Kazungula border: BOTSWANA to ZAMBIA | Customs and Immigration

1 hour 35 minutes all told, CAN and USA one one USA motorcycle.

After the first gate (pass the trucks that ought to stay to the left) take the right turn and get the stamped piece of paper from health control (didn't ask us anything, and my slip was never taken from me later though my wife's was).

Then on to the big joint building where the sequence is written large on a sign at the entrance. There is a money change bureau outside to the left by the toilets, fair rate. You'll need Kwacha for some of the payments.

Botswana immigration and customs (CPD stamp out) took less than 5 minutes.

Zambia immigration fairly quick, a few minutes.

Then Zambia customs where he will sign the entry slip and take his portion, but has you pay the other fees and clear interpol before stamping.

Interpol is two windows down; he doesn't really do anything (maybe writes details in a book?). Two minutes.

Then insurance, K165 for motorcycle for a month. She made a big deal about having to get change, and made me wait. Maybe 15 minutes (cause I had to change money first).

Then the toll/fees windows: US$20 for the toll from here to Livingstone. And K282 for combination bridge toll, carbon tax and council fee. I had to zip out to change more money because apparently only the bridge toll (K150 of it) is payable by visa.

This took most of the time because people were queued up and they spend a long time inputting stuff into the computer then printing receipt.

Then back to customs for CPD stamp and finished.

At exit gate, show all the paperwork (he takes it into the booth), an immigration guy looks at the passports, then off you go.

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Botswana to Zambia in a SA car with Swiss Passport. Big border, took us approximately 2h, but no problems. As described above, but it is all in the same building now (interpol and insurance). You have to buy insurance at the boarder for Zambia. If you want to buy Comesa later, you will have to buy insurance again for Zambia as it has to be the same company. The insurance lady in Livingstone from Phoenix insurance told us, that we could have bought insurance with them in advance. Like that you don't need to buy it twice. Not sure if it works, but maybe someone wants to try that.

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Botswana to Zambia
Rented car from South Africa
Dutch passports

Overall: 1.5 hours at 11.45am on a Tuesday.
Total costs: around 100 USD for everything concerning the car + 20 USD for the services of somebody who helped us. Visa was for free.

Steps:
1. Health port: get a little white paper with a stamp, see picture. You need to hand that in at the Zambian Immigration.
2. Enter the immigration building
3. Immigration and customs from botswana side, make sure you get the exit papers of the car
4. Immigration Zambia: free visa, got it quickly
5. Customs of Zambia: give your exit papers from the car. They will give you some papers concerning clearing the car.

From here on we got some help from a guy called Jonathan (works for the car insurance company). The lady at the customs ‘assigned’ us to him.

6. Stamp those papers you got from customs at interpol. Interpol is in a different building, a little further.
7. Go back to the customs, you will register the car (IBDF) by yourself in computers in front of counters 22-23
8. Go to the car insurance building (next to the ATM) there you fill in the African Grey Insurance paperwork. Costs for Toyota Hilux: 765 Kwacha.
9. With the car insurance, the interpol stamp and the IDBF, back to customs. Finally getting the car cleared (intergrated border declaration form).
10. Paying all the taxes at the counter next to counter 24. Here Jonathan paid everything for us upfront. You need to pay carbon tax and bridge toll. Total: 315 + 450 kwacha
11. Go to counter 17 to pay for another toll (20 USD), not exactly sure what it was for.
12. Go to the R.T.S.A. Counter to get the toll registration form, you show your receipt so you don’t pay again.
13. Back to the car insurance building for getting the sticker for your front window and paying Jonathan back for all the things the paid for us (+ 20USD for his services). We decided to pay him in USD, but it is also possible to get kwacha at the ATM and pay in kwacha.

The help of Jonathan was not really necessary but it made it more convenient and he was a nice guy, not like the ones standing outside.

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Take care to have the detail on your paper of Zambian revenue authority : carbon tax and council levy). Ours was written only miscellaneous and not the detail. We were arrested at a check point and had to pay it again.

