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All three are excellent safari countries, and the best choice depends on your style and budget. Choose Botswana for exclusive, low-volume camps in the Okavango Delta, if you can pay premium prices. Choose Zambia for walking safaris in South Luangwa and easy visa-free entry for most nationalities. Choose Zimbabwe for the most rigorously trained walking and canoe guides, the best views of Victoria Falls, the open floodplain of Mana Pools and good value for money. The three countries meet around Victoria Falls, so many travellers combine them in one trip. Written by Bryan Fawcett.
Last reviewed: 21 October 2026 against ZimParks, Zimbabwe’s Department of Immigration, Zambia’s Department of Immigration, Botswana government news (Daily News, BOPA) and the Embassy of Botswana. Visa rules and fees change. Check before you go. Full list under Sources.

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At a glance

The cost bands are our editorial judgement, not official figures. Prices vary widely within each country.

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Safari style

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Zimbabwe: guiding standards, walking and canoeing

Zimbabwe’s professional guides have one of the toughest licensing systems in Africa. A guide spends at least two years as a learner, passes written, shooting and oral exams, and finishes with a seven-day practical exam in the bush before leading guests on foot. Canoe guides also need 250 logged hours on the river. See walking and canoe safaris.
  • Walking: Mana Pools is Zimbabwe’s best-known walking park. It is also one of the few parks in Africa where you can walk without a guide, with a permit and only on the open floodplain.
  • Canoeing: multi-day canoe trips on the Zambezi, between Kariba, Mana Pools and the Mupata Gorge.
  • Self-drive: you can drive yourself in parks such as Hwange and Matobo, paying ZimParks vehicle fees.

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Zambia: the home of the walking safari

Zambia is famous for walking safaris, and the walking safari is widely credited to South Luangwa National Park. The Luangwa River, its oxbow lagoons and their concentrations of wildlife are the draw there. Zambia also offers river-based safaris on the Lower Zambezi, the other bank of the same river system as Mana Pools.

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Botswana: high value, low volume

Botswana’s government describes its approach as a “policy of high value low volume tourism in ecologically sensitive areas” (Minister of Environment and Tourism, February 2025). In practice, much of the Okavango Delta is run as private concessions with small, expensive camps and few vehicles. You pay more, but you share sightings with fewer people.

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Parks to compare

See national parks and reserves for every Zimbabwean park.

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Costs

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Park fees

Zimbabwe publishes its park fees in an official tariff. In 2026 an international visitor pays US$24 a day** at Hwange, Mana Pools and Matusadona, and **US$58 to enter the Victoria Falls Rainforest. See park fees for every park. We did not find current official park-fee tariffs from Zambia’s or Botswana’s wildlife departments online, so we don’t quote them here. Your lodge or operator will include them in your quote.

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Botswana’s tourism levy

Botswana once announced a US$30 (P300) Tourism Development Levy for international visitors arriving from outside SADC, and many travel websites still mention it. However, Botswana’s government news service reported in April 2019 that the government had abandoned the implementation of the levy. Botswana does collect a tourism bed levy through accommodation, which in 2024/25 raised about P19.3 million for the Tourism Development Fund (Minister of Environment and Tourism, April 2026).
We found no official notice that an arrival levy is being charged in 2026. If a border official or a website asks you for one, check with the Botswana Tourism Organisation or your operator first.

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Where Zimbabwe is good value

  • Park fees are published and moderate: US$24 a day at the big parks.
  • Self-drive and ZimParks camps: you can camp in Hwange from US$23 per site (up to 3 people) for international visitors, or stay at a lodge.

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Visas and entry

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The KAZA UniVisa

The KAZA UniVisa (US$50) covers Zimbabwe and Zambia for up to 30 days, as long as you stay in those two countries, with as many crossings between them as you like. It also covers day trips to Botswana through the Kazungula border, for example to Chobe National Park. You can get it at Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo airports in Zimbabwe, at Lusaka (Kenneth Kaunda) and Livingstone (Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula) airports in Zambia, at the Victoria Falls and Kazungula borders, or online.
If your nationality doesn’t need a Zambian visa, you may not need the UniVisa at all. A Zimbabwe visa that lets you re-enter, such as a double or multiple entry visa, can be enough. See Victoria Falls: Zimbabwe vs Zambia side.
The UniVisa has been suspended at short notice in the past. Check its status before you travel.

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Getting there

  • Zimbabwe: international flights land at Victoria Falls, Harare (Robert Gabriel Mugabe International) and Bulawayo (Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International). See the airport guide.
  • Zambia: Lusaka (Kenneth Kaunda International) for the Lower Zambezi, South Luangwa and Kafue; Livingstone (Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International) for the Zambian side of Victoria Falls.
  • Botswana: Maun is the gateway to the Okavango Delta, usually with a light-aircraft transfer to the camps. Kasane serves Chobe and is close to the Kazungula border with Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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Best seasons

All three countries share the same broad pattern: a dry season in the southern winter, when animals gather at water, and a rainy season in summer.
  • Zimbabwe: dry from May to October, rainy from November to April. June to October is the walking season. See weather by month.
  • Zambia: Zambia’s Department of Immigration describes a dry season from May/June to October/November, and a rainy season from November to April.
  • Botswana: the dry winter months are the main safari season. Water levels in the Okavango Delta change through the year, so ask your camp which months suit mokoro (dugout canoe) and boat trips.
The rainy season is the best time for birding in all three. See birding in Zimbabwe.

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How to combine all three

Victoria Falls is where the three countries come together, so it is the natural hub.
  1. Start at Victoria Falls. See the falls from the Zimbabwe side, and cross the bridge to Livingstone for the Zambian side.
  2. Day trip to Chobe. Cross at Kazungula for a game drive and boat cruise in Chobe National Park, Botswana. The UniVisa covers a day trip.
  3. Add a longer stay in one country. Fly to Hwange or Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, to Maun for the Okavango Delta, or to Lusaka for the Lower Zambezi or South Luangwa.
Sample 10 days: Victoria Falls (2 nights), Hwange (3 nights), Chobe day trip from Victoria Falls, then Mana Pools (4 nights). If you stay overnight in Botswana, the UniVisa no longer covers you, so plan your entry to each country. See our Zimbabwe itineraries and safari planning.

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Which should you choose?

  • First safari, mid-range budget: Zimbabwe. Strong guiding, Hwange’s elephants and Victoria Falls in one trip.
  • Walking safari: Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools or Zambia’s South Luangwa. Both are world class.
  • Once-in-a-lifetime luxury in a water wilderness: Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
  • Short trip with easy entry: Zambia, if your nationality is visa-free.
  • Victoria Falls: the Zimbabwe side for the best views; see the side-by-side comparison.

Walking and canoe safaris

Visas and entry

Park fees

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Sources

Last modified on October 21, 2026