Zambia

Tourists swimming is a safe pool at Victoria Falls, Zambia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tourists_swimming_at_Victoria_Falls.jpg
Author: Ian Restall


Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa. It covers 752,618 sq km (290,587 sq mi) and has a population of 13 million people (2011 estimate). It is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Botswana and Namibia to the south and Angola to the west. Its capital and biggest city is Lusaka.

Zambia is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+2). Its currency is known as the Zambian kwacha (ZMK). Traffic is driven on the left here, just as in Britain. The phone IDD code is +260. English is the official language, although vernacular languages such as Bemba, Lunda and Nyanja are commonly spoken as well. More than half of the population consider themselves Christians.

The first European to arrive in Zambia was 18th century Portuguese explorer Francisco de Lacerda. The most prominent European to explore it was David Livingstone. In 1888, the British South Africa Company (BSA Company) was given mining rights in Zambia. The country was eventually named under Cecil Rhodes, leader of the BSA Company, and was known as Rhodesia. The country was administered as North Eastern Rhodesia and North Western Rhodesia, which were eventually merged to form Northern Rhodesia in 1911. Meanwhile Southern Rhodesia remains a separate entity which today becomes Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls, Zambia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_Falls_from_Zambia%28August_2009%29.jpg
Author: Kounosu


Lusaka, Zambia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lusaka_-_Manda_Hill_Shopping_Centre.JPG
Author: Brian Dell


In 1924, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created. This semi-autonomous region comprised Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which is today known as Malawi. Northern Rhodesia attained independence on 24 October, 1964, and became known as the Republic of Zambia.

Although mineral rich, post-independence Zambia was plagued with civil wars and conflict with neighboring countries including Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique. It was only in the 21st century that Zambia began to stabilize, its high inflation brought under control, and the economy finally began to witness real GDP growth.

The northern vegetable market in Chipata, Zambia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chipata_north_market.JPG
Author: Brian Dell


Zambia is today a presidential representative democratic republic. It is headed by a president who is both head of state and head of government. The country experiences a humid subtropical or tropical wet and dry climate. It has two main seasons, the rainy and the dry. The rainy season is from November to April while the dry season is from May to October.

Planning your visit to Zambia

Most visitors to Zambia will need a visa except for citizens of a number of countries including Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Visitors to Zambia often report that the country is at present not well prepared to receive tourists. There are few tourists coming to Zambia. The main airport, Lusaka International Airport (LUN), receives flights by British Airways from London-Heathrow.

Major Cities in Zambia

Places of Interest in Zambia

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.