Ndola's central market is a large, busy, and genuinely useful place — not a tourist market but a real market where the city feeds and clothes itself. The stalls sell produce, dried fish, chitenge (wrap cloth in the vivid geometric patterns of central Africa), second-hand clothes, hardware, and copper goods in various forms: wire, ornaments, jewellery, and carved copper animals that make reasonable souvenirs.
The market is safe to walk in and the vendors are friendly, if persistent. It is the best place in Ndola to get a sense of the city's daily rhythms and to pick up something made locally. Best in the morning when everything is freshest.