The Luangwa Valley in Zambia is home to world-famous South Luangwa National Park, one of the richest and most diverse protected areas in Africa.

As well as being a popular wildlife safari destination, the Luangwa Valley is home to the Kunda people who migrated to the area from the Luba area in Congo during the first half of the 19th century. The Kunda are a small tribe of about 40,000 people. Traditionally the Kunda were hunters, but today the majority live as subsistence farmers. Despite the conditions being tough, with extreme seasons and crop raiding wild animals affecting food security, villagers in the area still live in the traditional way.

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.

In its first two years of operation, Kawaza Village Tourism Project ploughed all proceeds from paying guests back into the enterprise – purchasing beds, mattresses, linen, blankets and mosquito nets. All the villagers worked for free. 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.

For more information on the Luangwa Valley and Zambia visit
Zambia National Tourist Board’s website.