Zambia - Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi - page 107

EASTERN ZAMBIA
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Eastern Zambia contains a couple of the country's wilderness gems. It's a sparsely popu-
lated region with one long highway, the Great East Road, meandering out to the border
with Malawi and onto Lilongwe. South Luangwa and North Luangwa National Parks com-
plement each other beautifully: stunning South Luangwa is the most 'set-up' park for tour-
ism in Zambia, as well as one of the best in the region for wildlife-watching and the best
park for budget tourists in Zambia; while North Luangwa is wild, difficult to access - usu-
ally by private charter flights - and spectacular for exploring on foot.
The Great East Road: From Lusaka to
Chipata
The Great East Road crosses the Luangwa River on a large suspension bridge about
halfway between Lusaka and Chipata; there's a permanent security checkpoint manned by
the army. In the nearby settlement of Luangwa Bridge, about 3km south of the main road
on the western side of the muddy river, is the Bridge Camp ( 0977 197456;
www.bridgecampzambia.com ; Feira Rd; campsite per person ZMW40, chalets per person
ZMW85-205; ) with comfortable simple stone chalets.
Another 180km east of here, nondescript little Petauke is where people with rugged
4WDs, plenty of time, GPS and trustworthy local advice can turn off to reach South Luang-
wa. Apart from that, there's Chimwemwe Lodge (campsite ZMW50, s/d ZMW300/350) .
Don't expect much in terms of service and the chalets are dated, but it's an option if you
want to break up a journey and there's a restaurant (mains ZMW35); camping is also an op-
tion.
About 90km from Chipata and 500km from Lusaka, Katete is a small town just south of
the Great East Road. On the main road, 4km west of Katete, Tikondane Community
Centre ( 0216-252122; [e-mail]; campsite per person ZMW25, dm
ZMW30, s/d from ZMW60/75) , next to St Francis Hospital, is a grassroots initiative that
works with local villages. Among its many activities, it focuses on adult and child educa-
tion, agricultural initiatives, and trains home-based carers for AIDS victims. Tikondane
also accepts volunteers to work at their centre and on their projects (two weeks minimum).
Elke-Kroeger Radcliffe is the passionate and committed volunteer director.