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Plenty already written on this crossing, however, beware of some scammers operating here saying you need reflective stickers on motorcycles. It's BS ignore them.

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All as stated in great detail here, very helpful! Only to add that we are traveling without a Carnet. Temporary import permit for 1 month issued on the spot for free for our truck. No visa fee for US and British passports.

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If you’re leaving Botswana and entering Zambia cycle across the bridge - both the exit from Botswana and entry into Zambia are on the Zambian side, in the same building. Best to cycle on the bridge’s footpath, rather than the road, as there are big tyre-eating expansion gaps on the road.

On a bicycle there are no fees (we didn’t pay a bridge toll). The whole process on UK passports was the quickest border we’ve ever crossed - less than 5 minutes total!

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Set aside enough time for this border crossing - we entered with 4x vehicles - had all the paperwork ready and in place and it still took 3hrs despite the fact that the border was very quiet that day.

Cost for a RSA vehicle and caravan (2 adults and 2 kids)
TIP + levies + carbon tax – ZMK315
Road Tax – US$20
Bridge fee – US$20
3rd party (vehicle and trailer) – US$20

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Botswana to Zambia.
French passport and car.
Easy border.

Everything is in the same building Botswana and Zambia.

Make sure you go in the right building. Not the commercial one. It's the one on the right side.

Botswana :
1-Immigration
2-custom (Stamp CPD if needed or show them the TIP)
Easy and quick everything done in 10mn.

Zambia :
1- Immigration (They gave only 1 month. You will have to extend it later if you need it)
2 - Custom (if you have the CPD you can directly go to the Interpol office at the police building number 5 outside the main building.)
3 - Interpol (they only stamped our CPD without watching the car. Looks like it depend who you meet and the mood of the guy, they may check inside the car)
4 - back to the customs. They will finish to fill the CPD.
5 - Insurance. Outside of the building. It's a bit of a joke but seems you don't have the choice. 164 Kwacha for one month (3rd part insurance) . Only in cash.
6 - back to the main building, Road Tax desk 20 dollars (only $). Can pay by card.
7 - Carbon tax 264 Kwacha for our Land Rover (be careful they try to charge you more and double the price...) Same desk you will pay for the council 50 Kwacha and the Bridge toll 350K or 15 dollars. Bridge toll can be payed by card but the rest in cash.

You have an ATM outside the building.

Lots of fixers outside but you really don't need them. You olso must have a reflection stickers at the front (white) and the back (red) of your car and if you have a left hand drive you need a stickers too(LHD)... You can buy everything at the border but they charge a lot. You can negociate or buy this before the border 😉 or do you own stickers.

Took us 2hours for both side. Easy, nothing to be afraid of. ENJOY ZAMBIA!

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Bots - Zam

For Swiss-People it is still 25USD / pp for the visa.

Everything else is already written here.

Carbontax: Beware uf Paul ;-) At the end we paid 264K for a LandRover
Concil: 50K
Bridge Toll: 350K or 15$ - so better pay in $
Road Tax: 20$

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Very modern and big border crossing. Should be very quick and easy but ours took hours as there was a huge queue and only 1 person working at botswana customs, however I don't think it's always like that!
MAKE SURE if there's anything in your fridge at all you'd be sad to lose, either cook it or hide it. Of course meat is obvious but they also confiscated all our fruit and vegetables and tried for the dairy too. Botswana price has gone up from 50 to 150pula - I think for insurance/tax whatever. Also need to pay the kazangula Bridge fee.

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Modern building, well organised. Straight forward with exit, entry and Carnet.
Everything can be paid for by card.
Do not believe the Punters before the bridge who say you cannot pay by card and must by Pula from them.
The guy who searches your car keen to find something with ‘What can we do about this’, keen for a present.
Otherwise a breeze. One of the better border posts in Africa.

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Just crossed from Zambia to Botswana. Very straight forward and simple.
Don’t believe to touts before the bridge telling you you cannot pay with card and MUST get souls from them.
You can pay for everything with card.
The U retook car search did a thorough search and keen for a present. Easily dealt with.
Altogether very straight forward.

