Packing list for Zambia, travel insurance for Zambia, and taking your belongings

To take or not to take to Zambia, leave at home or arrange locally?

Sufficiently insured or not for your activities in Zambia?

Sufficiently insured or not for your trip to Zambia?

What to take with you to Zambia: spotlighted

Featured items:

• Documents: Passport with at least six months validity, and copies.
• Money: The local currency is the Zambian Kwacha (ZMW). Although credit cards are accepted in cities, it is useful to have cash with you for remote areas.
• Care: Sunscreen and sun block, aftersun
• Outdoor and practical items: Hat, travel cap or cap, a buff, scarf or bandana for protection from the sun. A good pair of sunglasses.
• Clothing: Light clothing in neutral colours such as khaki, brown and green (so that you do not scare the animals during the safari!), long clothing for sun and mosquito protection, warm layer for early mornings and evenings. A light waterproof jacket. Swimwear for your chic lodge.
• Shoes: Comfortable walking shoes and slippers/sandals for at the lodge.
• Medicines and travel kit: A small first aid kit with plasters, painkillers, anti-diarrhoea medicine, ORS and anti-mosquito repellent. Technique and equipment: world plug with type C, D and G. Power bank, because the power can sometimes go out.

What are some other options for packing as well?

• Mini binoculars or monocular for spotting wildlife.
• Headlamp or flashlight.
• Reusable water bottle with filter.
• Quick-drying travel towel.
• International driving license, if you want to rent a car.
• Mosquito nets, impregnated mosquito nets or mosquito nets if you are going to really remote places. But most lodges have them for you.
• Keep in mind, while packing, the season in which you go to Zambia: May-August is cooler and drier, September-October is hot and dry, November-April is warm and wet!

Are there mosquitoes in Zambia?

• Mosquitoes in Zambia are not the shy type. Especially during the rainy season (November to April) they let you know that you are on their menu.
• Unfortunately, they are not just any mosquitoes: Zambia is a malaria area, and you really do not want to get a plasmodium souvenir.
• So protect yourself well with mosquito repellent, sleep under a mosquito net and wear covering clothing.

Are there sandflies in Zambia?

• There are reports of sand flies in Zambia, especially in rural areas, but fortunately the risk is relatively low. So you probably won't be bothered by them.
• Tsetse flies on the other hand... They occur in about 30-40% of Zambia and are no fun. They can cause "sleeping sickness" (African trypanosomiasis).
• Your set of mosquito repellents with DEET can provide a solution in combination with covering clothing, good spray, and not sleeping on the beach without protection.

Can you buy DEET, or other mosquito repellents, in Zambia?

• DEET and other mosquito repellents can be found in larger supermarkets in Zambia.
• Popular brands are “Peaceful Sleep” and “Tabard”.
• Many luxury camps also have mosquito repellent on site that you can use.

Can you buy a joint or weed in Zambia, or take it with you to Zambia?

• Zambia is in the top three of countries with the most cannabis users - and yet they have some of the strictest laws in the world.
• Although it was decided in 2021 that medicinal cannabis cultivation is permitted under a strict license, recreational use, possession and sale of cannabis remains strictly prohibited.
• You risk long prison sentences and hefty fines if you are caught - and Zambian prisons are not exactly something to write home about.
• So it is better not to take cannabis with you, as there are even stricter penalties.