Lodge/Camping/Activities for Sale in Luangwa, Lusaka, Zambia

Lodge Overlooking Luangwa River

Bridge Camp is a lodge in Zambia overlooking the Luangwa River just 235kms from Lusaka on the Great East Road. The lodge has 8 stone and thatch chalets and campsites serviced by hot/cold showers and flush toilets, together with a main lodge, full restaurant and swimming pool. The lodge is open all year round as we are always accessible and clients travel throughout Africa all the time, also we have steady local business trade. The business is for sale with all assets including 2 generators, computer, modem, 2 colour printers/scanners, fridges/freezers etc, Nisssan Patrol, canoes, cell phones.

Most of our business is on a cash basis but we also take all major Credit Cards. We built the lodge and have run it continuously since 2004. Bridge Camp is in all the major travel guide books.

Both Airtel and MTN have cellphone towers on our land for which they pay rent annually (approximately US$ 4,000 per year combined).

Changa Changa Adventures Ltd has installed a comprehensive solar system which enables Bridge Camp to run completely on solar power. We are committed to an environmentally “green” business. Wherever possible our building materials are natural – stone from the mountain and wood from sustainable indigenous trees.



DESCRIPTION:

A small personalised nature lodge known for its ethnic African style and convenient location as a stopover between Victoria Falls, Lusaka, South Luangwa and Malawi, situated near Luangwa Bridge just off the Great East Road overlooking the Luangwa River in Zambia.

Our restaurant offers a full menu all day (Will is a professional chef and has trained our staff well).

We offer hiking in the hills and cat-canoe trips on the river operated by our experienced guides and paddlers.

The property comprises 28 hectares all with river frontage stretching over 1 km.
The lodge and chalets are set on the side of the hill and the campsites are on level, shaded ground.

We have a 99 year lease (renewable) of which 90 years remain.
Our lease is for Changa Changa Adventures Limited (which owns Bridge Camp). This means when it is sold we would simply resign as directors and the new owners would sign on as new directors.



Turnover and Costs:

Turnover is about ZMW 600,000 (Zambian Kwacha) which at today’s exchange rate equates to around US$ 100,000. Approximately 40% of this is our running costs. (These figures are conservative.)

Our bed nights average 2500-3000 per year. Our main season is mid-June to end-December.

We get the majority of our supplies from Lusaka, driving in about once a month. We buy fruit and vegetables, milk, toilet rolls, etc from the sizeable local community (Luangwa Bridge Market). Diesel for the generator we source locally and reliably and we are in the process of installing solar power for the whole site. This will be fully operational before the end of 2015. Water is provided by a borehole.

Security: Not a problem here at all, the rural areas of Zambia are very law abiding and peaceful. We have a Night Security Guard who constantly patrols the whole site.

Luangwa River: It is fast flowing all year but the water level varies greatly between wet and dry seasons (river can rise 8 metres in Jan/Feb). In the dry season (May to November) we have sand banks showing but the main channel, which is on our side of the river, is always 6-8 metres deep. It is navigable by our cat-canoes nearly all year – the only time we do not go out is the main rainy season, January to March, when the volume of water is too great and current too strong.

Activities (all accompanied by our experienced guides and/or paddlers):

We do half day and full day canoe trips and a sundowner which is about 2 hours late afternoon and very popular. We include beer, wine and soft drinks in the price of the sundowner.

There are tiger, bream, barbell and kapenta in the river and there is no fishing ban at any time of year on the Luangwa.

We also do longer trips involving trekking – we have school groups (16-17 year olds) from the UK every year who usually do this in July and August. Our canoes follow the groups upriver carrying all their kit and meet up with them at night. They usually get to Chipinda Gorge on the Lunsemfwa River (a tributary of the Luangwa) on the third day. On the last day they all get on the canoes and float back to Bridge Camp.