We spent a little over one month in Lusaka, Zambia but to be honest two weeks would have been fine. We had a great Airbnb but Lusaka just simply did not give us the warm & fuzzies. After our high from Uganda & great vibes of Nairobi, both with great ‘tropical weather’, the heat of Zambia & expansiveness of Lusaka itself took a bit to get use to! The biggest advantage that I can point out about our trip to Lusaka, Zambia was English was the official language!
Lusaka is the ‘hub’ of Zambia & covers a big area! It could take some time to get from one side to the other of the city during ‘rush’ hour. We met some great people & had a fantastic Airbnb, but one month was definitely a longer stay than we needed for our visit. Lets get started!
A Few Facts About Zambia
Like the other African countries we had visited, we learned that Zambia has over 70 tribes & each tribe speaks their own tribal language and has their own tribal traditions & cultures.
Zambia was colonized by the British & after Zambia gained their independence, English became the official language & is taught in schools. Independence from the British came in mid 1960’s. In short no language barrier at all!
As of 2023, Zambia’s population was just over 20,500,000. It is known as one of the most peaceful countries in Africa choosing to avoid conflicts with neighboring countries. This land locked country located in the Southern part of Africa shares borders with 8 other African countries.
Copper & diamonds along with cobalt, gold & emeralds are natural minerals. National Parks & Wildlife reserves, Victoria Falls adds to the country’s list of resources.
Walkability of Lusaka
Lusaka is spread out covering a huge area. While staying in our first Airbnb, we first stayed in an ‘affluent’ area called Ibex Hills which was a ways out. One day we decided to walk to the closet shopping area (3Km) Leopards Hill Mall, the temperature outside was about 25-28 degrees celcius, so walking was a bit challenging. The streets were all paved for the most part, but our walk was such a long distance there were no paved sidewalks & we walked on a dirt path along the side of the paved road. Most of this area was scattered with grass & stubby trees & very little green vegetation.
Not an uncommon sight on our walks.
Staying in the Ibex Hills area was a mistake for us, as we like to have things within a reasonable walking distance. This is a growing neighborhood of apartment complexes for those with money (as we were told). One walking trip to the closest mall & we were done. Too far out.
Once we moved to the Woodlands area, the walks were much brighter with tree lined streets with & without sidewalks.
AirBnbs
Our Airbnb in the Ibex Hills area was just too modern for senior travelers like ourselves. The Big guy continuously complained (to deaf ears) about the sofa being uncomfortable & having to walk up steep, uneven height of the stairs to the bedroom. A big concern for us was the downstairs bathroom that had a glass door, which did not give any privacy to whoever was in the bathroom!! Not sure what the builder was thinking on that point…. Finally, I agreed with him that we needed to move to a different location that was closer to grocery stores, shopping centers & coffee shops & more walk-able.
For the last three weeks, we stayed at the Pebble View Luxury Apts. in the Woodlands neighborhood. Loved it!! This small complex was beautiful, well managed, great staff & walk-able to three different malls/shopping centers 1 1/2 – 2km in distance! A/C & hot water throughout apt also a huge plus.
You just really need to do your research & find out where you are staying & the distant from malls, grocers, coffee shops, etc.
Shopping Centers/Malls
Almost every neighborhood in Lusaka had its own version of a shopping center or mall, which catered to the people in that neighborhood in the type of brands carried in the stores. It really does make it nice since so many people do walk.
Every shopping center or mall each had their own grocer which was very convenient. Sizes of the malls varied. Our favorite to walk to was the Novare Pinnacle. Great stores, nice eating places & coffee shops.
This is the Shoprite Grocer!
During one of our walks to Leopard Hill Mall we met two men that were smoking out in front of the coffee shop. They stopped us and told us that they were from South Africa & Israel & had moved to Lusaka, Zambia years ago. They loved Lusaka so much they decided not to leave. One of the men asked us to let him buy us a pie from the local gas station that was around the corner & before we could answer he was walking away saying he would be back. We sat down to wait for our drink orders & a few minutes later he returned with two “pies”. He told us he had picked one beef pie and one chicken pie. He said that the secret to a good pie is hand rolling the dough and that the station hand rolls the pie dough for every pie they make. This was our first time eating meat or chicken pies & we both agreed that they were very very good.
