from where transfers can be arranged.
Coach / bus: Coaches and local buses run every day from Lusaka (6 hrs) and Lilongwe (2.5 hrs) to the market town of Chipata and cost approx US $10. There are then coaches and local buses to Mfuwe (3 hrs), from where transfers can be arranged.
Private transport: 4WD Vehicles can be hired in Lusaka, Lilongwe or Chipata.