Zambia

Travel Advice & Access

By air. Kenneth Kaunda International (LUN) at Lusaka is the hub for everything except the falls. Routings run through Johannesburg on Airlink and South African, Addis Ababa on Ethiopian, Nairobi on Kenya Airways and Dubai on Emirates; there is no direct service from Europe. Proflight Zambia carries the domestic network and is the airline an itinerary actually depends on, flying Lusaka to Mfuwe (MFU) for South Luangwa, to Livingstone (LVI) and seasonally into the Lower Zambezi. Mfuwe also connects to Lilongwe, which is the cleanest way to attach Malawi to a Luangwa trip.

Light aircraft. Everything beyond Lusaka is small-aircraft flying: Caravans and light twins onto graded dirt, with a strict 15 to 20 kilogram allowance in soft bags — no wheels, no frames, no hard shells — enforced at the aircraft rather than at check-in. Strips are unlit and weather-dependent and several close outright in the rains. Charters run to fixed times built around camp changeovers, so a late international arrival into Lusaka costs a night in the capital rather than a late connection.

Access and flying times from Lusaka

| Area | Access | Notes | | South Luangwa | MFU, scheduled | About 1 hr from LUN, then 30 to 45 mins by road to Mfuwe camps; bush camps 1 to 3 hrs further on dirt. By road from Lusaka, roughly 700 km and a full day. | | Lower Zambezi | Jeki, Royal or Left Bank airstrips | Around 30 mins by air — the shortest hop in the country. Road and boat transfer via Chiawa possible in 3 to 4 hrs in the dry. | | Kafue, Busanga Plains | Charter to a plains airstrip | Roughly 1.5 to 2 hrs. Camps open about July to October only; no realistic road access to the plains. | | Kafue, southern sector | Road on the M9 | The Lusaka to Mongu road crosses the park; the southern sector and Itezhi-Tezhi are 3 to 4 hrs by car. | | Liuwa Plain | Kalabo, charter or seasonal scheduled | About 2 hrs by air. Scheduled Lusaka to Kalabo services have run since 2016; road access is poor and seasonal. | | Bangweulu and Kasanka | Charter | Roughly 1 to 2 hrs. Kasanka is about 600 km from Lusaka off the Great North Road, drivable in a long day. | | Livingstone | LVI, scheduled | About 1 hr from LUN, also direct from Johannesburg. Airport 5 km from town. |

On the ground. Self-drive is not a proposition at this level. The trunk roads are tarred and variable — the Great North Road to the Copperbelt, the M9 west to Mongu — but the parks are reached on dirt and the tracks inside them turn to black cotton in the wet. Road transfers exist to the Lower Zambezi and, for the determined, to South Luangwa, but a Lusaka to Mfuwe drive consumes a day. Game drives are on open 4x4s from camp, and every walking party carries an armed scout: that is a legal requirement, not a flourish.

Routing advice. Almost everything routes through Lusaka and there is little park-to-park airlift outside private charter, so build hub and spoke and accept a night in the capital when the long-haul lands late. The reliable ten-night build is Livingstone, South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi, with Kafue substituted on a repeat trip. Mana Pools is visible from the Lower Zambezi camps but sits in another country: there is no crossing inside the park, and a client who wants both takes them as separate trips or routes through Victoria Falls.

Practicalities. Zambia has waived visa requirements for a long list of nationalities including British and American passport holders, but the list is revised periodically and an e-visa route runs alongside it, so confirm at booking rather than trusting last season's file. For anyone also using the Zimbabwean bank at the falls, the KAZA UniVisa at US$50 for 30 days is the right instrument and is issued at both LUN and LVI. The currency is the kwacha, camps quote and settle in US dollars, and clients should carry clean small-denomination notes for tips and park fees; card acceptance falls away quickly outside Lusaka and Livingstone. Wildlife department park fees are charged per person per day and are included by some camps and not others. Bush camps hold four to eight beds, so one family can take a camp out of inventory — book twelve to eighteen months ahead for July to October.

Health. Malaria is present countrywide and all year, highest in the wet months: prophylaxis, covered limbs after dusk, repellent, and camps provide nets. A yellow fever certificate is required only for arrivals from an endemic country. Tsetse fly are active in the Luangwa and Zambezi valleys, so warn clients off navy and black clothing, which attracts them. Camps are hours from a hospital by road and the real answer is air evacuation: comprehensive evacuation cover should be a condition of booking rather than a box on a form.