ENTERING ZAMBIA

British

Here are my observations for Zambia Airport. When you get off the plane, it's steps. Make your way to the terminal building quickly, so you have a good chance of being near the front of the line to get your visa. It takes a minimum of five minutes per person. First, they ask you if you are going over to Zimbabwe, that is a different type of visa and costs more money. At the head of the queue is not the time to have a debate with your fellow travellers about whether you might want to do this. Currently, the cost of the visa is $50 cash. The officer then tears off a sticky visa from a large roll of them and then has to meticulously place it on a whole page of your passport without it sticking anywhere else. They then have to write in all your details. It seems to take forever. There is a different line for Zambian nationals, but you can imagine how long it takes to process quite a large plane full of people. If you are the only Tauck people on the plane, as soon as you are through, you can get to the Tauck rep and be on your way, if not, you will only get to the hotel when the last Tauck traveller is through the line, could be a long time.

AlanS

Thanks, good to know.

There is conflicting information out there, but I just read that Zambia and Zimbabwe suspended or just stopped issuing the KAZA Uni-Visa in late 2015. It may have been a 12 month trial that ended although one report said they just ran out of Uni-isa stickers. Botswana was supposedly still issuing them (until they are gone?).

So, if you plan to visit the opposite side of the Victoria Falls which is in Zimbabwe, don't plan on getting a Uni-Visa, you'll need a Zimbabwe visa (and a multi-entry(?) Zambia visa available only when you arrive in country).

Anyone know if we would need to get a Zambia Visa in Lusaka airport if I change planes (carriers) (ticketed separately) there then continue on to Livingstone?

British

AlanS wrote:

Thanks, good to know.

There is conflicting information out there, but I just read that Zambia and Zimbabwe suspended or just stopped issuing the KAZA Uni-Visa in late 2015. It may have been a 12 month trial that ended although one report said they just ran out of Uni-isa stickers. Botswana was supposedly still issuing them (until they are gone?).

They asked us if we were visiting Zimbabwe, so they knew which visa to put in and how much to charge. The people in front of us were the ones who were deciding whether they would be visiting and weren't sure while the rest of us waited 'patiently!' I was too short to peak over the desk to see how large the roll of visa stickers was, but my husband could see.

AlanS

The standard Zambia visa is a sticker too, isn't it? Still, with the three countries sharing nearby borders, it would be convenient for many visitors to the Victoria Falls area. I don't know what a Zimbabwe visa looks like. Though US citizens don't need a visa for Botswana, the KAZA Uni-visa was good for day trips there.

We are thinking about taking Z, B, SA in the future. When I was researching flights I found a good itinerary- Ethiopian Airlines (ET) non-stop from Dulles to Addis Ababa, ET from Addis to to Lusaka, Zambia then we would need to switch to Proflight for the 1 hr. flight from Lusaka to Livingstone.

The problem comes in Lusaka where we would need to change carriers, from ET to Proflight. Since we would need to collect and recheck our bags (no codeshare, ticketed separately), and likely go through immigration and security, we would probably need a Zambia transit visa at the very least. It might be nice to be able to get a regular visa there instead of Livingstone. The return would be all on ET- Capetown - Addis-Dulles. No stop (or over-night) in London, Amsterdam or Johannesburg in either direction . The r/t price is good too.

ET also has a flight from Dar es Salaam to Addis with a good connection (non-stop) to Dulles if we decide to take the TZ: S to Z trip someday.

British

Phew, just back from an early start, walking to the Falls and then walking to the rhinos, wow! Surprise lunch, I'm not telling.
Alan, if I get the chance, I'll ask our tour director if he is familiar with Lusaka airport and what he thinks. We are flying BA to London on return and then a decent layover and onto an AA flight home.
Everything Is great here, but oh the mosquitoes! When I woke at 4am and did some iPad before I fell back or sleep, one even flew between me and the iPad.
We have q group of 16!
One thing to note, the final documents say that the tour begins at 5pm, it does not, it begins at 3pm with a briefing and then at 3-50pm, we are on the bus on the way to the train and dinner. There was a tour that started just two days before ours, and when we arrived at just after 2pm on that day, they were already being briefed--- you know how each tour guide tweets the itinerary! So if you do the tour soon, be aware when booking your flights if you intend to arrive the day the tour starts. At least three on our tour arrived minutes before the briefing, that's tough after two days of travel and a train and dinner that does not arrive back until 9-50pm, it's not as if you can excuse yourself and leave the dinner early on a train.

AlanS

Another good bit of info, thanks.

The flights I'm looking at arrive at LVI at 1720, so if we decide to do this trip someday we would arrive almost 2 full days early.

p.s. please see my post about TZ; Serengeti - Zanzibar