African Services & Safaris

Safaris | Kawaza Cultural Village

Safari & Culture - Kawaza Cultural Village

The Personal Touch is proud to offer visits to Kawaza Village

What is Kawaza Village and why The Personal Touch?
In 1997 teachers from Kawaza School in Nsefu Chiefdom, along with members of the local community, Robin Pope Safaris and Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) took the innovative step of introducing cultural tourism to the Luangwa Valley. They believed that certain types of visitors to Zambia were not only interested in viewing wildlife but were also interested in meeting with, and learning from, rural communities. And they strongly felt that local school children would benefit from interacting with guests from a different culture. The people of Kawaza Village hence developed a unique opportunity for visitors to experience genuine Kunda culture and ‘ways of living’ by inviting a small numbers of guests to spend time in their village and participate in everyday life.

Several years on Kawaza Village is a real inspiration to other communities looking to set up and operate sustainable tourism enterprises based on their culture. The villagers involved in providing services to guests all receive a monthly salary, and any profit that the village generates is ear-marked for community development projects, funding school places for HIV/AIDS orphans, providing for the needy and elderly in the village, and in improving the facilities at Kawaza Basic School. Kawaza is a unique experience for travellers to Zambia. As such it is the winner of the prestigious Silver Otter Award, given to the Best Overseas Tourism Project by the British Guild of Travel Writers.

Unfortunately, many lodge establishments in the Luangwa Valley are so busy with their own operations that they have been finding it difficult to provide the service needed to take their clients to Kawaza Village. To assist safari operators in the valley, The Personal Touch hence offers excursions to Kawaza Village to lodge clients, thereby freeing up lodge owners to concentrate on their own operations. Logistics and staffing arrangements are handled for the lodges and dedicated promotional activity by The Personal Touch ensures that this unique community project grows sustainably into the future.

But it is not only the lodge client that can benefit from our services. Independent travellers can now fly in to Mfuwe, be collected from the airport by The Personal Touch, spend one or more nights at Kawaza and then fly out again. A pure cultural experience. If you want to be transferred to one of the lodges or camps in the area to additionally enjoy the area’s wildlife, we can also arrange this for you.

By offering specific Kawaza Village Tours, The Personal Touch hopes to increase sustainably the number of visitors to Kawaza Village, so more people can enjoy the cultural aspects of this part of Zambia, and increased benefits from tourism accrue to the local community.

Kawaza Village is located adjacent to world-famous wildlife safari destination, South Luangwa National Park in Zambia and with our service we should be able to offer more travellers the opportunity to visit a genuine Zambian rural village and to get involved with local people and village life.

Options
Kawaza Village offers the more adventurous traveller a stay in a traditional rural, Zambian village. It is possible to stay in the village overnight or for a few days – or to visit just for the day – to get to know the Kunda people and experience a part of their lives. A visit to Kawaza Village will be an uplifting experience that will find a place in your heart and stay with you forever.

Upon arrival an itinerary based on the wishes and interests of the visitor is drawn up. Should you, however, want a pre-booked itinerary, let us know and we will discuss this ahead of your visit with the village headman.

Examples of activities include:

• A walk in the bush to learn about the different trees and their traditional medicinal uses

• A visit to the Chief’s Palace to meet the Senior Kunda Chief Nsefu

• A visit to the local health clinic to learn about rural healthcare provision in Zambia

• A visit to the local school to see how the children are taught – and perhaps even take a lesson yourself if you are a teacher!

• 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 choice is yours.

Interactive Cultural Exchange
The villagers at Kawaza 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.

Accommodation & Meals
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. Please bring your own toiletries (biodegradable if possible) and towel. 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 locally brewed beverages that should be sampled are Seven Days Beer and Kachasu (very strong spirit)! You may wish to bring your own stock of soft drinks and beers with you. The Personal Touch can purchase these items locally upon your arrival and have them transported in chilled containers to Kawaza.

Prices and availability
A Day visit is US$ 70 per person, minimum number of 2 persons. This includes all transfers, activities and a traditional lunch or dinner. This does not include soft drinks or beers.
An overnight visit is US$ 130 per person per night, minimum number of people 2.
Any additional nights booked will be charged at US$ 80 per person per night. Prices include transfers, accommodation, meals and all activities, but exclude soft drinks and beers.
Should you wish us to arrange your stock of drinks, please advice on booking.

The Personal Touch can collect you either from Mfuwe airport or your lodge in the Luangwa Valley and drop you off at either after your visit to Kawaza Village.

The village is able to receive visitors from April through to the end of November. At other times (the rainy season), the village is difficult to access as the journey entails crossing two sandy rivers. Do enquire with us, however, should you wish to visit outside of these months as the seasons seem to vary year by year!

Upon receiving your enquiry, we will liaise with Kawaza Village and confirm dates for booking purposes.

Many thanks to Dr Cheryl Mvula of TVC, Responsible Tourism Consultant and technical advisor to Kawaza Village, for her help in developing the contents of this website.

© 2008, The Personal Touch Ltd., Kawaza Village and Tribal Voice Communications Ltd.

Safaris | Kawaza Cultural Village