Getting to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

There is no direct flight, and it is worth knowing early

Victoria Falls Airport takes no intercontinental flights. Nothing from Europe, nothing from North America, nothing from Asia or the Gulf. For a couple of seasons there was a flight from Frankfurt by way of Windhoek. It no longer runs, and nothing has replaced it.

So every guest arriving from outside Africa changes planes at least once. The only question is where.

Johannesburg is the main door, and for most of our guests it is the right one. It has the most flights onto Victoria Falls, the shortest connections, and the most room to recover if something earlier in the day goes wrong. From Europe the ordinary shape of the journey is an overnight flight into Johannesburg and a morning flight onward, which puts you here in time for lunch.

Addis Ababa and Nairobi are the other African hubs with a direct flight in, which suits anyone routing through East Africa or coming from further east. Cape Town has a direct flight too. That is one reason so many people pair the two, and the order you do it in matters more than you would think.

One consequence of that choice is better flagged here than buried further down. Routing through Addis Ababa or Nairobi can put a yellow fever certificate on your list. Routing through Johannesburg or Cape Town does not. It is not a reason to avoid either hub, but it is a reason to read the yellow fever question below before you book, because a certificate cannot be obtained at short notice.

Inside Zimbabwe, Harare and Bulawayo both connect to Victoria Falls, and so does Hwange for the safari camps.

We have deliberately not listed airlines and frequencies on this page. They change every season, and a page that lists them is wrong within months. Ask us when you book and we will tell you what is actually flying.

VFA VICTORIA FALLS AIRPORT

Twenty-five minutes from the aircraft steps

Victoria Falls Airport is about twenty kilometres outside town. Reception quotes twenty-five minutes for the transfer, thirty if there are elephants on the road, which there sometimes are, and which is not a figure of speech.

It is a small airport and it behaves like one. Immigration is a queue rather than a hall. If you are collecting a visa on arrival, that is where it happens, and it is quicker than most people expect.

Send us your flight number and our team can arrange a taxi to meet you on arrival.

LVI LIVINGSTONE AIRPORT

Flying into Zambia instead

Livingstone, on the Zambian side, has its own airport about forty kilometres from here, and it is sometimes cheaper or better timed than flying into Victoria Falls.

It works, and guests do it. Be clear about what it involves: an international border sits between that airport and this lodge, and you cross it twice, once in each direction. Allow the better part of an hour for the crossing, and settle your visa before you commit to the route, because the wrong one turns a transfer into an expensive morning.

If you are crossing at all, the visa to ask for is the KAZA UniVisa, which puts Zimbabwe and Zambia on one document for thirty days and allows a day trip into Botswana. One detail decides whether it is any use to you, and almost nothing written about it says so: take it at the Victoria Falls Bridge border post as you enter Zimbabwe, not on arrival in Zambia. Issued on the Zambian side it admits you to Zimbabwe as a day visitor, and that lapses overnight, which covers nothing if you are booked in with us for three nights.

What we cannot do is tell you how to enter Zambia in the first place. That is Zambia’s rule to set, not ours, and it changes on its own schedule. If you are routing through Livingstone, ask them directly before you book that flight.

If you are not crossing, fly into Victoria Falls and ignore all of this.

Adding Chobe, which is closer than people expect

Kasane, the town at the gate of Chobe National Park in Botswana, is an hour to an hour and a half away by road, border included. That makes Chobe a day trip rather than a second holiday, and plenty of guests treat it as one: away after breakfast, an afternoon on the Chobe river, back for dinner.

The KAZA UniVisa allows that day trip. What it will not do is let you sleep there. Stay a night in Botswana and it lapses, and you buy a new visa to come back.

One more thing, and it is the commonest reason a family is turned back at Kazungula. If anyone in your party is under eighteen, Botswana requires an unabridged birth certificate naming both parents, and requires it even when both parents are there. Travelling with one parent, you also need a sworn affidavit from the parent who is not. Travelling with neither, you need one from each. An abridged certificate will not do, and nobody at the border is going to make an exception at seven in the morning. Our Visas page lists exactly what to carry.

If you are driving

How long is the drive from Bulawayo?

How long is the drive from Harare?

How far is Hwange National Park?

How far is Kasane, in Botswana?

How far is Livingstone, in Zambia?

Can I take a hire car across a border?

