Kalambo Falls, Zambia
Moto Moto Museum
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Kalambo Falls is one of the great sights of Africa. These falls drop over 704 feet or 215 meters in a single drop. They are located approximately 40 kms from Mbala, Northern Province, Zambia.
The road was particularly bad when I was there in 1973 and '74. The difference in the road between the "dry" season and the "wet" season was equally as dramatic as the difference in the Falls in those seasons. In the dry season, the road was rutted and rough. In the wet season, the water that ran down the hills along side the road flooded it with water as well as the soil carried from adjoining fields.
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The stream above the Falls in the dry season could be forded quite easily as it was just a few meters wide and quite shallow. In the wet season, the stream became a raging torrent that could carry tree trunks downstream to the edge of the Falls and over.
As a result, the size of the waterfall varies dramatically by season. The photo above was taken during the wet season.
The area above the Falls is a serene, heavily wooded area with a rudimentary stairway from the hill above down to the very top of the Falls, and thence to a trail around part of the gorge. As can be seen from the second picture of the father and his son at one of the lookouts, there is nothing to prevent one from falling over the edge to instant oblivion....
Just to the right of Kalambo Falls, (facing them) was a small rocky area overlooking the Kalambo Falls gorge.
What is not too apparent in this photo is the sheer drop over the edge...The background will give an idea!
This father and his son were from the village where the little girl is making supper.
MOTO MOTO MUSEUM
Located just 4 kms from Mbala (formerly called Abercorn)(near to the school that I worked at) is an interesting museum that was given over to the Zambian Government in 1974 by the Catholic church. A Canadian White Father, Fr J Corbeil, had amassed a terrific collection of things Zambian from throughout the Northern Province area during his over quarter century there. His collection of locally made drums is remarkable. The models of the ancient ways of obtaining salt is quite fascinating. I was personally interested in the many wire toy truck models as well as the large collection of clay models of heads that showed the myriad hair styles that the girls and their mothers produced.
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I came upon this absolutely amazing site which has some interesting pictures of Mbala (was Abercorn) taken many years ago. Be prepared to put your feet up and enjoy a definitive tour and history of the way things once were.
Abercorn
Here is a link to the Moto Moto Museum:
Moto Moto Museum
Dennis Adams
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Mail to:
dra 'at' mts 'dot' net
Created: Nov 10, 2001