Restaurants
Lusaka had a tons of Restaurants if you like Fast food like chicken, pizza & etc. We saw KFC & Hungry Lion restaurants in every area of town (it seemed like they were on every block)! We did find an Middle Eastern restaurant in one of the larger malls, but that required ordering a taxi to get there.
The saving grace in restaurants for us was the Mozambik! I don’t remember the Mall it was in but I’m sure if you google it when you visit Lusaka, it will come up. We went multiple times & were never let down. The food, staff, ambiance was awesome! It was at the end of a hall a little hidden but well worth the walk!
Cost of Living
The cost of living in Lusaka, Zambia was about 40% higher than living in Nairobi, Kenya. Everything in Lusaka was higher, the grocery store, restaurants & even clothing, but we made it fit into our budget by adjusting here & there. Rent for Airbnb was about the same as Nairobi, Kenya, but the area in Nairobi had much better sidewalks and wider streets.
Zambia is a landlocked country & it made sense that a lot of their goods were shipped in thus the higher price on some items.
The one area where we can say that Lusaka stood apart from Nairobi was the level of service at the place where we stayed. The cleaning & service at the Airbnb in Nairobi was okay, but the cleaning & level of service at the Pebble View Serviced Apartments in Lusaka, Zambia was like being in a 5 star hotel. Pebble View Serviced Apartments was “Awesome” & I would recommend to all.
Visa Process for ZambiaThe U.S. Passport is the one of the strongest in the world & proved its popularity upon our visa process in Zambia. Using the U.S. Passport allows you easy access to Zambia. When Immigration saw our U.S. passport, they waved us past the desk collecting the Health Form to queue for entry. The Immigration Officer asked us a few simple questions about where we were staying & then did the procedural process of taking our picture & only fingerprinting The Big Guy (as it seems has been the norm in most countries we have visited), before they stamped our passports & gave us entry.
Although, Zambia online says 3 months with no VISA, you only get one month at a time. We had to travel to the Immigration Office in downtown Lusaka to renew, specifically we were told, the day before the expiration date, which we did. Renewing was a very simple process, we just handed the clerk our passports & waited about five minutes before she called us back to her desk to give us our passports back stamped with a one extension.
Weather was HOT
There is no easy way to say it, Lusaka is a hot dry city but that is Zambia. We did walk quite a bit but boy was it hot, arid & dry. Having air conditioning & a well kept pool in the complex at Pebble View was definitely welcomed on those hot days to cool off.
Transportation
There are a few ride hire services in Lusaka. When we arrived at the airport, we immediately looked for a place to get a sim card for our phones. T-Mobile works in Zambia, but we wanted a Zambian sim card to load the ride-hire app on our phones. The shop recommended Yango (think “Uber”) ride-share app to get around. It was very easy to use. There is also Ulendo (GO) and a few others that I can’t remember, but the biggest difference in the ride share apps are the car models & prices. For example Ulendo (GO) uses newer model cars & pays their drivers more but I believe charged more as well? Lusaka does not have Bodaboda motorcycle system of rides (I talked about these unregistered paid motorcycle rides in my blog about Uganda).
Currency
Zambia uses Kwacha as their currency. Don’t you love the bright colors & images!!! We used ATMs to obtain kwachas when needed.
Safety
As Zambia is considered one of the safest countries in Africa, we felt pretty safe in our walks. Now we continue to be aware of surroundings as purse or phone snatching is a problem almost anywhere you go but we never had any problems. We were always back at the AirBnB before dark although we were told Lusaka rocked at night. We occasionally saw armed guards but again no problems.
Lastly, the People
Lastly, the people we met were super nice & we’ve no complaints there at all. The staff at the Pebble were continuously teaching us words from their language & were so patient with us. Always with a smile. With Minus & Abigail speaking to us in their tribal language everyday, we were able to greet & respond to the local people as we walked to one of the Malls or to Grocery store!
I can’t tell you how happy we are that we came to Africa! We have met so many people always with a greeting & huge smile on their face!
Next stop is Windhoek, Namibia! I wonder what it holds for us? Let’s find out!
