Practical questions
Lower Zambezi National Park: frequently asked questions
The questions first-time visitors to the Lower Zambezi ask, answered plainly, with 2026 figures where official ones exist and a clear "not published" where they do not.
How much does it cost to enter Lower Zambezi National Park?
Park entry is $25 per person per day for international visitors travelling with a licensed operator, $30 per day if you are self-driving, $20 for SADC nationals and Zambian residents, and K55.60 for Zambian citizens. Children under 5 are free, 5 to 13 pay half, and 14 and over pay the adult rate. Vehicles and boats are charged separately, from $15 a day for foreign-registered units. Those are Category A rates from a schedule still headed 2025, so confirm at the gate.
So why do lodges quote $85 to $120 a night in fees?
Because the gate fee is not what lands on your invoice. Camps inside the park bundle park entry with a conservation levy, the in-park bed-night levy and tourism levy or VAT into a single per-person, per-night line. Anabezi charges $90 per bed night, Lolebezi and Royal Zambezi $85, the Chongwe properties and Amanzi $100, and Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro $120. That range, not $25, is the number to budget around if you are staying inside the park.
Is there a way to avoid the park fee altogether?
Yes, and it is the most useful cost fact in this valley. Staying in the Chiawa game management area carries no national park entry fee. Royal Zambezi, Mvuu, Kiambi, Kanyemba, Baines', Zambezi Grande, Kayila, Wildtracks and Muchichili are all in the game management area, and you only pay DNPW when you cross into the park itself. Royal Zambezi states it plainly on its own site. The wildlife does not respect the boundary, so a GMA stay with GMA activities is a genuinely good-value trip.
Can I self-drive in the Lower Zambezi?
Yes. DNPW publishes a distinct self-drive tariff of $30 per person per day, which is the proof. You need a 4x4 inside the park, there are no paved roads, there is no fuel available and the last fuel is at Chirundu. Carry jerrycans, an axe and a shovel, because fallen trees on the Chongwe road are common. Google Maps does not know the tracks; Maps.me does. There is no mobile coverage between Chirundu and the park outside the villages.
Can self-drivers do a night drive?
No. The $30 self-drive permit runs 06:00 to 18:00, while the $25 permit sold through a licensed operator extends the window to 20:00 in practice. That difference, not a rule about vehicles, is why only operator vehicles run night drives. If a night drive matters to you, book through a camp. Night drives themselves are permitted here, both in the park and in the game management area, unlike across the river at Mana Pools.
Are there campsites inside the park?
We could not verify a single bookable DNPW or public campsite inside the park boundary, despite the DNPW camping tariff line existing. Names like Mukambala, Nsofu and Jeki campsite circulate online, but Jeki is an airstrip and an area rather than a campsite. In practice self-drivers camp in the Chiawa game management area: Mvuu has seven sites each with private ablutions, Kiambi has eight, and Gwabi, Breezes, Wildtracks and Muchichili all take campers.
When should I visit?
September for canoeing, when the Zambezi is at its lowest, and October for game viewing, when everything is forced to the river and average highs sit around 36°C with peaks past 40. August is superb and is when tigerfishing peaks. June and July are prime for walking with cold nights and comfortable days. April and May are quieter and cheaper with the river still high. December to March is green season: heavy rain, dispersed game, excellent birding and most camps closed.
Does the park close in the rainy season?
The park does not close. The roads do. From roughly mid-November the internal dirt tracks become impassable and access is by boat only, and most camps shut. Proflight's scheduled flights run 1 May to 15 November and stop precisely when the camps close, so outside those dates there is no scheduled air access and you are on a charter or a boat. A handful of game management area and gateway properties trade year-round, along with Royal Zambezi on the park side.
How do I get there from Lusaka?
By air it is about 35 minutes to Jeki, the strip inside the park, or 60 to 65 minutes to Royal in the game management area, with a 20 kilogram soft-bag limit including hand luggage. By road it is roughly 216 kilometres and a minimum of five hours: tar to Chirundu in about two and a half hours, then over the Chiawa bridge across the Kafue past Gwabi River Lodge, then a rough dirt track through the Chiawa game management area to Chongwe Gate. An alternative is to drive as far as Gwabi River Lodge and take a motorboat down, about an hour and three quarters to Royal Zambezi.
Can I fish, and is there a closed season?
You can fish, on a permit, and all fishing inside the park is strictly catch-and-release. The park charges $30 per person per day for angling. There is a closed season, and most safari sites get it backwards: under the Fisheries Act the Lower Zambezi River from the dam wall to the Luangwa confluence is closed to fishing from 1 December to the end of February, reopening 1 March. Lake Kariba is the exemption, not the Zambezi. In practice it rarely affects visitors, because that window is when almost all camps here are shut.
Can children come?
Children are welcome at several camps, but under-12s are normally not permitted on walking or canoe safaris, which are the two signature activities. Time + Tide Chongwe Camp markets itself as family-friendly, Kanyemba is an easy drive from Lusaka with a family chalet, and the exclusive-use houses at Chongwe and Muchichili suit family groups. Check the age policy before you book if canoeing is the reason you are coming.
How many lions and leopards are there?
Nobody has published a figure, for lion, leopard or wild dog. That is not a gap in our research, it is a confirmed negative: no Lower Zambezi-specific population estimate exists for any of the three, and Conservation Lower Zambezi is building the lion baseline right now with DNPW and the Zambian Carnivore Programme. Any number you see online for this park is unsourced. What is measurable is how often visitors see them: lion on 96 per cent of logged trips, leopard on 88 per cent and wild dog on 46 per cent.
Is Kasaka River Lodge still open?
Worth a phone call before you book. Kasaka River Lodge closed around 2017 for redevelopment with no reopening date established since, though one valley portal still lists it as the park's year-round lodge and its old domain still resolves. Those two accounts cannot both be right, and we have not been able to resolve the conflict, so we do not list it and we do not make any year-round claim on its behalf. The properties we can confirm trade year-round are Royal Zambezi, plus Mvuu, Kiambi, Gwabi, Breezes, Wildtracks and Muchichili.