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Back from Zambia to Botswana.
Fastest and easiest border crossing ever in Afrika!
10:00 am on Monday, absolutely nobody crossing this border.
30 minutes in total!
Obviously, they removed all fixers and moneychangers from the border as well.
What a pleasant surprise.

After the entrance you have to stop at a small building to the left (formerly health check), but they just give you a small paper.
Than you just make the round in the main building:
- immigration Zambia
- customs Zambia
- immigration Botswana
- customs Botswana
Here you will have to pay the following:
- bridge fee, 200 Pula
- road safety fund, 50 P
- insurance, 150 P,
- road transport permit, 270 P
all with credit card!

Before the bridge in Zambia somebody tried to stop us, telling us that they don't take credit cards in Botswana. It's not true, so just ignore him. He was running behind us, so hit the gas and drive on!

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From BOTS to ZAM
More or less as described before.
ATM was not working, so we changed 50 USD with the money changers, but there is also an exchange office!

Steps BOTS:
- immigration
- customs

Steps ZAM:
- immigration (no visa fees for EU citizens anymore!)
- customs
- Interpol (Building 5)
- customs
- pay road tax (20 USD)
Important: they will ask and put the places you want to visit on this paper, so make it as far as possible! The road tax will NOT be affected! But I was once asked by police why I deviated from the route indicated!
- Pay bridge toll (15 USD), carbon tax (330 Kwacha) and council levy (50 Kwacha), all at the last counter!
We only paid 15 USD for the bridge, I don't know why!

We didn't buy insurance at the border, nobody stopped us till Livingstone!

In general, everybody is very friendly and polite.

A lot of fixers hanging around. Not aggressive, but still a bit annoying!

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The one stop border post for crossing the border from BOTSWANA into ZAMBIA is now on the Zambian side, also exiting Botswana.

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NOTE: KAZA Visa valid only for entry in the Vic Falls area. Any other border post you need to pay again.

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Leaving Bots to return to Zam

Again, relatively quick and painless.
Bots Customs said we should have been given a TIP for the vehicle on entry. We didn’t have one (entered Bots twice in the last month and never given one!), so he just checked something on his computer and just waved us through.
Entering Zam they checked our PCR test. We paid 450ZMW for the bridge toll plus 50ZMW for a council levy. Card payment possible although we paid cash to try and speed up the process!

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All well described by others. Can only reiterate that this is now a fancy new relatively well organised border crossing, plus a small warning…
Guy on Zam side tried to get us to change our kwacha saying that we needed pula to pay for the bridge. We ignored him and could of course pay using Visa card (200 pula). Took ages though as their computer system was playing up and kept saying the payment hadn’t gone through, even though the card machine had said ‘approved’. We refused to swipe again and after 30-40 minutes of waiting it finally updated and recognised that the payment had actually gone through.
Overall, pretty painless compared to many border crossings!

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Easiest border we took in Afrika! Everything is brand new and well organized.

From Zambia to Botswana you can change your money before entering the bridge at local guys. These guys will say the bridge fee is 220 Pula but it's 150. They also say you cannot pay with card but that is not correct. You pay at the Botswana customs after stamping your visa.

Motor vehicle insurance, road safety fund and transport permit single is 256 Pula in total.

Both sides know well about the Carnet procedure.

For families, make sure you have birth certificates! Otherwise they won't let you enter... We had them but I know another family who were declined...

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From Botswana to Zambia...

It was very quiet when we were here around lunch time. Some counters we not manned and we had to go to the "commercial" building. That's the building for the trucks.

When you drive over the bridge you can overtake the trucks. Sometimes the road only had one lane, so take care you don't get stuck in between trucks.

Both the Botswana and Zambian border are in the same building, but some things you have to do outside this building.

Exiting Botswana is easy. It's free.
1. Immigration will check your passport.
2. Customs will stamp your Carnet de Passages.

Entering Zambia is more challenging but you don't need an fixer.

