Mpika

Mpika is a town in the Muchinga Province of Zambia, standing at a junction of routes that makes it a staging point between the capital and the northern border. The M1 road runs north from the town to Kasama and Mbala, while the Tanzam Highway, also called the Great North Road, links it to Dar es Salaam in the north-east and to Lusaka in the south-west. A station on the TAZARA Railway lies about five kilometres west of the centre. The town sits between the Muchinga Escarpment to the east and wide miombo plains to the west. Around 1930 it was chosen as a way-point on the air route from Europe to South Africa and an airfield was built there. An estimate for 2008 puts the town at about 40,000 people, and the 2022 census counted 149,063 in the district. Its tourism association serves visitors heading for the Luangwa national parks, Shiwa Ng'andu and the Nachikufu caves.