MOST times when we talk about Zambia’s tourism, it is not by coincidence that one of the first things [if not the first thing] that possibly pops up is the Victoria Falls in Livingstone.
Simply put, the waterfall, which is one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre’s seven natural wonders of the world, has earned a name for itself.
However, much as the spotlight has been on the Victoria Falls, which is shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the country has a lot of sites that, if marketed, can transform the country’s tourism outlook. Such an area is the northern tourism circuit.
Northern circuit is a term used to describe, identify and market the tourism endowments found in the northern part of Zambia encompassing Luapula, Muchinga, Northern and parts of Central province.
The circuit has a rich and diverse tourism product base, which includes waterfalls, lakes, wildlife, animal sanctuaries, traditional ceremonies, unspoiled white-sandy beaches, cultural heritage and natural heritage sites in almost all the provinces.
In fact, it is also home to beautiful waterfalls which, if well marketed, can receive more visitations from both local and foreign tourists, just like the Victoria Falls – if not even more.
Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba, who before his election as Livingstone Central Member of Parliament and consequent appointment as minister was the Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) chairperson, understands the industry very well.
As such, he says the northern circuit is among the five tourism development areas, including Livingstone, Kafue National Park, Lower Zambezi and South Luangwa, that Government has identified as key to tourism development.
“To just give you a background, sometime in 2018, the ministry [of tourism] launched what we called the Zambia tourism master plan. It’s a 20-year plan that goes up to 2038, and in that plan, it has spelt out a detailed sequence of events to take place which will speak to the sustainable development of tourism in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Sikumba said of the five tourism development areas, four have already existing and operational tourism packages. He says attention is now shifting to the northern circuit to see how best it can be opened up.
“…for Livingstone, you are talking about the Victoria Falls and the Mosi-oa-tunya National Park. If you look at the Kafue National Park, it has the safari camps and the wildlife, and the same for the Lower Zambezi as well as South Luangwa,” he says.
He adds: “So now we want to complement the four with the fifth, which is the northern circuit. As you may know, it houses a number of waterfalls, outside the Victoria Falls, and I think by my count, we are talking about an addition of 14 waterfalls that we have designated under the National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC).
“The most talked-about waterfalls on the northern circuit would be the Chishimba Falls in Kasama which obviously ranks second after the Victoria Falls in terms of visitor numbers,” he said.
With the main highlight on this particular tourism circuit being the Samfya beach, Government is, among other issues, considering how best the journey on the circuit can be broken down while placing emphasis on developing Kasaba Bay, situated in Nsumbu National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Northern Province.
The Kasaba Bay is the new dawn government’s iconic project, and Mr Sikumba says Government has given itself a lead time of five years to actualise it.
The area [Kasaba Bay] used to be a retreat facility for first republican President Kenneth Kaunda, who would, on many occasions, go there to relax.
According to Mr Sikumba, Government has secured US$100 million funding from the World Bank that will be used to develop the area and everything surrounding it, in an attempt to attract as many tourists to the area as possible.
“…we are talking about revamping accommodation. But how do you get to that place if there are no proper roads, no proper airstrip? So the complete set-up for Kasaba Bay would look into the airstrip. Past governments have attempted to do it but obviously it never got to see the light of the day, so we are getting back to it,” he said.
“Note that it is in Nsumbu National Park, so we are trying as much to see what we can possibly do to put together a product that will speak to the national park as well as the normal accommodation establishment. We are also looking at opening up the road network within the Kasaba Bay area. It could be from Mporokoso into Nsumbu or from Mbala into Kasaba Bay.”
At his inauguration ceremony in August last year, President Hakainde Hichilema acknowledged the huge role tourism can play in revamping the country’s economy.
He said: “The potential of the tourism sector will soon be realised through the promotion of Zambia and its various tourism endowments as the destination of choice. This will include reviewing visa requirements, building support infrastructure and revising tax rates.”
As for the famous Samfya beach, the Ministry of Tourism has been in talks with the local authority to see how best a semblance of a proper beach area can be created on the sandy shorelines of Lake Bangweulu.
Mr Sikumba said: “We have seen a lot of buildings mushrooming in and around the shoreline. We need a clean area and environment and have a particular operator managing the shoreline. That in itself speaks to safety and hygiene around that particular area.”
He said the ministry, through the tourism development fund and other cooperating partners, is now looking to open up the road network to the many heritage sites dotted across the circuit.
It is also hoped that the conference centre currently under construction in Samfya by Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) will boost tourism in the area.
“Other than the waterfalls, we also have the Kapishya hot springs, the Shiwa House and many other opportunities. So my team is putting together tourism products that must speak to all these various places. So in the vastness of it, we want people to be breaking their trip. We want people to stay long for them to have a full spectrum of what happens within the northern circuit. You will need a minimum of seven days, and that is exactly what we want to achieve,” he said.
Mr Sikumba also said Government will be looking to giving concessions to private developers with a hunger for profits to manage iconic heritage sites dotted in the region.
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He said there is a deficit in terms of bed space in most of the heritage sites in the area. He has since advised locals to look at it as an investment opportunity.
“We want a lot of people to create accommodation. It shouldn’t be brick and mortar. Buy a piece of land, start working on it while the rains are there, mound the arrangement, just build a block of showers, toilets and fence it off. People come to camp and you have a bar area. That is what we are talking about, it’s adventure,” he said.
He has also urged the private sector, especially locals, to get ready to start running most of the facilities that Government may have inadvertently built in the past in its quest of opening up tourism.
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