Isoka

Isoka is a town with 13,000 inhabitants ( 2006 estimate ) on Tanzam Highway north of Chinsali and Mpika in the province Much Inga in Zambia. It is located 1,478 meters above sea level and is the seat of the administrative district of the same name with 99 319 inhabitants ( 2000 census ).

Economy

Isoka lives of services on Highway and the regional market place. Many people in Isoka are poor. The subsistence farmers can not afford chemical fertilizers. The nearby Chambeshiauen provide a high, but untapped potential for the cultivation of sugar cane, coffee, rice and sweet potatoes. It is planted in the Mexican sunflower ( Tithonia diversifolia ) as a hedge around gardens and fields. It is used as feed for fish, this plant also improves soil quality considerably. Incidentally Isoka dive rather in connection with drugs on because the highway is considered as axis of the drug trade between the East and Southern Africa.

Geography

Isoka is located 80 kilometers northeast of Chinsali. Just north of the city begin the foothills of the Lucheweauen of Chambeshi and its tributaries, the west and northwest spread 140 kilometers from north to south and 60 kilometers from east to west. Here performs a pontoon bridge across the Chambeshi.

Infrastructure

The border to Tanzania is 100 kilometers away. There are a few shops, a post office, a motel, hospital and primary and secondary schools.

Tourism

Six kilometers from Isoka there are three successive waterfalls. The first waterfall is about 15 meters high, the second 30 meters. To the east are the Mafinga Hills, to the south the valley of the Luangwa, which rises in Isoka, in the west, the north end of the Muchinga Mountains, to the north a high level to the Tanzanian border. The dominant tribe earth are the Namwanga.