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Travel and Tourism in Zambia
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Zambia.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
- Time Difference
- UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- Zambian kwacha (ZMK)
- Climate
- Zambia lies between 8 and 18 degrees south of the Equator. The pleasant climate rivals that of Southern California, having three seasons: the warm-wet season (December to April), the cool-dry season (May to August) and the hot-dry season (September to November). Humidity is quite low except during the rainy season, and the temperature rarely exceeds 95°F; it can get into the 40s during the winter months (June and July). Summer clothing is worn from mid-August to mid-May. Light woolens are useful in winter (mid-May to mid-August). Generally, summer evenings are cool, and winter days are sunny and warm. Annual rainfall during the rainy season averages 34 inches. At the season’s beginning and end, showers are brief. During January, however, heavier rains punctuated by thunderstorms often occur. Zambia’s vegetation is mostly savannah, with areas of tropical grassland and woodland. There are 19 national parks and 32 game management areas. The native fauna is classic big game found in Southern Africa (e.g., leopards and lions). Zambia has a great variety of birds, both resident and migrant, totaling more than 700 species.
- Ethnic Groups
- African 98.7%, European 1.1%, other 0.2%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 24 October (1964)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 15 00 S, 30 00 E
- Location
- Southern Africa, east of Angola, south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Airports
- 109
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
South Luangwa National Park
South Luangwa National Park, situated in the Luangwa Valley in eastern Zambia, is one of the finest wildlife sanctuaries in the world and the park that put Zambia on the serious safari map. Covering approximately 9,050 square kilometers, the park occupies the floor of the Luangwa Valley -- a broad, flat depression formed by the western arm of the African Rift Valley system -- where the Luangwa River winds in broad meanders through a landscape of open savanna, mopane woodland, ebony groves, and seasonal floodplain. The river itself, with its distinctive series of oxbow lagoons formed where old meander loops have been cut off and left as still-water features separated from the main channel, is the engine of the park's extraordinary wildlife concentrations.
The park's origins as a protected area date to the 1930s, when game reserves were established in the Luangwa Valley by the colonial administration. But it was the work of Norman Carr, a game warden and conservationist who spent his career in the Luangwa Valley, that established the park's international reputation and created one of its most significant legacies in African safari history.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Government hospitals and clinics are often understaffed and lack supplies. Private medical clinics in major cities can provide reasonable care in many cases, but major medical emergencies usually require medical evacuation to South Africa, Europe, or the United States. The nearest air ambulances are based in South Africa. In addition to purchasing medical insurance that covers medical evacuation (see below), U.S.