In January of 2017 I went to Zambia for the second time, with my three friends Rachel, Andrea (Rachel's mom), and Hilary. (To read about my first trip to Zambia check out my blog post, Banja Lanu Mu Malawi).

On this page you will find stories, highlights, and many pictures from our trip to South Luangwa National Park, Lusaka, Livingstone, and Victoria Falls- while also giving you a few tips of traveling through Zambia. Enjoy!

zambia

A neighbor to Malawi on the west, Zambia is a country of 13 million people compared to Malawi’s 16 million (in 2017). However, Zambia is more than six times as big as Malawi being a total of 752,618 square kilometers - meaning it is much less densely populated. This is something we noticed drastically as we were driving from city to city. Compared to Malawi the villages were very spread out, and there was hardly anyone on the roads. It was shocking to feel like the only one for kilometers at a time, especially coming from a place where you can’t go 20 seconds without seeing a bike, person, or GOAT.

Coming from Lilongwe, we went through Mchinji District to the Chipata border (fun tip - in total there are six border crossing from Malawi). This border is an easy and quick ride on a minibus (around 2-3 hours) and only costs around 2000 Malawi Kwacha. At the border you will need to buy a visa. Single entry visas are $50 for United States citizens and $80 for a double entry visa. Unfortunately you cannot buy a multiple entry visa at the border, so if you plan on being back to Zambia soon you will need to prearrange.

From the border we headed to Chipata, which is again a short ride (30-40 minutes). We were in a private hire, but it is also very possible to do this by minibus. You can convert Malawi Kwacha/USD to Zambia Kwacha at the border if you need to, but be aware that the conversion rate will be much worse than what you can get in Chipata so we recommend to wait. In 2017, the conversion rate was around 1 USD: 10 ZK.

south luangwa national park

We decided not to stay in Chipata long, but to instead continue on our journey to South Luangwa National Park. From the city this is around another two hour drive. The roads are paved and relatively nice so the drive goes quick.

During are stay at South Luangwa we stayed at the lodge Croc Valley Safari Camp, which is just outside of the park. There are so many lodges around and inside of the park so it should not be difficult to find somewhere suitable, with the right price, to stay.

Overall, I really liked Croc Valley and we had a comfortable stay here. They have a variety of rooms, camping, and chalets available for a reasonable price. They also just reconstructed their pool, with steps big enough for an elephant or hippo to use just in case they decide to take a dip (or fall in)! The food at Croc Valley was good as well, but beware of monkeys while you’re eating. During our stay we made good "friends" with a monkey known as Stumpy; he only has one arm, but sure can steal food just as good as a monkey with two.

Below are a few pictures of the chalets we stayed in, equipped with a full kitchen and bathroom. When walking back to the chalet at night, make sure to bring a guard with you. Why you ask?! Well, you can almost guarantee there will be hippos grazing the grass just outside your room.

The entry permit into South Luangwa National Park costs $25. While we were there we did both our morning drive and night drive in the same day so we only had to pay the entry fee once. Croc Valley offers game drives at $40 each per person (with a minimum of two people) or rental vehicles to do the drive yourself. Check the website for updated prices.

Inside the park there are so many different types of animals - and if you're lucky you will get a chance to see a lot of them. During both of the trips I've made to this park (December and January - which is the rainy/off season) I've seen lions, elephants, monkeys, gazelle, hippos, crocodile, giraffes, zebra, and so much more. Two animals that I didn't see were the leopard and the pack of wild dogs, which only gives me another reason to return!

Check out this beautiful FULL rainbow!

an overnight in lusaka

The next morning, after breakfast, we began the long journey first back to Chipata and then on to Lusaka. We were in a private vehicle for this trip, but from Chipata it is possible to take big buses in the morning to Lusaka. Our journey in total took around 9 hours.....a very long 9 hours.

In Lusaka we stayed at Wanderers Lodge. We arrived once it was dark so the first thing we did was sit down at the bar, have dinner, and drink a Mosi Lager - the common beer in Zambia. That night I met two really cool middle-aged dudes from the UK who were backpacking through Africa. It was fun to hear their stories and share with them the places to go once they hit Malawi. After chatting, I headed for bed pretty early, with the thought in mind that we had an early morning ahead of us.

livingstone and victoria falls

You could describe the next morning as chaos….. With a seven hour drive ahead of us to Livingstone we had planned with our driver to leave Wanderers at 8:00am sharp. Rachel and Andrea ended up trading their spots in our private hire (she was having a hard time with all of the jerking) for bus tickets with our new friends from the UK – thinking that was a good deal for the friends. Well, one could say that wasn’t exactly the case.