1. The health counter will check and register your Covid PCR-test. No costs involved. A PCR test can be taken near the weight bridge in Kasane. Read the instructions how to do that in iOverlander.
2. The next counter is the road police. Nobody there, so we skipped it.
3. Pay the road tax at the RTSA counter. We paid US$20.
4. The next counter is called "Immigration extensions". This counter can be skipped.
5. The next counter is called "Immigration". Buy your KAZA visa for US$50 per person. Children are free for Zambia. Beware that you need a visa for the children when you also want to enter Zimbabwe (US$30 for a single entry).
6. Then there is the "Customs" counter. If you have an Carnet de Passage they will send you to Interpol in another building. It's called "Car inspection". No signs from Interpol. Some questions were asked, some things registers in their computer and we got an stamp on the back of the slip of the Carnet. No costs involved.
7. Back to the "Customs" counter and they will stamp the Carnet de Passage. No costs involved.
8. At the last counter you have to pay "Carbon tax" and "Bridge toll". Here is the "ugly fat" guy called Paul. The bridge toll is cheaper in US$ so we paid the US$20. Then Paul has some difficulty to understand that tourists also exit an country and because of that he wants to charge 660 kwatcha. When you only travel through the country (transit) and don't stay somewhere the carbon tax is 660 kwatcha. When you visit as a tourist and tell him you go to Livingstone (for example) then it's 330 kwatcha. If Paul doesn't want to cooperate, complain at the Customs office (previous counter) because they will correct him. There is an ATM outside with kwatchas. The fee for the ATM is 50 kwatcha.
9. Congratulations you passed all the counters. But there is more...
10.You have to buy third party liability insurance. I think there is only one building where you can buy this. It's next to the ATM. They don't have an COMESA insurance. We already got an insurance for all Africa so we took the gamble and skipped this. No one checked. We were not checked at one of the road blocks to Livingstone.
11. Now you can drive to the exit gate. Be prepared that at least three different officials will approach you at the same time. One will check the Carnet de Passage, bridge toll and carbon tax. Another will check the road toll. The last guy will ask for the council levy of 50 kwatcha.
12. ... and now you are really free to go.

You can do it easily without touts. It can takes some time.

Road tax: US$20
(KAZA UNI)VISA: US$50 per adult (
Carbon tax: US$20 for an 3.0 liter car
Bridge toll: US$20
ATM charge: 50 kwatcha (or change at one of the touts)
Road toll: 330 kwatcha for an 4x4
Council levy: 50 kwatcha

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Zambia -> Botswana

The custom buildings are after the bridge. First there is a small build one the left: Medical check point. Here have to show your passport and get your pcr test stamped. Then your drive to the main custom building. Everything is in one hall and there are 4 offices.
1 Emigration: get your passport stamped in 5 min
2 Custom Zam: get your CDP stamped
3 Immigration: no form needed. Just show your passport they will stamp it. No fee. Thats all
4 custom Bots. Get your carne stamped. Pay bridge fee (150P) and pay 256 p for national road safety fund, motor vehicle insurance and road transport permit. You can pay both by credit card. So you dont need an atm or to exchange money. Done in less then 1 hour. Fasted border crossing so far in whole Africa

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Botswana to Zambia (new bridge)

Note both Bots and Zam are in the same building now, you can drive straight over the bridge.

Process fairly straightforward following windows left to right (other info posted recently here still valid).

A few watchouts:
- You need USD to pay many of these fees (about $40 worth), this can be bought at the border from a bureau de change just outside the border building
- The Interpol office is basically a scam… SA vehicles need a police clearance certificate (not an official SA police document), however if you don’t have it, they can ignore this for a “fee”
- Insurance, as with many other countries, they force you to buy the insurance with a sticker - despite having your own already. I prefer not to have issues with the road blocks (of which there are not many any more in Zambia post elections!) so I bought, but unclear what the real price is. I definitely paid too much K750, but suspect real price is closer to K200. Lots of fixers around that might actually be helpful in this regard but as usual be cautious with them.

