First feedback from visitors to the Victoria Falls area indicates that the newly-introduced KAZA UNIVISA (which was launched in November last year and allows entry to both Zimbabwe and Zambia for a single visa payment of US$50) is working well – PROVIDED that your travel focus is the Victoria Falls/Livingstone/Kazungula area.
Visitors from 40 eligible countries are able to obtain the new 30-day KAZA Visas at Harare, Victoria Falls, Lusaka and Livingstone airports, the Victoria Falls road border (Zimbabwe/Zambia) and the Kazungula road border (Zimbabwe/Zambia/Botswana).
However, visitors who want to cross between Zimbabwe and Zambia but who are not entering or exiting in the Victoria Falls/Kazungula area are having challenges.
It seems that the immigration authorities at the Kariba and Chirundu road borders are not operating the new visa system. This means that visitors who have already obtained a KAZA-Visa are being inconvenienced in having to pay extra for another visa if they wish to cross the border at these points.
Similarly, road visitors entering Zimbabwe at Beitbridge, Plumtree or other Zimbabwean border crossings (other than at Victoria Falls) and wanting to travel onwards from Zimbabwe into Zambia, are not able to purchase a KAZA Univisa at these entry points. They are forced to buy a visa for each country as per the previous system.
WildZambezi.com has highlighted this problem to the relevant authorities and via the KAZA Visa website. We have told them that “It is not helpful to visitors when they are promised “one-visa-for-both-countries”, but are faced with having to purchase yet another one at extra cost because the system has not considered travel from the KAZA area into and out of other borderposts linking Zimbabwe with Zambia.”
This operational challenge has been acknowledged and the Zimbabwe tourism authorities have been asked to respond as a matter of urgency. We await the outcome.
For more information, visit www.kazavisa.info