We are going on the newer Botswana, South Africa Zimbabwe tour in July. We have booked flights, but there is only one flight that goes to Zimbabwe a day, so we have a 22 hour Layover in Cape Town. I don’t know whether it is the same for Zambia. The Tauck agent said to book that flight ourselves, because if she booked it along with our main flights, we would have to pay for all the flights up front, which we did not want to do. It was cheaper to book the flight ourselves anyway. We then found out that we can’t get a PCR test in Cape Town because the test turnaround is 24 hours and you have to go back to the test place at the airport to get your result. We are flying Qatar Air and right now, they don’t do testing. So in other words, unless things change, we can’t fulfill the Covid testing requirements
. Be sure to check your flights and timing if it is the same for Zambia. The Tauck agent said we could get testing at Doha or Cape Town, but she was wrong.
We have already been to Victoria Falls twice, Zambia side, Zimbabwe side, Botswana is where we really want to go back to.
Ladybombay, Yes! Heading out 8/31 FLL - ATL- JNB. Overnight in JNB then JNB - LVI the next day. If you haven't already done so check availability on the JNB - LVI leg. The BA flight which used to operate isn't showing so I had to book South African Airlink which operates a small EMB145 once a day leaving at 11am. Good luck, Rob
Ladybombay Hi
I'm going Sept. 10th - I'm flying seattle-dubai-lusaka-Livingstone .
seattle- dubai- emirates / dubai-lusaka- emirates ( no overnights in Lusaka) arrive into Lusaka at 2:30 pm- depart to Livingstone 4:05pm arriving at 5:15pm. I'm flying Proflight - $277. one way https://proflight-zambia.com/
the British Airline. - direct flight from JNB to Livingstone has been discontinue/cancel.. *
British, I thought you just needed a negative pcr test 72 hours before you leave from your home country. However, if we have to spend the night in Johannesburg, is that now our country of origin requiring a new PCR test?
TamC , Hello.
You do not have to spend a night in Johannesburg, there 're different airlines that can offer you options - you can fly Qatar, Emirates etc..
Iam on the 9/10/2022 tour, I'm flying Seattle-Dubai (spending 2 days for fun) - next flight from Dubai to Lusaka (7) hours - Lusaka-Livingstone. 1 hour 20 min. on Proflight. . The Dubai-lusaka-Livingston is all done in the same day.
British air. doesn't fly from Johannesburg to Livingstone anymore.
Good question? I think if you get tested within 72 hours prior to arriving in Livingstone (worst case), you should be OK.
Many countries require a negative test within 72 hours of first flight, but I see the Tauck info says "within 72 hours of arrival" in Zambia, so I did some checking-
US Embassy Zambia:
"A negative PCR COVID test for all travelers is required within 72 hours prior to departure from country of origin. In addition, all travelers may be asked to undergo additional COVID-19 testing with rapid antigen test upon arrival in Zambia.Dec 4, 2021"
The Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs say "72 hours prior to arrival."
Pre-COVID, we flew ATL - JNB on Delta (20hr 45 min.), stayed overnight in the JNB airport InterContinental (17 hr 5 in.) and flew JNB to LVI in Zambia (1 hr 40 min.) for a total enroute time of 39hr 30 min. So, even worst case, it can be done in less than 72 hours. Easy peasy if the requirement is 72 hours prior to first flight.
Your mileage may vary, depending on your US city of departure and total enroute time. In my worst case example above you would still have 32 hr 30 min. before departure to get tested which is doable, but may be costly, so either way, you should be fine.
That being said, you might want to dig deeper and /or call Tauck to see how Zambia handles an enroute overnight delay. Frankly, after going through the normal entry process, the immigration folks at LVI won't even know you had an overnight stay, you could have taken the long way around. As long as the date of the PCR test is reasonable.
We had to cancel this tour because of the Covid requirements, so I can no longer recall exactly what the requirements were, but I think it was a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival in Zambia. We could not do it, there was no facilities to test at the airport. We were flying Qatar, we could not risk that long flight, then the long layover and find we could not test. We have been to Zambia before and their immigration is not fun. We lost the cost of $700 plus for the final flight. It was not refundable. We had to get a voucher. It was not something thst could be covered by any insurance. The Tauck agent told us we could test at Doha or CapeTown (or was it Jo’burg, I can’t recall) so we booked the flight as mentioned above in my past message. We didn’t check her facts first.
We will take this tour in the future. Once we cancelled, despite losing money, there was a sense of relief.
Thank you for your answers! Looks like I need to do a little more checking. My concern was that I would be booking the final flight separately so it wouldn't be part of my initial flight from the United States. (And like Mil says above--might cause me to have to test again in Johannesburg.)
We were on two separate bookings- Delta to JNB and SAA to LVI.
But, again, how would immigration officials know either way? They don't have your booking info, etc. All they have is the date and time of your arrival in Zambia and the date/time of your PCR test/results. One internet proctored testing outfit I investigated for possible use when returning from J&E, reported results using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (same time but technically different than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is a time zone while UTC is a time standard. I'm confused )
Comments
We are going on the newer Botswana, South Africa Zimbabwe tour in July. We have booked flights, but there is only one flight that goes to Zimbabwe a day, so we have a 22 hour Layover in Cape Town. I don’t know whether it is the same for Zambia. The Tauck agent said to book that flight ourselves, because if she booked it along with our main flights, we would have to pay for all the flights up front, which we did not want to do. It was cheaper to book the flight ourselves anyway. We then found out that we can’t get a PCR test in Cape Town because the test turnaround is 24 hours and you have to go back to the test place at the airport to get your result. We are flying Qatar Air and right now, they don’t do testing. So in other words, unless things change, we can’t fulfill the Covid testing requirements
. Be sure to check your flights and timing if it is the same for Zambia. The Tauck agent said we could get testing at Doha or Cape Town, but she was wrong.
