Zambia – October 2007

Route
We visited South Luangwa as a side-trip from Malawi when our friend was out on holiday. When we came back into Zambia we pretty much drove straight through – down the T4 to Lusaka and then the T1/T2 to Livingstone before exiting via Katima Mulilo into Namibia’s Caprivi Strip.

General impressions
We had originally planning a quick transit through Zambia but we ended up spending four weeks in the country due to melting our engine on the way into Livingstone. Despite this, all we saw were the main arteries and towns, which were very busy and full of facilities. We understand that there are some very wild and remote areas to explore but the countryside we saw was dry, dusty and fairly barren.

Border formalities
Zambia has a bizarre ‘visa waiver’ system going on which basically gives you a free 15-day visa if you can prove you are a tourist by booking accommodation/activities. For Brits this is especially relevant as the visas cost $60/$80 for single/multiple entry.

In theory you need to have a full itinerary in order to qualify but in reality all you need to do is book accommodation for the day you cross the border. The lodge or campsite will then send a letter to the border post you are coming over (this needs to be sent physically so you must to book a few days in advance). All the campsites in South Luangwa and hostels in Livingstone are used to doing this – just send them your full names, nationalities and passport numbers plus the border post you are coming over and the date you will enter the country.

One word of warning: the first time we tried this at Mchinji (when we were coming to South Luangwa with our friend) the immigration officer didn’t have our letter, however she processed our visa for $40 a piece. The next time we came over the border we saw our letter and the copy we had given her neatly stamped with ‘received and processed’ and our free visa stamp looked suspiciously like our $40 visa stamp.

Finally, the visa waiver maximum validity is 15-days, but in Livingstone we extended to 45 days for free in a matter of minutes, no questions asked.

Driving conditions
The roads are not busy and Lusaka has great traffic systems.

Lilongwe (Malawi) to South Luangwa Park. This is a full-days drive but perfectly do-able. Chipata to Mfuwe is 3-4 hours on dust
Lilongwe to Lusaka is 2 days drive. The T4 is mostly good tar with the occasional pot-hole but there is a badly pot-holed section between Sinda and Nyimba
Lusaka to Livingstone took us 6 hours on good tar
Livingstone to Katima Mulilo took us 2½ hours on OK tar

Accommodation
Accommodation is relatively expensive (as per everything else). Obviously we only really spent time in Lusaka and Livingstone

South Luangwa. There are loads of camps outside the park near Mfuwe. We stayed in Flatdogs, the classic camp, and loved the position on the river and the animals wandering through. There are cheaper camps though – e.g. Flatdogs is $10pp whilst Croc Valley is $5pp
As a stopover on the T4 between Lilongwe and Lusaka, we chose the Bridge Camp near Luangwa Bridge. Hmmm…it’s expensive ($10pp) and run by odd people. Not recommended
In Lusaka we stayed at ChaChaChas, as we wanted to be central. Not great for rooftop tents, or even campers. Later we moved out to Eureka (10km south on T2), which was a bit soul-less but much better for camping. We heard that Pioneer (c. 40km east on the T4) was very good although a long way out of the city
Once we had our car in Livingstone we stayed at Waterfront, which was OK but full of tourists (middle aged South Africans) and quite heavily developed. Better is Bushfront, their quieter and cheaper campsite up the road.

Food and water
Zambian supermarkets have everything you could possibly want and more but it’s all pretty expensive. Markets are few and far between.

Livingstone is full of over-priced and under-quality restaurants. It’s worth going to the 5-Star Royal Livingstone, even if it’s just for a G&T or afternoon tea (we treated ourselves to Sunday lunch when we got the car back – great).

We only found good water supplies, but then we did stay pretty urban.

Costs
Expensive (and that’s without the new engine and the Vic Falls activities!).

£50/day country (as a couple all in) if you were overlanding normally.

Both diesel and beer were expensive at 7,000 ZK (90p) per litre/bottle. We filled our jerries (with fuel, not beer) in Malawi and saved £30. We are now in Namibia and drinking draught Windhoek at 60p a pint.