Tanzania United Republic
Tanzania is one of Africa’s top safari destinations. The wildlife viewing is out of this world and big cats are especially easy to see. All members of the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) can be found in various Tanzanian parks and reserves, and all five are present in the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.
Zambia United Republic
Zambia is an undiscovered safari gem. Victoria Falls, in all its powerful splendor, is on many people’s bucket list. But delve deeper and you’ll find some of Africa’s most pristine and uncrowded wildlife havens. Top-notch parks such as South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi and Kafue National Parks are just waiting to be explored on game drives.
Easiest border so far. get your passport stamped in at the immigration office, then get your carnet done by Jamie Foxx in the customs building next door.
The only slightly confusing part is paying the fee at a town about 100m past the gate into Tanzania. It’s a tiny shop without looking like it has any affiliation with the process, but go in there to pay your fee and come to JF to get it all processed. Took about an hour including chatting to truck drivers
Most visitors to Zambia will either arrive in Lusaka or Livingstone. Being the capital, Lusaka is served by a number of international airlines, with many travellers flying here directly from Johannesburg (South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya) or Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).
South African Airways, Air Namibia, Air Zimbabwe, Air Malawi, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines all fly directly to Lusaka. The airport is about 30km from the city centre and we can organise your transfers.
A very easy and pleasant border crossing, 10 minutes to get stamped out of Zambia including our carnet and approx 50 mins to get visa stamp, health clearance and carnet stamped and TIP paid and documentation. Cheerful, helpful staff. 50USD per person for visa for 90 days in cash and 45USD for 60 day TIP in cash as visa machine not working. Very straightforward!
Fastest and easiest border crossing ever! We excited Tanzania going to Zambia. After stamping out our passports (5 min) we had to proceed to the health office where they checked yellow fever and temperature. They asked for Covid but never checked it.
Carnet was another 2 minutes.Same story going into Zambia. Quick health scan at a little tent where they only checked yellow fever. Showing our quick test results from 4 days ago on our phone was enough. Only adults need to show results. They only do a quick test when you have symptoms.
Immigration easy as well. Only adults needed to pay 50 dollars for the visum.
Carnet stamped in 2 minutes.Altogether the whole crossing took us a little over an hour. So don’t waste your time on expensive PCR tests.
On the Tanzanian side, crossing from Zambia -> Tanzania:
•We showed our yellow fever and covid vaccination certificates, and were able to do a rapid test at the border.
•We had to wait for the customs official to arrive, after which he told us he cannot process our vehicle papers due to lack of solar power (it was overcast). So we had to drive to Sumbawanga and process our vehicle customs papers at the Tanzanian Revenue Authority (TRA), which went very smoothly.
•The road from the border to Sumbawanga is untarred for the first 50km, and not as good as on the Zambian side (but still relatively good).
