Rural Zambia – that magical place where dreams come true; as long as those dreams involve going to rural Zambia.
If you’re reading this then perhaps you’re considering a trip to the great green beyond, but maybe you’re hesitant to spread your wings and fly due to being plagued with such questions as “what am I going to eat out there?” and “where am I going to sleep?” and “what kind of world would we live in if trees could talk?”
That last question is beyond the scope of this blog post, but if you need that question answered fast, then you’re welcome to email me so we can work it out together. The first two questions, however, will be answered in the following paragraphs with such care and attention to detail that I’m going to go ahead and assume that I’ll win the Pulitzer Prize for this.
Food in Rural Zambia
Rural Zambia is a lot of things, but a cornucopia of gastronomic supernovae it most certainly is not. If your adventure is anything like mine, then you’ll be eating nshima for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Nshima is maize flour cooked to the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. The taste can best be compared to plain white rice. Luckily for everyone who has ever been, currently is, and will eventually be in rural Zambia, nshima is almost always served with chicken, fish, and/or vegetables (usually leafy greens and tomatoes, but I’ve had it served with okra as well). And it’s usually served with some kind of tomato sauce. You also eat it with your hands, unless you enjoy being laughed at by the locals, then go right ahead and eat it with silverware (I’m speaking from experience).
You’ll easily be able to find it in every town and village throughout rural Zambia, and if you’re lucky then you might get invited to eat it with some locals.
The best photo I took of nshima. If I had known that this photo would be seen by more people then just me and my friends then I would have cleaned the camera lens.
Another type of food you’ll often come across is fritters, which are fried balls of flour, sugar, and yeast. You’ll see them being sold on the side of road in every town and village you go through. They’re almost always sold out of large transparent plastic buckets, and they only cost between one and three kwacha (one kwacha is 37 cents in USD at the time of writing). I found fritters to be quite versatile in relation to nshima, as I’ve eaten them as snacks, hors d’oeuvres, side dishes, and desserts.
I have also seen vendors selling tomatoes, ground nuts, and butternut squash on the side of the road. But if you commit yourself to only eating those three things during your trip then you put yourself at risk of starving to death because I only came across these types of vendors two or three times during my time cycling across Zambia.
If you’re sick of nshima and fritters, then your only reliable option for anything different can be found in hotel restaurants. But sticking only to hotel restaurants while traveling through rural Zambia is capital-b Boring and unadventurous, and I reckon most folks who travel through rural Zambia do so looking for adventure. But who the heck am I to judge? However, I must warn you that hotel restaurants are not safe from locals laughing at you when you eat your nshima with a spoon.
However, if your beef is with unprocessed food in general, then you should be able to find processed cookies in just about every small convenience store in just about every town and village you come across. At least that’s been my experience.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that you can, in theory, hunt and forage for your food. I say “in theory” because I’ve never heard of any modern traveler doing this, nor have I ever tried to do this myself, but if you know what you’re doing, then I don’t see any reason why this wouldn’t be possible.
Accommodation in Rural Zambia
Now, unlike food, your options really open up when it comes to accommodation. If you want to stay in hotels and campsites – and that’s totally fine if you do – then Google Maps will tell you everything you need to know. And if you’re travelling in a 4×4, then you’ll never be more than a few hours away from a hotel/campsite listed on Google Maps. But if you’re looking for an adventurous accommodation, then rural Zambia is your proverbial oyster.
Starting with the most basic and readily available option: the ground. The great thing about the ground is that it’s everywhere. People and animals of all shapes and sizes have been using the ground to sleep on for over thirty years, at least. Don’t let the marketing departments of various mattress firms fool you; you absolutely can just lie down wherever you’re standing and fall asleep if you’re so inclined. However, if you decide to go this route, then I urge you to use discretion, as falling asleep in such places as the middle of a busy road is ill-advised if your goal is to get a peaceful night’s sleep.
But seriously, if you have a tent, then you can sleep just about anywhere in rural Zambia. Almost all the land of rural Zambia is held under customary land tenure (along with about 90% of the rest of Africa), which means that the land legally belongs to the communities that live there, not private individuals or companies, and is subject to those communities’ unwritten customs and practices.
What that means for aspiring ground-sleepers is that almost none of the land is fenced off, which allows you to pull off the road and pitch your tent wherever you please, which is what I did when I rode a bicycle across Zambia.
I never had any issues when I camped in remote areas. However, because there were (and I assume still are) so many gosh darn friendly people living along the main roads, I just asked the locals if I could sleep here in my tent for the night. They almost always said yes (I was turned down only one time, and it was by a charismatic preacher who seemed to be leading some kind of meeting of forlorn-looking pregnant women at his church).
I slept in mosques, churches, schools, and on one occasion, next to the village chief’s place. I’ve heard that camping outside police stations is another safe bet, but I’ve only ever done it in Egypt. Another bonus of this type of accommodation is that it’s totally free! And you’ll probably make some friends along the way. One downside is that there might not be any showers, but if you’re lucky then the locals might lend you a bucket and a well to wash yourself with.
A classroom in rural Zambia that I slept in
However, if you lack a tent and the will to sleep on the ground without one, then there’s still hope! Almost every town I rode through had at least one or two guesthouses, which were like quaint African motels. For the equivalent of $5 (I don’t believe I ever paid more than that), you’ll get a bed with a mosquito net, some kind of toilet, and a place to shower. The best way I’ve found to find guesthouses in each town is to just ask the locals walking around. If you know of a better way, then please let me know.
A room in a rural Zambian guesthouse
Talk to the Locals
With all that said, the best advice I can give regarding finding food and accommodation in rural Zambia is to talk to as many locals as you can. Sleeping in a tent outside the village chief’s place might not be the best accommodation option in terms of quality, but it just might be one of the best for being memorable.
But the only way you’ll have these amazing food and accommodation experiences is to find a way to talk to the locals in the many villages you’ll come across in rural Zambia. The biggest regret of the handful of travelers I met who were traveling by car was that they didn’t really talk to anyone outside of the hotels and campsites they stayed in. Outside of maybe two villages, the rural Zambians were, without a doubt, the kindest people I ever had the pleasure of interacting with around the world.
They will help you find food and accommodation if you ask them, and they will almost certainly do it without asking for money in return (unlike certain African countries, despite being one of the poorest countries in the world).
If you’re seriously considering traveling through rural Zambia, but are worried about finding food and accommodation along the way, then I strongly recommend that you take the leap and trust that the kind folks of the actual Warm Heart of Africa will make sure that you don’t go hungry or homeless (Malawi currently has the title of “Warm Heart of Africa”, but having had hundreds of people shout “mzungu, give me my money” at me, among other things, has me convinced that that moniker was some kind of dubious marketing ploy dreamt up by Malawi’s department of tourism*).
Remember, where there are people, there is food and accommodation just begging to be eaten and slept in, respectively. And there are a lot of people in Zambia.
- * Without the proper context, it’s easy to imagine that I stole money from hundreds of Malawians and only heard “mzungu, give me my money!” as I was running away. I can assure you that that was not the case; that’s just how they greet folks who aren’t from around those parts.
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