From Lilongwe to Livingstone by public transport

Hi all,

I've been looking at transport options from Lilongwe, Malawi to Livingstone. It looks like the best option is to fly down to Lusaka and there take a bus to Livingstone.

Are there any other options? How reliable/safe is the bus? As I am a girl travelling solo, I'd much rather take the longer and safer option.

Incidentally, has anyone flown with Malawi Airlines? It appears their booking system is not the best and it wouldn't be the first time they lose a reservation, fares payed and all. Anyone had a good experience, by any chance?

Thanks and safe travels!

It's relatively easy by public transport. Only bus, I'm afraid. There are no trains for this route (except for the train between Lusaka and Livingstone, which is very slow).

There are numerous shared taxis from Llilongwe to the Zambian border. You cross on foot and take more shared transport to the town of Chipata, from where there are many buses (perhaps, almost hourly in the morning) to Lusaka. From Lusaka bus station 3 or 4 companies have several buses daily (perhaps a total of 15 or 20 buses a day) to Livingstone. Chipata to Livingstone is probably about 8 hours.

Most people doing this leave Llilongwe in the morning and get to Lusaka in the evening where they stay in a lodge (eg Lusaka Backpackers) and then continue to Livingstone the next morning. If you're into punishing yourself, however, you could go straight through and take a night bus from Lusaka to Livingstone, thus arriving about 0300 or 0400.

Hi there,

just came back from Zambia and I did the opposite, from Liv to Lilongwe all by road.

Liv-Lusaka 6-7 hours by bus (Muzandhu is the best option and pretty confy, not sure about the spelling)
Lus - Chipata 7-9 hours by bus (less confy but still great)
Chipata - Lilongwe I went with a private transport and it only took 2 hours, if you do it by public transport it will be 4 hours cuz you have to go from Lilongwe to Mjchinji by minibus, then from there to the border with a taxi, then from the zambia border to Chipata with another taxi.

The whole trip is nice and not too complicated and I would say safe. You won't find many other tourist especially from Chipata to Lilongwe, but you shouldn't worry for this!

ciao
f

Hey,
We are planning to go from Chipata to lilongwe by public transport. I would like to know if that is possible ?
Are there frequent buses from Chipata to lilongwe ?

thanks a lot for your advice

From Chipata there are shared taxis to the border. After crossing, there are shared taxis to the nearest town (Mchinji), from where there are many minibuses to Llilongwe.