South Luangwa
Zambia
The valley where the walking safari was invented, and the leopards come out on the night drive
Photo by Dmitrii Zhodzishskii on Unsplash
Photos by Dmitrii Zhodzishskii, Dmitrii Zhodzishskii, Dmitrii Zhodzishskii and Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Zambia
June to October (the dry season, and the only season for walking safaris)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 210mm in Jan
Where it is
13.10°S, 31.79°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Spend at least two nights at a walking camp, where you cover ground on foot that no vehicle reaches
- Book the evening drive every night — the spotlight finds leopard, genet and civet in the hour after sunset
- Go in the emerald season for half the price, birds in breeding colour and a green valley, accepting that the bush camps are shut and some tracks are under water
- Fly from Lusaka rather than drive; the road is a long day, and the UK advice warns against being on it after dark
- Visit Kawaza village with the community programme, arranged through your lodge
- Take long sleeves and repellent for the evening drives, when the mosquitoes are out
South Luangwa travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Zambia
ExpensiveLodges and camps quote in dollars and most take cards, but card machines in the valley depend on the connection — confirm before you arrive that you can pay the bill the way you mean to. Park fees are charged per person per day and are usually folded into a lodge rate; check. Tips for guides, scouts and camp staff are cash, in kwacha or dollars, and expected.
ATMs & cards
Draw kwacha in Lusaka before the flight. Mfuwe village has a bank or two, but do not plan on a foreign card working there; inside the park there is nothing, and nothing to spend it on but tips.
Avoid these
- expecting a foreign card to work in Mfuwe village
- looking for a machine inside the park
Use these instead
- Zanaco
- Stanbic
- Absa — in Lusaka before the flight
Tips for guides, scouts and camp staff are cash and expected. Confirm the lodge can take your card on its connection before you count on it.
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
SafeThe camps are unfenced and so is much of Mfuwe: hippos graze on the lawns at night, elephants walk between the chalets, and an escort to your room after dark is the rule, not a courtesy. On a walking safari you follow the scout in single file and do exactly what you are told. The heat in the late dry season is serious — the valley floor passes 38°C — and malaria is present all year, worst in the rains. The UK FCDO warns of poor roads and frequent fatal crashes, and that driving outside towns after dark is particularly risky; fly in rather than drive from Lusaka.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Mfuwe — inside the lodge grounds, by day
- South Luangwa National Park — from the vehicle, or on foot with a scout
Worth more attention
- Walking between your room and the main area after dark without the escort, at any lodge, in any season
- Hippos on the riverbank and on the lawns at night, which are the animal that injures people here
- Luangwa River — crocodiles along every bank; nobody swims and nobody stands at the edge
- The road from Lusaka, a long day which the UK advice warns against driving after dark
- The heat in the late dry season, when the valley passes 38°C — drink more than seems reasonable
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Zambia visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Zambia widened its visa waiver to 167 countries and territories from 1 January 2025. Stays are up to 90 days in any twelve months for tourism. Arriving by air you need a return ticket; by land, enough money for the stay. The $50 KAZA UNIVISA, which also covers Zimbabwe and day trips into Botswana, is still worth buying if you will cross at Victoria Falls more than once.
Other passports
e-Visa required
Applied for through the Zambia Department of Immigration before travel.
How to get it: Nothing to apply for on an exempt passport. Bring a passport valid six months with two blank pages, and the return ticket, which is checked.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Zambia
LimitedRequired 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
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is high everywhere, Livingstone and the Luangwa included
- Rabies for longer or rural stays
- Cholera for some itineraries
Getting treated
Well below European standards, and basic in the countryside. Lusaka and Livingstone have private clinics that stabilise and refer. Anything serious means a flight to Johannesburg, and a safari camp’s answer to an emergency is an airstrip, so check the evacuation cover matches it.
Malaria everywhere and all year, worst in the rains from November to April. Bilharzia is in lakes and slow rivers, and the Zambezi has hippos and crocodiles, which is the better reason to stay out of it. Cholera returns in the rainy season; drink bottled or treated water.
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
GoodCamp catering, three meals and tea, and the bush camps cook remarkably well over very little. In Mfuwe, nshima — the stiff maize porridge — with relish is the everyday meal, and the village’s restaurants are where you will meet it. Bream from the river turns up on lodge menus.
Travel tipsGetting around
Car needed- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
Nothing to hail in Livingstone or South Luangwa. Yango runs in Lusaka only. Lodges collect from the airport, and taxis are booked through the hotel.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Lusaka — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Zambia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works here
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay 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
5 more phrases
- Thank you very muchZikomo kwambirizee-KO-mo kwam-BEE-ree
- Yes / NoInde / AyiEEN-deh / AH-yee
- How much?Ndi zingati?ndee zin-GA-tee
- WaterMadziMA-dzee
- Goodbye (to those staying)Tsalani bwinotsa-LA-nee BWEE-no
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.
Travel tipsReligion
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.
Travel tipsDo'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
Where to stay in South Luangwa
No Holistay rentals in South Luangwa yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is South Luangwa on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Mfuwe MFU
45 minfrom the airport· 24 km as the crow flies
45 min to the lodges at the main gate.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
