Twapia is one of the largest neighborhoods within Ndola and situated approximately 20 minutes by car from Ndola downtown. Originally, Twapia was an independent village but over the years, fueled by cheap construction land and growing business opportunities, Twapia expanded and eventually merged with Ndola.
Until about 1993 Twapia was mostly known locally for its high crime rate. Many a stolen car ended up there and at times even the police was hesitant to enter the community. Eventually, a massive clean-up effort, led by the police, turned things around and started to improve the safety and accessibility of the village. Since then, Twapia has continued to grow and today represents a conglomerate of comparatively safe and quiet neighborhoods within Ndola, home to mostly poorer and lower middle class sections of the population.
Twapia benefits from its location and the resulting direct link to the center of Ndola. This enables many of its citizens to look for work in the city center and fosters trade. Twapia is especially known for its many small carpentry shops, resulting from the fact that sufficient raw material is provided by nearby logging activities.