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We crossed from Zambia into Botswana today. As you have to do the Covid Test in Livingston and you have to collect the results after 9 in the morning, it is very quiet before lunch. It was probably the easiest border crossing we did in Africa now. You go from counter to counter and everyone knows what to do! We did not have many Pula and the people before crossing the bridge told us you can only pay in Pula wich is correct. But if the cash machine works you are fine with that as well. I don't know what happens if you have no cash and no connection but don't change at a bad rate. For whatever reason we did not have to pay for the bridge (which is 20$) and not for the visa (30$ pp). We only payed for the road and for custom Together 512 Pula.
We left the place in under one hour. But there where no Truck drivers as they needed a bit longer from Livingston.

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Could do this boarder on the new bridge!
So it is a bit confusing due the fact going out of botsuana and check in to Zamiba is in the same building. Was scared to miss botsuana boarder post but you have to go over the bridge first and than you can check out.
1. immigration
2 check out cdp
3 immigration zambia
3 interpol check car outside of the building
4. Custom check in cdp
5. pay toll boot 20 dollar
5.pay bridge 20 us dollar
6 pay carbom tax same counter tried to cash me out due to he told me 660 but i know it was around 300 for a 3.8 liter engine . so it was 330kwacha he sad i need to pay double because i am leave. So dont trust this fat ugly man
7 insurance bought outside at professional insurance
9 drove like 300 m bought council levy for 50
10. Free to go
11 bought comesa in livingstone

Ps there is a atm outside

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There is no need to use the fixers here, they are persistent and followed us around telling us things that were incorrect or didn't apply to us. When you go from one desk to another, just politely ask the desk attendant where you should go next.
Bridge toll $20
Road toll $20
Carbon tax 240 kwa (for our car) in kwacha ONLY, no card payment
Council levy 50 kwa
ATM and bureau de change on site.

They wanted us to get 3rd party insurance despite us telling them we have one that is valid all the way to Kenya. They said we'd be fined by police if caught for not displaying a disk. So far 2 checkpoints, only 1 asked for insurance details. They waved us through after showing our confirmation letter with policy number.
The whole process took us 2 hours.

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Kazungula Border Process
We crossed from Botswana to Zambia at the Kazungula Bridge crossing. As this is new I thought it may be useful to share the process. Note that we were driving a UK registered vehicle with a Carnet de Passage.
When you arrive from Botswana across the bridge you drive to the new single-site border crossing building. There will be lots of touts trying to sell you their service to assist you through the process. Some are “official” and free (expecting a nice tip) and others will just expect lots of money.
There is a cash point outside the main hall to the left where you can withdraw Zambian Kwatcha for the various fees.
1. On entering the building, the Botswana immigration desk is on the left where your passport gets stamped out of Botswana.
2. From Immigration, you go to Botswana customs, just to the right of the Immigration desk to get the vehicle CdP exit stamp.
3. Next you cross the hall to the Zambia immigration desk where you get your entry visa, US$50 per visa for a single entry.
4. Once you have your visa, you have to move your car up the car park to the Vehicle inspection point where the Zambian official will check for correct vehicle paperwork. Once he is satisfied that the paperwork matches the car you go back into the hall to the Zambia Customs desk.
5. At the Zambia Customs they entry stamp the Carnet
6. Once finished with customs, you have to go to the revenue desk to Pay Bridge Toll US$15
7. Next to the Bridge Toll payment desk is the Vehicle Carbon desk where you pay a carbon tax for the vehicle, in our case 240 Zambian Kwatcha
8. You have now finished with the border crossing hall and have to go outside and up beyond the vehicle inspection point to pay road toll of US$20
9. There will be someone outside who will now sell you the insurance for the vehicle. I can’t remember how much this was but we bought 3 months insurance for the vehicle and got a sticker on the windscreen as evidence of insurance.
10. One requirement in Zambia, so they say, is to have reflective stickers, red at the rear and white at the front, on your bumpers and there will be someone there to sell these to you and to fix them on your number. Depending on how hard you negotiate, you can apparently get these for about 50 Kwatcha, but we didn’t try that hard.
11. You can now drive to the exit gate where there will be a final inspection to check all paperwork.
12. Once cleared to leave, there is a Council levy of K50 to pay. Then you can drive out of the border crossing compound and be on your way!

