Entertainment
The period that a nightclub remains in fashion, and hence remains in business, is even shorter than the life of most restaurants, so recommendations in this section will, by their very nature, be out of date quickly. It's better to ask the locals about the best places, and follow their recommendations. Always be mindful of your safety: don't take much cash to a club with you, and don't linger anywhere that feels uncomfortable.
Of the current favourites, several are around
Northmeads shopping centre. Though these clubs are popular, there is a security problem at night, so don't take a vehicle or anything valuable.
Zenon is a crowded, no-smoking disco, from where the crowds tend to move on to
HQ just in front of the
Alpha Bar. This last is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is the final venue on the club circuit when all the others have turned out the lights.
Hooligans, in the Light Industrial Area just off the Lumumba Road behind Micmar hardware shop, has sports TV and a pool table, and serves good food; it's particularly popular among the farming fraternity. At the other end of the scale is the
Majestic Casino on the Kafue road, in the Makeni area, with a heavily used pool table. For rave music, try
The Cage in the Industrial Area, while rather more traditional is
Chez Ntemba, behind the Kamwala Market, which has a small cover charge and plays mainly rumba. The bar is good and on Friday and Saturday nights partying continues until dawn – but there's no food available.
Somewhat less frenetic is the
Brown Frog on Kabelenga Road, near Moore Pottery, which has live jazz and blues music every Thursday and Friday evening, while on Friday nights there are live bands at the
Cattleman's Grill (see opposite).
At the other end of the scale, Lusaka also has its own
theatre, the Lusaka Playhouse, opposite the Holiday Inn and Taj Pamodzi hotels in the centre of town, featuring a variety of local Zambian productions. For details, check the current edition of The Lowdown, or see the listings section of the Times of Zambia or the Zambia Daily Mail. Alternatively, you can just turn up and see what's on, though parking in the area isn't great, so you'd be well advised to leave your vehicle in the car park of the Holiday Inn.
With the opening of the new Arcades shopping complex near Manda Hill early in 2004, Lusaka at last has a permanent
cinema in the form of a modern five-screen multiplex; there is also ten-pin bowling on site, and a 200-seater theatre that hosts local and regional cultural and musical events. There are rumours that a cinema will open at Manda Hill as well, a situation that is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term.