I went to Chiawa to undertake a development control exercise with my colleague. Chiawa is one of the closest towns to the Lower Zambezi National Park with a lot of lodges that needed to be inspected to see if the owners have already applied and possessed planning permissions from us, the planning authority in the area.
Apparently, Chiawa has fancy lodges in Zambia... you might have to spend $8,000 per night to stay at the most expensive lodge there! (FYI; the least expensive one charges you ONLY $3,000. ) As I have never seen or heard of such lodges / hotels, it was a great opportunity for me to visit and inspect them.
The most interesting part was that almost all the owners of those lodges in the area were mainly white couples. Only one lodge was owned and managed by a Zambian couple. It seems that they have moved to Zambia to spend the rest of their lives here quietly and appreciate the nature that Chiawa has to offer after their retirement back in their home countries (probably either in South Africa or in Europe). I bet they do not need to have their guests all the time... When they do not have any guests, they probably would enjoy each other' companies in huge mansion-looking lodges where the national park is very close by. Visiting those lodges made me think that running a lodge after my retirement could be an option :)
Those lodges were far away from each other, so I was quite exhausted when all the inspections were finally over.. Visiting lodges by lodges could be a pain when you have to be in a car for two days as well as travel on unpaved roads!
At the last evening of the trip, we went on a boat cruise on the Zambezi River. I saw a lot of wild animals, such as hippos, elephants and birds. Of course I enjoyed it a lot and had a great time!
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