Lundazi Castle: A Night in Zambia’s Strangest Overnight Stop
This is the third post in our Luangwa Valley traverse series. Catch up on Post 1 and Post 2 (Bridge Camp & Feira) if you’re just joining.
The Drive: Farmland and Rough Roads
Day three starts with a very different landscape than the river crossings and border posts of the first two days. The road runs through flat, open farmland from Nyimba to Chipata, planted mostly with maize, cotton, tobacco, and banana. It’s the agricultural heart of Zambia’s Eastern Province, and a useful reminder that this route isn’t only about parks and wildlife.
Much of this farmland now falls within the reach of COMACO’s community conservation-farming programme, which works with tens of thousands of Luangwa Valley farming households to make sustainable farming a real alternative to poaching. It’s easy to drive past a maize field without a second thought — but this particular stretch of maize fields is quietly doing conservation work of its own.
The last stretch, from Chipata to Lundazi, tells a different story. About 50km of the 180km road to Lundazi is dried-up cotton clay, and it makes for a rough, back-breaking ride. It’s slow going, and definitely not for anyone hoping for smooth tarmac. Still, it’s worth it for what’s waiting at the end.
The Castle
Yes, that’s a castle. In the middle of Zambia’s Eastern Province. And no, it’s not glamorous.
A colonial district commissioner built Lundazi Castle in the late 1940s. He was reportedly asked to design a simple guesthouse, and instead sketched out a Norman-style castle, turrets and all. (Read more about the castle’s history)
Today it’s neglected and dilapidated after 25 years under a private lease — a shadow of what it could have been under proper heritage management. Peeling paint, weathered turrets, and a stillness that makes it feel more abandoned outpost than tourist stop. We stay here anyway, because it’s one of the strangest, most memorable overnight stops on any Zambian itinerary.
Not for the Faint-Hearted
It’s not for the faint-hearted, so we tell guests that upfront: this is a stop for character, not comfort. There’s no five-star turndown service waiting behind those turrets — just a genuinely odd piece of colonial-era history, sitting quietly in the middle of the bush, on the way to somewhere much wilder.
Next in this series: the long drive south through Chama, and the remote, rarely-visited game drive loops of North Luangwa.
Cheers, Daniel
