It’s only when you’re in Kalumbila Town will you feel the warm embrace of the town’s charm. Everything you’ve heard about this small, wholehearted town becomes truth. The sun rises from under an untouched landscape of lush forest and crisp breath of fresh air.
There is hardly a better backdrop than Kalumbila Town opening its community to visitors from around and beyond for this Saturday’s Kalumbila Challenge.
The much-anticipated sporting event is now a major highlight of the town’s social calendar. More than just a raft of races and games, the Kalumbila Challenge is a celebration of spirit, energy and unity. It is a moment when the town, in the heart of North-Western Province, swaps its gentle, everyday rhythms for the electric buzz of visitors, athletes and spectators.
For the locals, it’s when they see an engineer navigating a free kick on the football field or a geologist hitting the dirt with their running shoes. And for a place celebrated as “The Happiest Town in Africa”, the Challenge offers the perfect stage to show just how vibrant Kalumbila really is.
Kalumbila might not have the sprawling highways and skyscrapers of a big city, but it has something else: ambition. The Challenge embodies and attitude that showcase not just sport, but the community’s growing confidence and ability to welcome the world for professionals working in the adjacent biggest copper mine in Zambia, entrepreneurs boosting the local economy and families settling into the community.
Local residents are preparing to celebrate and cheer on the competitors, and welcome visitors who are discovering Kalumbila Town, some for the first time. It brings together a community where residents take pride in the town’s small heart but big ambition.
Events like the Kalumbila Challenge tell a bigger story for what is usually considered a slow and sedated lifestyle of mining towns in Zambia. This event is different for so many reasons. The Kalumbila Town community is on the rise, with aspirations to be known not only for mining and industry but also for lifestyle, recreation and cultural identity. The town may still be small in size, but it is steadily carving out a reputation for thinking big.
The Kalumbila Football Challenge remains particularly popular.
Speaking on behalf of Trident Management, Environmental Manager Kachiwala Sapalo highlighted the broader mission of the tournament:
“The Kalumbila Challenge Football Tournament is part of First Quantum Minerals’ ongoing commitment to community development, health and wellness, youth empowerment, and sports promotion in the North-Western Province. By using football as a tool to bring people together, FQM continues to invest not only in infrastructure but in the heart and soul of the communities it operates in.”
This Saturday, whether you’re lacing up your shoes for the race, setting up a stall to sell local crafts, or simply coming out to cheer, Kalumbila will be alive in a way only the Challenge can bring.
Because the Kalumbila Challenge is more than a calendar date. It’s a reflection of what the town is becoming: a small community with the heartbeat of something much larger, a place that welcomes you with open arms and is running, kicking and enduring boldly into the future.