ZM
Victoria Falls & Zambia
The falls up close, and wild safari country
The falls up close, and wild safari country
The Zambian side lets you get right up to the falling water — walking the Knife-Edge Bridge into the spray and peering into the thundering gorge from dizzying, drenching viewpoints.
💡 The footbridge gets soaked at high water — a poncho helps, but you’ll still get wet.
In the low-water months (roughly August to December), the famous Devil’s Pool lets daring visitors swim to a natural rock lip at the very brink of the falls — a heart-stopping thrill.
💡 Devil’s Pool only runs when water is low and safe — book via Livingstone Island tours.
South Luangwa is one of Africa’s finest parks — teeming with elephants, and renowned as the home of the walking safari and superb leopard sightings.
💡 A guided walking safari in Luangwa is a bucket-list wilderness experience.
Zambia’s parks brim with big game — great herds of buffalo, lion prides, hippos, giraffe and abundant plains game, often seen with barely another vehicle in sight.
💡 Night drives, a Zambia speciality, reveal leopards and other nocturnal wildlife.
Vast Kafue National Park and the Lower Zambezi offer canoe safaris, sunset river cruises and glorious wilderness — wild, remote and utterly unspoilt.
💡 A canoe safari on the Lower Zambezi glides you past elephants and hippos.
Zambian food is warm and hearty, built around nshima — a thick maize porridge — eaten by hand with relishes of vegetables, beans, groundnuts, and stews of chicken, beef or fish. Fresh bream and other fish from the Zambezi and the lakes are excellent, and safari camps often serve superb bush cuisine, from campfire braais to multi-course dinners under the stars, sometimes featuring game meats. Livingstone town has a growing choice of restaurants, cafes and bars, from local eateries to international menus and riverside sundowner decks. Try a cold Mosi lager (named for the falls) or a gin and tonic as the sun sinks over the Zambezi. Remote bush camps cater fully for guests, accommodating dietary needs with advance notice.
Livingstone has an international airport with regional connections, and the town is a short drive from the falls; taxis, hotel shuttles and tour transfers make getting around easy. You can cross to the Zimbabwean side via the Victoria Falls Bridge — bring your passport and check visas (the KAZA UniVisa often covers both countries). Reaching Zambia’s safari parks usually means a domestic flight to a bush airstrip followed by a 4×4 transfer, as the parks (South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, Kafue) are remote and often reached via Lusaka. Within the parks you explore by guided 4×4 game drive, on foot, or by canoe. Zambia drives on the left. A fly-in safari saves long drives on rough roads and is the usual way to visit the wilder camps.
The falls, Knife-Edge Bridge, a Zambezi cruise and (in season) Devil’s Pool.
Fly to a bush camp for walking safaris, leopards and big herds.
Canoe safaris and river cruises among elephants and hippos.
It only opens in the low-water season (roughly Aug-Dec) — plan around it.
Zambia invented it — South Luangwa is the place to experience the bush on foot.
The best camps are remote — light-aircraft transfers save long, rough drives.
Take antimalarials and use repellent, especially near the rivers and in the wet season.
Quick answers to the questions travellers most often ask before visiting Zambia and Victoria Falls.
It lets you get remarkably close to the water — footpaths and the Knife-Edge Bridge lead right into the spray at the lip of the gorge, and in the low-water season the famous Devil’s Pool allows a swim at the very edge. The gateway town is Livingstone.
It’s a natural rock pool right on the lip of Victoria Falls, on the Zambian side, where a rock barrier lets brave swimmers sit at the very edge of the drop. It only operates in the low-water season (roughly August to December) and is reached via guided Livingstone Island tours.
Excellent — Zambia is one of Africa’s premier and least-crowded safari destinations. It is the home of the walking safari, and its parks (South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, Kafue) are famous for leopards, big elephant and buffalo herds, and superb guiding, including night drives and canoe safaris.
For the falls at their fullest, visit around April to July. For safari and Devil’s Pool, the dry season from roughly August to October is best, when wildlife concentrates near water and the pool opens. Many combine Livingstone with a dry-season safari.