Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CIMS Restaurant $
( 0214-370058; mains ZMW15-30; 24hr)
Located in the middle of the new town is
this large restaurant and cafe. Decent meals of
nshima
, chips and rice with pork, beef or
chicken are available and are popular with long-haul residents. There's a cake stall in the
corner selling cupcakes, bread and ice cream.
INTERNATIONAL
Getting There & Away
Buses and minibuses stop at the junction where the Kasama road and the Great North
Road divide. Destinations include Lusaka (ZMW115, eight hours) and Kasama (ZMW75,
two hours). There are also daily services to Nakonde (ZMW80, six hours) on the Tanzani-
an border, but the buses usually pass through around midnight on their way from Lusaka.
Mpika's huge and impressive Tazara train station is about 7km southwest of the town
centre, and is reachable by minibus when trains are due.
Around Mpika
Nachikufu Cave
(admission per person US$15, per car US$15; campsite per person US$10; daily)
Keen fans of pre-colonial art may want to see the rock art at Nachikufu Cave, a heritage
site signposted 2km west of the Great North Road, 56km south of Mpika and 180km north
of Serenje. The paintings here were discovered in 1948 and are estimated to be up to
15,000 years old. Sadly most of the paintings are worn away or have been defaced.
CAVE
CAVE
Nsalu Cave
(admission per person US$15, per car US$15; campsite per person US$10; daily)
The
paintings here are thought to be at least 20,000 years old, much older than those at
Nachikufu Cave. Instead of the stick figures and animals usually associated with San
paintings there are abstract patterns, lines and outlines. As with the paintings at Nachikufu
Cave, these paintings have been vandalised and neglected in the past, but Zambia's Herit-
age Department is involved in the cave's protection and things have improved somewhat
with many of the paintings now visible. The cave is signposted on the stretch of the Great
