We are trying to book tickets for our trip to Zimbabwe from Los Angeles. Unfortunately the flight into Victoria Falls is adding a huge amount of expense to the trip. We are flying out of Harare. I looked at flying into Livingstone and the fare is almost $500 dollars less. Is it going to be difficult to get from the airport in Livingstone to our hotel the Ilala Lodge in Zimbabwe? I know that we will need a visa to go into Zimbabwe. I am not sure what the cost will be, I think it is $50 for a single entry. Our other option is to fly into Livingstone and out of Lusaka. I am not sure which is easier from Mana Pools, to go back to Harare or to drive and leave from Lusaka. Any help or advise would be appreciated.
Livingstone airport to Zimbabwe side of the Falls- How easy??
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It is very easy to get from Livingstone airport to Victoria Falls. However, if you go to South Africa after going through Zambia, even if it is just to connect on a flight, you will need a yellow fever vaccine certificate.
I transferred from Livingstone airport to Ilala Lodge last year. I flew into Livingstone and transferred to Ilala Lodge. It wasn't difficult at all, but I had a few hiccups.
I had arranged for a transfer by Ilala Lodge through my travel agent, and they were supposed to meet me with a driver upon arrival at the airport. I waited 30 minutes, but no driver showed up, so I took a cab. No problem catching a cab, as a driver saw me waiting and offered to take me if Ilala Lodge didn't show up.
Once you get to the Zambia border, you have to cross the bridge. Your Zambian taxi driver can't take you across. You can carry your bags across yourself or you can get a short taxi ride to the Zimbabwe side. I forget how much the taxi ride was, but it wasn't much.
One disadvantage of going yourself seems to be the whole Zimbabwean visa thing. People who were guided across seemed to be able to bypass much of the bureaucracy. I, on the other hand, had to fill out a few forms and wait for the immigration official to do all of his stamping and whatnot. I think Zimbabwe has to be only major consumer of carbon paper left in the world. This wasn't difficult at all. Just bring cash and exact change (there's a scam where they'll claim not to have change if you pay in large bills). IIRC, I paid $30 for my Zimbabwe visa, but that was last year. A single entry Zambia visa cost $50. I am a US citizen.
Once I left the customs and immigration place, I jumped in yet another taxi to Ilala Lodge. I could probably have walked it, but my bags were heavy. It's about half a mile from the immigration and customs office to Ilala Lodge. You pass by the Victoria Falls visitor center on the way, and there's a pathway you can walk that's shorter than following the road that takes you to the Ilala Lodge.
I think in the end it cost me around $35-40 to get from the airport to Ilala Lodge, and maybe an hour, which was mostly waiting in line and filling out forms at the Zimbabwe border. The manager at Ilala Lodge didn't know what happened with regards to my transfer, but they took the cost of the transfer off of my bill.
Thanks so much for the input. We were lucky yesterday as it seems that for 15 minutes the price dropped and i was able to get the flight directly into Victoria Falls. This morning the cost was up again so I guess yesterday was my lucky day. We are really looking forward to our visit to Zimbabwe and are happy that we finally got the tickets.