Sometimes, and never spontaneously. Cross border use has to be arranged with the rental company in advance and needs documents you cannot obtain at the barrier: written authority from the owner, a temporary import permit, third party insurance and assorted fees. Some companies do not allow it at all, and others allow it only as far as the Falls. Ask before you book the car, not when you reach the border.

How long to stay

The honest answer is three nights. Most people book two.

Two nights gives you one full day. One full day is enough to see the Falls properly and nothing else, and you will spend it slightly rushed.

Three nights gives you the Falls on one day and a choice on the other: the Zambian side, a day in Chobe, the gorge, an evening on the river, or nothing at all.

Four nights allows a great balance between enjoying the activities on offer, and some down time relaxing.

What to book before you arrive

Do I need a yellow fever certificate for Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe has no yellow fever of its own, but it does require a certificate from travellers arriving from, or passing through, a country where there is a risk of transmission. Whether that applies to you depends entirely on your route. South Africa is not a risk country, so the usual routing from Europe through Johannesburg or Cape Town does not raise it. Ethiopia and Kenya are, so if you come through Addis Ababa or Nairobi, or you have stayed in either country before flying on to us, expect to be asked for the certificate at immigration. A short connection without leaving the airport is generally treated differently from a long layover or a night in the city, and twelve hours is the line usually drawn, but do not plan around the margin. Here is the part that catches people out: the certificate does not take effect until ten days after the vaccination, so it cannot be sorted at the airport or in the week before you fly. If your route touches a risk country, deal with it a month ahead. Once done it lasts for life. The list of risk countries is set by the World Health Organization and it does change, so check it against your actual itinerary, stopovers included, and take your travel clinic’s advice rather than ours.

What do we need to travel with children?

The strictest rules on this are Botswana’s, and they catch families out at the Kazungula border. Botswana requires an unabridged birth certificate naming both parents for any traveller under eighteen, and requires it even when both parents are present. Travelling with one parent, you also need a sworn affidavit from the absent parent. Travelling with neither, you need one from each. Abridged certificates are refused, and being turned back costs you the day and the excursion. Sort these at home. An affidavit is not something you can produce on the road, and an unabridged certificate takes weeks to obtain in most countries. It is the document people do not think to pack. Our Visas page sets it out in full, and we would rather you read it early than discover it at a barrier.

Do I need a visa before I travel to Zimbabwe?

Yes, and we would much rather you arranged it before you fly. Zimbabwe issues visas through its own portal at evisa.gov.zw. Processing takes about seven working days, so apply two to three weeks ahead rather than leaving it to the airport. What you pay, and which category you fall into, depend on your nationality, so check the portal rather than a figure on a hotel website, including this one. You will need a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, a passport photograph, and proof of your booking, which we send to every confirmed guest. Print two copies of the visa and carry one with your passport. One limit on what we can tell you: we speak for Zimbabwe’s requirements and we keep those current. We cannot advise on Zambia’s or Botswana’s. If your route takes you through either country, check with that country before you travel.

Should I buy the KAZA UniVisa?

If you intend to see the Zambian side of the Falls, or to cross into Botswana for a day at Chobe, yes. It covers Zimbabwe and Zambia on one document for thirty days and allows the Botswana day trip. Where you take it matters as much as whether you take it: ask for it at the Victoria Falls Bridge border post as you enter Zimbabwe. Issued on arrival in Zambia it admits you to Zimbabwe only as a day visitor and lapses overnight, so it will not cover a stay with us. A day trip into Botswana is a day trip in the same sense: sleep there and it lapses. If you are staying on the Zimbabwean side throughout, you do not need it at all.

What should I book before I arrive, and what can wait?

When can I swim in Devil’s Pool?

Devil’s Pool sits on the lip on the Zambian side and only opens at low water. It usually opens around the middle of August and runs through to late December. It is closed from April to the middle of June, when Livingstone Island itself is shut, because the river is simply too big. If Devil’s Pool is the reason you are coming, choose your month first and build the trip around it. Our When to Visit page sets out the whole year.

When does the white water rafting run?

The full descent, rapids 1 to 19 launching from the Boiling Pot below the Falls, opens around the middle of August and runs through the low water months. Rafting is usually suspended for about a month either side of peak flow, which falls in the first week of May, so broadly early April to early June. Between those two states there is a shortened high water trip that puts in at rapid 11, ten kilometres downstream. If rafting is the point of the trip, read the seasonal page before you book flights.