Great North Road, Zambia

The Great North Road is a major route in Zambia, running north from Lusaka through Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi (the road continues by way of a right turn just north of Kapiri Mposhi) Serenje, Mpika, Kasama, Mbala and Mpulungu. 82km North of Mpika is a signposted left turn onto a well maintained gravel road leading to Shiwa Ng'andu (12km) and Kapishya Hot Springs (32km). The road from Zambia's border with Zimbabwe at Chirundu to Lusaka is now regarded as being part of the Great North Road; but this is only since the opening of the Chirundu Bridge in 1939 - before that, the Great North Road ran through Bulawayo and Livingstone to Lusaka. The portion from Mbala to Mupulungu could be regarded as a spur linking to the Lake Tanganyika steamer service which was popular with travellers up to the 1950s.

When the Mpika-Tanzania highway (the Tanzam Highway) via Tunduma was upgraded in the 1960s and provided a good route through to Dar es Salaam and Arusha, this section became known as the Great North Road rather than the Mpika-Mbala section which might be referred to as the Old Great North Road.

In the centre of Lusaka, the Great North Road is named Cairo Road and this became the city's business and commercial centre, and busiest thoroughfare, now by-passed by heavy goods vehicles for through traffic by Lumumba Road.

Street Name

There are areas where the road may have a specific street name, like Cairo Road and Kafue Road in Lusaka Province and Mosi-oa-Tunya Road in Livingstone. For areas without a street name, like quiet areas in between towns, the road is simply named as the Great North Road.

The Old Original Route vs. The New Famed Route

The Great North Road has two routes between Lusaka and the Zambia-Zimbabwe border (Zambezi River), one South-Easterly, the other South-Westerly. The Old Original Route (the present South-Westerly) is the route that comes from Livingstone, passing through Zimba, Kalomo, Choma, Monze and Mazabuka to Kafue. It is the route that was part of the original Cape to Cairo Road via Victoria Falls Bridge. It is also part of the Trans-African Highway Network Route 4 Between Cairo and Gaborone.

However, there is a new route, South-Easterly. It comes from the Chirundu Bridge and is one direct road to Kafue. Since the building of the Chirundu Bridge in 1939 to connect Harare and Lusaka, it became The New Great North Road.

Coming From Zimbabwe, the two routes meet at Kafue, 60 km South of Lusaka, by the Kafue River Bridge. Most people and most sources still widely refer to the route passing through Livingstone and Victoria Falls as The Great North Road for its entire length.

External links

Map at www.greatnorthroad.org showing the Great North Road in Zambia from Chirundu on the Zimbabwean border to Tunduma on the Tanzanian border.