Mutinondo was a place I'd heard about just a few times. Only a few people mentioned it, and when they did, it felt far off. I knew it actually wasn't that far away, but it was one of those places where I didn't know of many people who had ever been and I didn't find much information online. I had never seen photos of it before getting there so I'm sure you can see...we were pretty blown away! The landscape is incredibly beautiful and very unique to other parts of Zambia.
About a 6 hour drive from Ndola, in between Serenje and Mpika. The road is mostly smooth with a few rough patches. There are also random pot holes on the smooth parts which makes consistently driving fast irritating. Once you turn off, the dirt road is good but very long before reaching reception.
I had also heard both good and bad things about Mutinondo. Some families seem to swear by it and go every few months to camp and enjoy the nature, while others told me that it's not that exciting because there's nothing to do there.
So going into it, it definitely depends on the person and what you're looking to get out of this experience. It is a perfect camping getaway if you love hiking, outdoors and having your own space out in the wilderness.
The bar and restaurant area have an amazing overlook of such pretty scenery. So yes it's true wilderness, but with somewhat modern commodities.
It is truly untouched with plenty to explore. There were other campers there the same time but we hardly ran into anyone all weekend. The reception is very helpful, they'll give you a map and give you a feel for what you can do around the extensive property.
Activities
Waterfalls
Swimming
Canoeing
Hiking
Cave painting hiking
Mountain / high point with views
Sunset views
Definitely don't miss out on the daddy of 'em all! This mountain was pretty intense, so be ready for a steep hike and at least for us, it was extremely windy! We had already been hiking around for hours by the time we got there so I found it quite challenging. It is beyond worth it for the view! I would say it's the best view of Zambia I've ever seen!
We hiked and swam in the waterfalls the whole day (no crocodiles!), so as we prepared breakfast in the morning, we made sandwiches and packed a picnic lunch to bring along.
Camping
The campsite has a wooden picnic table (ours had 1, some had 2 or 3), a braii with fire wood provided. There was plenty of extra fire wood so charcoal was not necessarily required.
Campsites are spacious and somewhat hidden. The campsites are surrounding a shared area for the toilets, showers, sinks and additional braii area.
Online shows options of $20-$25 per person camping. Fortunately we decided to not book online and they had it at $16 per person camping.
So we just brought our own food and drinks. All activities are included so the only other costs were camping and the transportation. Here's my budget traveler cost!
Camping k200 (at the time in August 2019)
Gas per person K400
Food & drink from home about K200
= K800
Have you been to Mutinondo Wilderness? What else would you add?
Comments