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Nchelenge is a town with around 24,300 inhabitants (2006 estimate) in northern Zambia in the province of Luapula , on the southeastern shore of Lake Mweru . It is the seat of the administration of the district of the same name with 111,119 inhabitants (2000 census). There are ferries to Kilwa and Isokwe Island ; Nearby is the Lusenga Plain National Park .
economy
Like the nearest town of Kashikishi , Nchelenge has a lively market. The town's huts stretch along the shore, making it difficult to reach the water. Only further north does the settlement become thinner. The people live from fishing. Tourists only stop here to refuel or because they are waiting for the ferry. The road from Serenje on the border with Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) via Mansa to Nchelenge has been paved since 1988. It is called "Chinese Road". From Nchelenge there is a gravel road to Mununga. The street is the entrance to the main market, the Copperbelt . A truck goes to Lubumbashi twice a week . Another transport route to the DR Congo is the waterway.
Nchelenge serves as a port for copper from the Dikulushi open-cast mine 25 kilometers west of the city of Kilwa on the lakeshore of the DR Congo. The Zambian side offers the only continuously paved road connection to South Africa for the annually extracted 20,000 tons of copper and 1.7 million ounces of silver.
Infrastructure
The central problems are the lack of drinking water and electricity, the poor facilities in schools and hospitals, the increasing cases of cholera , that 25 percent of people are infected with HIV , that the rainforest has been cleared for subsistence agriculture in a large area and the fact that the prison, which was built for twelve prisoners, is occupied by 120 prisoners who cultivate land but receive neither fertilizer nor seeds. In addition, a large number of unemployed people migrated from the Copperbelt in order to be able to make a living from fishing, which has dramatically reduced the fish population in the Mwerusee.
In Nchelenge there are elementary and secondary schools, the St. Pauls Clinic, a gas station, a post office, a bank and the Lake Mweru Water Transport Guesthouse .
Web links
Coordinates: 9 ° 20 ′ S , 28 ° 43 ′ E