The Sweetest Town in the Nation

Yesterday being a bright, sunny Saturday, I borrowed my roommate's bicycle and went out for a ride.  I decided to check out mostly unknown territory (to me at least), by visiting the Nakambala Sugar Estate.  It was quite a pleasant (albeit hot) ride.

Mazabuka is popularly known as the Sweetest Town in the Nation as a result of its long association with sugar production.  The fields that surround the town, particularly those lying to the north in the Kafue River floodplain are covered by hundreds of hectares of sugar cane.  At the heart of the cane plantations is the sugar factory, its associated offices and research departments, and several pockets of staff housing.

As I meandered through the housing area, what struck my eyes as a planner was how orderly and normal everything looked.  The roads are a uniform width and they have a proper convex profile to facilitate drainage.  Being a sugar plantation, the company even coats the roads with molasses as a cheap substitute for tar (on a hot day, the place does have a somewhat cloying scent, but it's not unpleasant).  Housing is set back from the road by an appropriate distance and the houses are well kept.  There are some community facilities which appear well-maintained and appreciated by residents.  My field trip showed me that viable alternatives to the conditions in many Council-run neighbourhoods are very possible.  The examples are even reachable by bicycle.

A molasses-sealed road in the staff area.  Looks pretty nice, doesn't it?

I wondered whether there could be some sort of exchange program for Council staff to learn from the "municipal works" staff at Zambia Sugar.  Building and maintaining roads is not rocket science!

The Nakambala Factory of Zambia Sugar.  Mmm... sweet!

 

Sugar cane, as far as the eye can see...

The road leading away from the Nakambala House - a relatively posh place to have a drink and a meal in town.

The road leading out of the sugar estate.  As I rode back towards home, I realized that this was the skyline of downtown Mazabuka.  At four storeys, the building between the poles on the right is the tallest in town.