Travel guide
Zambia Travel Guide
Most trips to Zambia join Victoria Falls at Livingstone with one or two of the great safari parks: South Luangwa, where the walking safari was pioneered, and the Lower Zambezi, where the river is explored by canoe. The parks lie far apart and are joined by scheduled flights and light aircraft, so a trip is built from a few long stays rather than many short ones — the classic route is the falls and two parks in about ten days. The dry season, from about May to October, is the safari season, and the falls run fullest after the rains.
Updated 2026-10-09
Deep dives
Deep dive
Mosi-oa-Tunya: The Smoke That Thunders, Seen From Zambia →
On the Zambian side of Victoria Falls the paths run close to the water, from the Knife-Edge Bridge to the Boiling Pot. Livingstone, the old town nearby, is the base for the river and the gorge.
Deep dive
South Luangwa, Where the Safari Goes on Foot →
South Luangwa National Park lies along the Luangwa river in eastern Zambia, where the walking safari was pioneered. Leopards on night drives, elephants on the river and bush camps for walking.
Deep dive
The Lower Zambezi, a Safari on the River →
The Lower Zambezi National Park lines the Zambezi opposite Zimbabwe's Mana Pools. Its camps take guests out by canoe and boat among hippos and elephants, and on drives across the floodplain.
Deep dive
Kafue: A Vast Park of River, Woodland and Floodplain →
Kafue, one of Africa's largest national parks, spreads across western Zambia from the Kafue river to the Busanga Plains. Lions, red lechwe and a wild, little-visited park within a day's drive of Lusaka.
Deep dive
Wildebeest in the West, Shoebills in the North →
Liuwa Plain in Zambia's far west fills with wildebeest when the rains begin, and the Bangweulu wetlands in the north are home to the shoebill. Two remote wildernesses for a second Zambian journey.
Itinerary
The Falls and Two Parks: How a Zambian Trip Is Built →
The classic Zambian trip joins Victoria Falls at Livingstone with South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi, linked by flights. About ten days, a few long stays and the dry season.
Ways to Experience This Destination
The Zambian side of Victoria Falls brings the visitor close to the water: the path through the spray to the Knife-Edge Bridge, the trail down the gorge to the Boiling Pot and, in the low-water months, the pool at the very lip of the falls. Livingstone, the old town about ten kilometres from the falls, is the base, with river trips above the falls, flights over the gorge and the bridge to Zimbabwe.
In the Luangwa valley of the east, guides on foot read tracks in the sand where the walking safari was pioneered, and the river draws elephants, buffalo, hippos and the valley's own Thornicroft's giraffe. Leopards are often seen on the night drives, and the airport at Mfuwe puts the park about an hour's flight from Lusaka.
The Lower Zambezi National Park faces Zimbabwe's Mana Pools across the river, and its camps take guests out by canoe and boat among hippos and elephants as well as on drives across the floodplain. It is reached by light aircraft, or by road and boat from Lusaka.
Kafue National Park, one of the largest in Africa, spreads across the west of the country, from the river and Lake Itezhi-Tezhi in the south to the Busanga Plains in the north, where lions and great herds of red lechwe live on the floodplain in the dry months.
In the far west the grassland of Liuwa Plain fills with wildebeest when the rains begin, near the floodplain where the Lozi king's barge leaves for higher ground in the Kuomboka ceremony. In the north, the swamps of Bangweulu are one of the surest places in Africa to see the shoebill.
Lusaka, the capital on the plateau, is where most journeys by air begin, with its markets, the national museum and the craft stalls of Kabwata, and the province around it reaches down to the Zambezi and the Lower Zambezi National Park.
Zambian meals centre on nshima, a stiff maize porridge eaten with relishes of greens, beans, meat or fish: bream from the rivers and lakes, and kapenta, the small dried fish of Lake Kariba and Lake Tanganyika.
City guides
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to visit Zambia?
The dry season, from about May to October, is the season for safaris: the bush thins, animals gather at the rivers and lagoons, and every camp is open, with the coolest days from June to August and the heat building in September and October. From about November to April the rains turn the valleys green, the migrant birds arrive and many of the bush camps close. Victoria Falls runs fullest in the months after the rains, while the pool on the lip of the falls opens only when the river is low, from about August to January.
What languages are spoken in Zambia?
English is the official language, used in offices, schools, hotels and safari camps, and nearly every visitor gets by in it. Bemba is the language of the north and the Copperbelt, Nyanja that of Lusaka and the east, Tonga the language of the south and Lozi that of the western floodplain. A greeting in Nyanja, muli bwanji, is welcome in Lusaka.
Which traditional ceremonies can visitors see in Zambia?
Zambia's peoples keep their traditional ceremonies, each held once a year, and visitors are welcome at them. The Lozi hold the Kuomboka, when their king is paddled across the flooded Barotse plain at the end of the rains; the Ngoni hold the Ncwala near Chipata in February, the Tonga the Lwiindi near Monze in July and the Bemba the Ukusefya pa Ng'wena near Kasama in August. The dates are fixed each year by the chiefs, so they are confirmed before a trip is planned around one.
Is Zambia good for birdwatching?
Yes. More than 750 species have been recorded, and a trip through the parks meets a great many of them: the shoebill in the Bangweulu wetlands, the carmine bee-eaters that nest in the river banks of South Luangwa from about September, fish eagles along every river, and cranes and water birds on Liuwa Plain and the Busanga Plains. The rains, from about November, bring the migrants from the north and the birds into their breeding colours.
Where does the Zambezi run through Zambia?
The Zambezi rises in the far north-west, near the borders with Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and flows south across the Barotse floodplain of the Lozi before it drops over Victoria Falls at Livingstone. Below the falls it runs through deep gorges into Lake Kariba, the great reservoir on the border with Zimbabwe, then on past Chirundu through the Lower Zambezi National Park towards Mozambique. A trip that takes in the floodplain, the falls and the Lower Zambezi follows much of its course.
Will my phone work in Zambia?
In Lusaka, Livingstone, the Copperbelt towns and along the main roads, mobile coverage and data are good, and a local SIM card from a shop in town, registered with the passport, gives a Zambian number. In the national parks the signal thins or stops, and the camps connect to the internet by satellite, often only in the main area.
Entry rules, visa types and practical notes live on the Zambia overview.
This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.