Livingstone

Currency budget Zambia

Activities — the gorge, Devil’s Pool, the flights over the falls — are quoted in dollars and most operators take cards; the town, the taxis and the market run on kwacha. Unlike Victoria Falls town on the other bank, Livingstone has its own working currency and machines that dispense it, so you do not need to arrive with a stack of dollars. You do need dollars in cash if you are crossing to Zimbabwe.

ATMs & cards

Zanaco, Stanbic, Absa and FNB all have machines along Mosi-oa-Tunya Road in the town centre. They give kwacha, not dollars, so bring dollars from home for Zimbabwe and for the KAZA visa.

Kwacha for the town, dollars in cash for Zimbabwe and the visa. Activity operators take cards.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of Zambia

The UK FCDO says Zambia’s towns and main parks are generally safe by day and advises against walking at night; in Livingstone the second matters for a reason of its own, because elephants and hippos use the riverfront road after dark. Take a taxi between the town and the lodges. The FCDO also says adventure sports around the falls carry real risk — Devil’s Pool, the gorge swing and the bungee are run by established operators, and the river is not somewhere to improvise. Malaria is present, most of all in the rains. The UK advice against travel in Zambia covers nowhere near Livingstone.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Zambia visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Zambia

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including a transit of more than twelve hours in one

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Nshima — stiff white maize porridge — with relish, chicken or bream is what the town eats, and the restaurants on Mosi-oa-Tunya Road serve it at a fraction of lodge prices. The riverfront lodges do the long lunches and the sundowners. Zambian bream from the Zambezi is the fish to order.

Nightlife

A modest evening: a sunset cruise or a sundowner on a lodge deck, then dinner and a bar or two in a small town that goes to bed early.

• Zambezi River — the sunset cruise, which is most of the evening
• Mosi-oa-Tunya Road — the town’s restaurants and bars
• The Royal Livingstone — the deck above the falls, for a drink at sunset

Closing: Early — most places are quiet by eleven.

Take a taxi back to the riverfront lodges — the road is unlit and the elephants use it.

Getting around

• Taxi — blue-and-white town taxis on Mosi-oa-Tunya Road; there are no meters, so agree the fare before you get in, and have the lodge call one at night
• Lodge shuttle — most riverfront lodges run a free or cheap shuttle to the falls and into town
• On foot — the town centre by day; the falls are 10km away, which is a taxi
• Bridge — walk out onto the Victoria Falls Bridge from the Zambian border post with a bridge pass, no visa needed, or carry on into Zimbabwe with one
• Airport: Livingstone (LVI), 15 min to the town centre

eSIM

A data eSIM for Zambia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works hereWorks here

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Chichewa (Nyanja)

• HelloMoniMO-nee
• How are you?Muli bwanji?MOO-lee BWAN-jee
• I am fine, and you?Ndili bwino, kaya inu?ndee-lee BWEE-no, KA-ya EE-noo
• Thank youZikomozee-KO-mo

The national language of Malawi, where it is called Chichewa, and the lingua franca of Lusaka and Zambia’s Eastern Province, where it is called Nyanja. Around Livingstone and in the north of Zambia, Tonga, Lozi and Bemba are the home languages and English is the safe common ground. Zikomo carries most of the weight: thank you, please and excuse me in one word.

Religion

Christian, and declared so in the constitution

Zambia was declared a Christian nation in 1991 and the declaration sits in the preamble of its constitution, though the state protects other faiths. Most people are Protestant or Catholic, and church is central to the week. Traditional ceremonies carry real weight alongside it — the Kuomboka of the Lozi, when the king moves off the flooded Barotse plain, and the Ngoni N’cwala in February — and visitors are welcome at both.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Greet properly before asking anything, and in a village expect a soft clap of the hands as part of it — clapping back is polite
• Give and receive with the right hand, the left touching the right forearm, or with both hands
• Dress modestly away from the lodges; a chitenge wrap over shorts goes a long way in a village
• Ask before photographing anyone, and accept a no
• Tip guides, trackers and camp staff in cash at the end of a stay

Don't

• Do not photograph police, soldiers, airports, State House or other government buildings
• Do not swim in the Zambezi or in lakes unless a guide says it is safe — hippos, crocodiles and bilharzia
• Do not walk around a bush camp after dark without an escort
• Do not show public affection; same-sex relationships are criminalised and the law applies to visitors
• Do not hand money or sweets to children; lodges run community projects that are the better route