Luke’s Beach | Established Campground

There is also acces from Kalambo falls
1,5h Kalambo-Myamba and 2h up.
We took a canoe from Myamba to Luke’s beach, very easy.
Can contact Muchichi in the falls!
Rain season an the beach was not very big but great!
Worth the visit.
Clear water and hot weather but we didn’t swim thinking in bilharzia… we were not sure about it!

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NO ROAD ACCESS - boat only

A beautiful, secluded beach with 3 private lodges, white sands and crystal clear lake to swim in. Fairly unique and definitely worth a visit.

Price $10pppn camping
Lodge $25 per night

Speed boat transfer (book with Luke) - $100 return
Local taxi boat (see below) - KW25 each way

Essential to speak to Luke before travelling here - ‭097 6664999‬. His parents own the Thorn Tree lodge in Kasama, so you can speak to them about it if you stay there.

Luke’s beach is an uninhabited bear bones lodge and so you need to bring everything you need. I recommend using the lodges, the beds are comfy with mossy nets and you get great views. Toilets are chemical and no toilet paper here.

A local from Misembe village (next bay) welcomed us and showed us around. He was extremely helpful and his brother is leader of the village so everyone was respectful of our stay. You can expect fishing in the area although he will stop them from fishing on the beach when you’re using it. Locals do sometimes use the beach to get to the next village, but don’t hang around.

There is a “kitchen”, but it has no stove, fridge or running water. It’s just a store cupboard for plates and pans. There is a braai stand, but no fire wood (can be collected) nor matches/lighter. There was also no knife available. You’ll need to bring all the food and drink you’re going to consume with you. Boiling the lake water tastes fishy, we did fill up from the village borehole pump and that was fine. The hosts can show you there.

The taxi boat to get here leaves from Mpulungu Market. It’s a large wooden boat and takes about 2 hours and can be crowded, ask along the market front for boat to “Chipwa”, then explain to be dropped at Luke’s. It runs Mon, Wed, Fri. Departs Mpulungu at ~13:00, but go down in the morning (from 10AM) to secure your space and notify them. Return journey on the same days, but leaving Luke’s beach at ~6:30am. Tell the taxi which day you’d like to leave on your way there so they know to pick you up. Speak to Luke about safe places to leave your car in Mpulungu, it is possible.

There were no real staff at Luke’s beach, so you can expect to be left alone. Most often we had someone working for Luke from Misembe here to answer questions and help. But we let them head back to the village if we didn’t need them.

I recommend visiting Misembe village with one of the hosts, they were incredibly welcoming and it was fun entertaining the hordes of children.

We did water skiing 200KW for an hour. You can walk to Kalambo falls from here (~90 mins).

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The perfect spot for a night or two of palm beach feelings. I hiked the 6 km from Kalambo Falls down to the village where one of the staff was quickly found and he walked me to this amazing sandy beach with palm trees and total privacy or so I thought. I brought a tent and mat and I don’t see any beds in the 3 chalets but I am sure they can organize if you preplanned it. Camping kw100 on the beach or grass and I asked them to bring me a local meal for kw50 which was no problem, but bring what you can to be self sufficient. The boat from Mpulungu is only kw20 for a return the locals say. Just ask for the public boat to Michembe village and from there its 10 min walking along a small path. Village kids came to stare me down for a while but as they always do, they left...

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