When Rachel and her mom headed into town around 9:00am to catch the bus, we were still waiting at the lodge for our driver. He eventually arrived, but the waiting did not end there. For the next three hours we hung out in the parking lot of a mall in Lusaka (an impressive city by the way) wondering what we were waiting for. This did allow us time to go and explore the mall (keep in mind it had been two years since we’d stepped into a real mall living in Malawi). We also were able to get lunch at a pretty okay pizza place, since it was now going on noon.

By the time we realized what we were waiting for we wondered if we would make it to Livingstone at all. Apparently the insurance had expired on the vehicle our private hire was driving so he was waiting for a friend to bring him a new car. Unfortunately that never happened, so what they did instead is take the insurance stickers from another car. All in all we left Lusaka around 12:30pm…..more than four hours after originally planned.

Again, the adventure did not end there. About an hour away from our destination in Livingstone our car broke down. Why did it break down you ask?! Because we ran out of gas! At this point all we could do is laugh at this day and pray that we wouldn’t be stuck in the dark in the middle of nowhere in Lusaka.

After some random person came to the rescue with gas, we eventually arrived at Jollyboy Backpackers in Livingstone around 9:00pm. We found Rachel and Andrea there; they'd arrived many hours before us in the bus. They apologized frantically to our friends who they'd traded the bus tickets with, and bought us all a much deserved Mosi!

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The next few days were full of adventures, and this time the good kind! We were able to go see Victoria Falls, explore Livingstone, white water raft down the Zambezi River, go on a walking safari with rhinos, and bop over to Botswana for a boat safari at Chobe National park (read about Botswana here)!

To see Victoria Falls on the Zambia side you will need to go to Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. Mosi-oa-Tunya – meaning “The Smoke Which Thunders” in the local language – is the Zambian half of Victoria Falls. The Zambezi River forms a border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, so the falls are shared by the two countries, Victoria Falls National Park being on the Zimbabwean side. To get into Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park there is an entrance fee of $20 for International visitors.

After standing in the mist of Victoria Falls I now completely understand why it is named as one of the Seven Wonders of the World! What an amazing experience this was, and especially during early February after it had been raining for a few months in Zambia. If you are in south-eastern Africa, this is definitely a MUST see!

Going from the top of the falls, down the side of the cliff, to rafting through the Zambezi River was a whole other adventure that Rachel and I embarked together. What a blast! We met two other girls, currently living in Tanzania, and it was just us and them on our raft, plus of course the guide. This was my first time truly white water rafting and I think I had an adrenaline rush the entire time! When we weren’t completely flipped over in the water (which happened twice), we were either riding the huge rapids, or enjoying the calms part of the water by jumping out of the raft and just floating with the current. We spent the better half of the day on the Zambezi, and at the end got to ride back up the side of the cliff in a motorized cart (unlike the people who go with a Zimbabwean company, they have to climb…yikes).

Our final activity in Livingstone was going on a walking safari with rhinos. Although this tour is usually only about 30 minutes, it was one of the coolest experiences involving wild animals I think I've had in my lifetime. Rhinos alone are already so majestic, but while we were there we got to see something that few visitors get to see; a female rhino trying to mate with a male. If you aren't familiar with the process of how female rhinos select their male counterparts, it's okay, either was I. But with this experience I certainly learned quickly.....

When we entered Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park, we were given very little instructions or guidance about the safari other than that we should try and be quiet while we were walking, and to remain behind the ranger. So, we followed the ranger into the bush and five minutes later we had already spotted our first rhino. We followed him around a bit in the park, staring in awe, taking a few good photos, but after that I'm not exactly sure what happened because I wasn't staying around to watch.

The rhino had made a very loud grunting noise and starting charging another rhino. With this noise and the sound of the rhino charging we also ran for what felt like our lives. During all of this the ranger was saying, "don't run, don'r run," but when you don't know what's happening and there's charging rhinos around this isn't the command your mind tells you to listen to.

Later we learned from the ranger that the male rhinos were "fighting" each other to impress the female, and that female rhinos chose their mating partner by who is the strongest (the one who wins the fight). The ranger told us that we weren't at all in danger, and that if at any time a rhino is charging you to just stand behind a fallen down tree because rhinos cannot jump. I don't know how convinced I am with that advise, but I guess I'll keep it in mind if I'm ever being charged by a rhino in my future!

Above: Probably my favorite picture from the entire trip. This was right as the rhino - that you can't see in the photo because of the ranger's thumb - started to charge (see the look on Hilary's face) and right before we all started to run!

From Livingstone, we made the long trip back to Malawi, over-nighting in Lusaka, passing through Chipata, and then finally arriving in Lilongwe late the following evening. As you've read above this trip was full of adventures (good and not so good), but we definitely came home with plenty of memories from our girls trip to Zambia!