Hey,
I plan to cross the Tanzanian- Zambian border probably somewhere on April.
on rough estimation, how much time will it take me to get from Kasesya to Livingstone? (and back)
Where will i have to stop sleeping/ bus changing, and how much will it cost me?
What are the entry fees to Victoria falls? i can see them from zambia right?
Thanks!
Ok,
so after a little research i found that the proper way to do this is via Dar/ Mbeya..
i plan to go to Mbeya anyway so i will probably take a bus ride with Scandinavian (if you know of any cheaper rides please reply) to Lusaka/ Zambia, and from there to Livingstone.
do i have to get my Zambian Visa in advance? or i can just get on the bus and take care of it in the border-cross point/ Lusaka??
thanks again
Hi there,
I´ve been to Tanzania and Zambia a month ago, but we travelled via Malawi. Just keep in mind that Mbeya isn´t the nicest place in the world, if you know what I mean... We took the bus from Dar to Mbeya as well and we had to spend the night in Mbeya (Dar to Mbeya takes quite long, I think it was 10 or 12 hours or something). When in Mbeya, go to the New Millenium Inn hotel, right next to the busstation, it looked quite nice. We stayed in the place next door, which was disgusting, because new millenium was fully booked. Anyway, we went to the Scandinavian express bus station in Dar and we found out that they went bankrupt. You´ll have to go to the big bus station, and buy a ticket from some other company. There will be a lot of people surrounding you to sell you a ticket so take good care. We got our zambian visa on the border with malawi (us$50), so we could get it at the border. We got from Chipata to Livingstone in a day, changing in Lusaka, I don´t exactly remember how much it was.
If you need to know anything else, just ask :)
Have fun
Thank you!
so you are saying.... that there is now Scandinavian to take me to Lusaka?? :(
how can i get to Livingstone in the fastest way from Mbeya? is there another company that take care of that route now?
and by egtting the visas on the border you mean- the bus stops, some dude walks up to you and you pay him 50$ for it?
abanos
There´s no scandinavian anymore, the guy at their office said they might start a service again in six months, so I wouldn´t count on it :). But there´s a few other companies that do it, from Ubungu bus station in Dar. You can get there by minibus, just take care of your stuff, we got pickpocketed on our way there. It´s perfectly safe, though. There might be a bus service from mbeya through to zambia but I´m not sure, we went to malawi from there. Does someone else know that?? I know that there is also a train going from dar to zambia, but I think it takes quite long and the trains are probably not too comfy.
we went with a minibus from lilongwe (malawi) to the border malawi/zambia and we got dropped off just before the border, walked to the border into the customs office and got our visa. Just make sure you take your vaccination passport with proof of a yellow fever vaccination. You can change money at the border as well, those guys on the street give you quite a good rate.
Cheers,
Peter
Google the Mazhandu Family Bus Company...they operate reasonably comfortable buses all over Zambia, not sure if to the North Eastern border, but you can try them. They may only go from Mpika (see map). You can book by email; take the 'business class' bus for more room.
The journey from the border (Tunduma is the Zambian border post, Mbeya in Tanzania) to Lusaka will be very, very long...I took the train years ago and that was slow. . I would allow up to 12-15 hours, depending on the time of year-the distance is over 750kms. If the Tazara train is available at Mbeya, jump on-it is slow but more comfortable.
You can buy a visa at the border(from officials) and will find no shortage of money changers-careful. Go to a forex or bank preferable.
Mazhandu run buses from Lusaka to LIvingstone 6 times a day. Get the business bus..around 80,000 KW. Takes about 6.5 hours.
Reply if you want more specifics.
Short answer is yes, you can see Victoria Falls from both Zambia and Zimbabwe but the best view+ is from the Zimbabwe side as you can see the entire length of Falls from that perspective. I was in Zambia about four years ago during dry season and a full moon because I was able to clamber out to Livingston Island (somewhat dangerous), sleep on the island (forbidden) and see that incredible midnight rainbow (all worth it). Early morning I took the plunge at Devil's Leap. From +within the Falls, you can look over the precipice, across the gorge and all the tourists on the Zimbabwe side but you can't appreciate the breadth and magnitude of the Fall's width. All this can be done only during dry season, and it may have been a particularly dry year. During wet season, this is impossible unless suicide is your mission! The best wet season viewing is on the Zim side. [Note: I had permission from the tribal chief and guidance from a games warden doing research on a rogue bull elephant for doing what I did]