Maps and navigation
Lower Zambezi National Park map
An interactive map, coordinates for the gates and airstrips, and how to navigate a valley where the mainstream mapping app does not know the tracks and there is no signal between Chirundu and the park.
Download the official park map
DNPW publishes no downloadable Lower Zambezi map, and the department's own web pages have been unreachable for some time. The practical references are Conservation Lower Zambezi, which works across the park and the surrounding game management areas, the commercial Tracks4Africa mapping for self-drivers, and whatever sketch map you are handed at the gate.
Key coordinates
Save these before you go. Mobile coverage inside the park is patchy at best, and a set of waypoints in an offline app will get you out of trouble faster than anything else.
| Place | What it is | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|
| Chongwe Gate | The main western entrance and DNPW ranger post, reached through the Chiawa game management area | -15.7015, 29.3342 |
| Jeki airstrip | The airstrip inside the park, about 35 minutes from Lusaka by light aircraft | -15.6335, 29.6035 |
| Royal airstrip | The Chiawa game management area strip, serving Royal Zambezi, Zambezi Grande, Baines' and the Chongwe properties | -15.7251, 29.3029 |
| Chiawa village | The community the game management area is named after, on the road down the valley | -15.8893, 29.0420 |
| Chirundu | One-stop border post with Zimbabwe, the last fuel and the boat embarkation point | -16.0320, 28.8515 |
| Lusaka | Where the road and the flights start, about 216 km and a minimum five hours by road | -15.4163, 28.2818 |
Navigating the valley
- Download offline maps before you leave Lusaka. Google Maps does not have the track through the Chiawa game management area; Maps.me does, and Tracks4Africa is the paid standard for self-drivers.
- Expect no mobile coverage between Chirundu and the park except in villages. Tell someone your route before you go.
- The Chiawa bridge over the Kafue River, just past Gwabi River Lodge, is the fixed point on the road route. It replaced the old pontoon in 2015. Everything downstream of it is dirt.
- Work backwards from the 18:00 permit expiry. The track is slow, and a self-drive permit does not let you be out after dark.
- There are no paved roads inside the park and 4x4 is required. Carry an axe and a shovel: fallen trees on the Chongwe road are routine.
- Coordinates above are drawn from open mapping data. Confirm gate positions locally, because the eastern Chavululu Gate opened only in 2022 and is thinly documented.
The boundary that decides your bill
The park's western boundary runs near the Chongwe River, and everything upstream of it is the Chiawa game management area. That line, not the riverbank, is what determines whether you pay a national park entry fee: a stay in the game management area carries none unless you cross into the park.
Plenty of maps and guides blur this, and it is worth being precise about, because it can be the difference between paying nothing and paying $85 to $120 per person per night.
The gates
Chongwe Gate on the western boundary is the main entrance and the one virtually every self-driver uses. Mukamba Gate in the north comes off the Great East Road, with camping reported around 20 kilometres from the highway, though details on it are thin. Chavululu Gate was built on the eastern boundary in 2022 by Conservation Lower Zambezi.
Official gate hours are not published anywhere we could find. The statutory permit day of 06:00 to 18:00 strongly implies the gates work those hours, and no source states whether cards are accepted, so bring cash.