We have already been to Victoria Falls twice, Zambia side, Zimbabwe side, Botswana is where we really want to go back to.
Ladybombay, Yes! Heading out 8/31 FLL - ATL- JNB. Overnight in JNB then JNB - LVI the next day. If you haven't already done so check availability on the JNB - LVI leg. The BA flight which used to operate isn't showing so I had to book South African Airlink which operates a small EMB145 once a day leaving at 11am. Good luck, Rob
Ladybombay Hi
I'm going Sept. 10th - I'm flying seattle-dubai-lusaka-Livingstone .
seattle- dubai- emirates / dubai-lusaka- emirates ( no overnights in Lusaka) arrive into Lusaka at 2:30 pm- depart to Livingstone 4:05pm arriving at 5:15pm. I'm flying Proflight - $277. one way
https://proflight-zambia.com/
Is that routing a Tauck creation, or did someone else put that together?
mil put it together with separate bookings with Emirates and Proflight.
HI Sealord
My own creation, I checked with Tauck and the flight option they offer me was through JNB -staying overnight and 7k total for Biz.
British, I thought you just needed a negative pcr test 72 hours before you leave from your home country. However, if we have to spend the night in Johannesburg, is that now our country of origin requiring a new PCR test?
TamC , Hello.
You do not have to spend a night in Johannesburg, there 're different airlines that can offer you options - you can fly Qatar, Emirates etc..
Iam on the 9/10/2022 tour, I'm flying Seattle-Dubai (spending 2 days for fun) - next flight from Dubai to Lusaka (7) hours - Lusaka-Livingstone. 1 hour 20 min. on Proflight. . The Dubai-lusaka-Livingston is all done in the same day.
British air. doesn't fly from Johannesburg to Livingstone anymore.
https://proflight-zambia.com/
If you do stay overnight in Johannesburg, yes! that would be your new country of origin. so, you would need a new Covid test.
Good question? I think if you get tested within 72 hours prior to arriving in Livingstone (worst case), you should be OK.
Many countries require a negative test within 72 hours of first flight, but I see the Tauck info says "within 72 hours of arrival" in Zambia, so I did some checking-
US Embassy Zambia:
"A negative PCR COVID test for all travelers is required within 72 hours prior to departure from country of origin. In addition, all travelers may be asked to undergo additional COVID-19 testing with rapid antigen test upon arrival in Zambia.Dec 4, 2021"
The Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs say "72 hours prior to arrival."
And finally, as of 15 Dec 2021, the Zambia Ministry of Health says, " . . . within 72 hours of departure date"
https://www.zambiaimmigration.gov.zm/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Travel_-NOTE-VERBAL-No-6004-2021_1.pdf
Pre-COVID, we flew ATL - JNB on Delta (20hr 45 min.), stayed overnight in the JNB airport InterContinental (17 hr 5 in.) and flew JNB to LVI in Zambia (1 hr 40 min.) for a total enroute time of 39hr 30 min. So, even worst case, it can be done in less than 72 hours. Easy peasy if the requirement is 72 hours prior to first flight.
Your mileage may vary, depending on your US city of departure and total enroute time. In my worst case example above you would still have 32 hr 30 min. before departure to get tested which is doable, but may be costly, so either way, you should be fine.
That being said, you might want to dig deeper and /or call Tauck to see how Zambia handles an enroute overnight delay. Frankly, after going through the normal entry process, the immigration folks at LVI won't even know you had an overnight stay, you could have taken the long way around. As long as the date of the PCR test is reasonable.
We had to cancel this tour because of the Covid requirements, so I can no longer recall exactly what the requirements were, but I think it was a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival in Zambia. We could not do it, there was no facilities to test at the airport. We were flying Qatar, we could not risk that long flight, then the long layover and find we could not test. We have been to Zambia before and their immigration is not fun. We lost the cost of $700 plus for the final flight. It was not refundable. We had to get a voucher. It was not something thst could be covered by any insurance. The Tauck agent told us we could test at Doha or CapeTown (or was it Jo’burg, I can’t recall) so we booked the flight as mentioned above in my past message. We didn’t check her facts first.
We will take this tour in the future. Once we cancelled, despite losing money, there was a sense of relief.
Thank you for your answers! Looks like I need to do a little more checking. My concern was that I would be booking the final flight separately so it wouldn't be part of my initial flight from the United States. (And like Mil says above--might cause me to have to test again in Johannesburg.)
We were on two separate bookings- Delta to JNB and SAA to LVI.
But, again, how would immigration officials know either way? They don't have your booking info, etc. All they have is the date and time of your arrival in Zambia and the date/time of your PCR test/results. One internet proctored testing outfit I investigated for possible use when returning from J&E, reported results using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (same time but technically different than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is a time zone while UTC is a time standard. I'm confused
)
Yes, we booked our final flight separately which is what Tauck suggested we do and that was the problem