Northeast of Mkushi, the town of Serenje (GPS: SERNJE) is about 3km from the main Great North Road. To get there, turn at the fuel station (which used to be a BP station, until the company disowned it!). It has a TAZARA station, a (noisy and busy) bus station, a Total fuel station, a bank, a Catholic mission, a teacher training college, a fuel station, a post office, a police station, a small hospital, and three basic guesthouses (not a lot to choose between them).

Where to stay

There's the Sige Siga Resthouse (tel: 05 382362) at the turn-off from the main road, though this rents more rooms by the hour than by the night. Other options include the Ibolelo Valley View Inn, near the market and bus station, and the Malcolm Moffatt College Guesthouse (tel: 05 382151), which has four rooms but is 2km from the centre of town – beyond the market at the college.

Probably the best place, which is a useful point of contact, as well as having good food and local information, is Mapontela Enterprises (tel: 05 382026). This is on the right as you enter the town and they have two very nice en-suite rooms, with another six under construction. At US$20 per room they're not cheap, but are the nicest around and are run by a delightful Zambian family headed up by a charming matriarch, Anna Mulenga, and her husband, Steve Luker (a retired builder who came to Zambia with the Peace Corps).