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Zambia to Botswana - the bridge is open so a quick entry but next to the PCR you also need a rapid test now which is free at the border and takes 10 minutes

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Since the new bridge and facilties have opened pricing has increased dramatically so be aware.
The so called scam carbon tax the government is charging cost me 480kw for a 2.4cc diesel vehicle, the real mad cost is crossing the bridge at 450kw. plus the $20 toll fee.
Got insurance for 162kw but of course they didn't have change which is done on purpose. I can't comment yet on the insurance scam but feel the people reporting it have been scammed by the insurance people as they are paid commission.
Sadly overall Zambia is not becoming viable as Tourist destination when crossing borders, considering these fees, fuel and camping/accomadation Zambia is not really a wow destination like mozam, zimbabwe and definitely nowhere near as cool as Malawi, the borders are also exspensive.
you can buy a Airtel sim for Kw10 in Livingston near Checkers or where ever, when you activate it you get 5gigs

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With the new bridge and faculties now open the costs have risen dramatically, average car for bridge is 350kw, for cars and Van's its 450kw, carbon tax scam is 480kw and $20 toll fee.
Sadly I can see this affecting tourism badly in Zambia.....this is how corruption begins when everyone wants a slice of the takings.
I was from RSA and feel it's time vehicles from other southern African countries get charged in same value ie reciprocal agreements, like for like
Think I'll approach my MP and he can push this agenda forward.
Another let down is poor value for money in Zambian across the board, from food to camping

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Crossed from Zambia to Botswana.
Zambia: many Fixers, some of them very persistent and trying to confuse you, no need for their services.
Immigration and Customs is located as stated before. The customs office looked strange at first as this is just one big office with some office tables around. Ask and they will help right away.
We did not pay any Council fees as stated before, no one asked for it.
Make sure you pay the ferry tickets in ZK. You can pay in USD too but that would have been 10$ - in ZK we paid about 2$.
The Kazangula Bridge isn't operating yet and rumors are it will still take until mid 2021.
Botswana:
Very easy. No fixers. First you stop at the Foot & mouth check point, show your negative covid-19 certificate, provide your contact information and where you've been the past 14 days.
Immigration would ask the same. Everyone very friendly.
Fees for the vehicle, insurance and road use can be paid with credit card, no need to exchange money at the border before.

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Zambia to Botswana - very easy and relaxed border crossing. On the Zambian side there any many “fixers”, no need for any of them.

1. Pass all the trucks and park in front of the gate.
2. Walk through the small gate towards the customs/immigration building on the left hand side, the exit is at the back of the small building.
3. Get passport stamped then go into the office behind you to get the Carnet stamped.
4. After this, walk to the next building where you will pay Council fees (paid 30kw).
5. Proceed to the 3rd building where you will find the pontoon ticket office. Purchase your ticket there for 150kw. We also have a trailer but no extra fees.
6. After this, return to your vehicle and show the gate personal your Carnet and proceed to the pontoon.
7. Botswana side very simple, no fixers around. Get temperature taken for corona virus and they check where you have been in the past 21 days. Enter the building to get passport stamped. (South African and Canadian, we requested and got 90 days free)
8. Next pay:
Motor Vehicle Insurance 50BWP
National Road Safety 50BWP
Road Transport Permit 65BWP
We have a South African registered vehicle and paid with MasterCard.
9. Get vehicle and proceed - we didn’t get checked by any customs agents. Stand in foot and mouth disinfectant and you are done.

Total time 1 hour.

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We entered with two South African motorcycles. No need for fixer.
There is a board with all fees.

Ferry:
motorcycle 50kw
car 100kw
4x4 150kw
truck less than 5t 175kw
as mentioned a bridge is under construction.

Carbon tax:
0-1500cc 70kw
1501-2000cc 140kw
2001-3000cc 200kw
3001-4000cc 275kw

Toll fee:
20$ they only accept us dollars

3rd party insurance (SCAM)
You have to get it at the boarder. Police will check for it at the check points before Livingston. As others have mentioned before when getting Comesa we found out our insurance (General Aliance baught at boarder) was fake so we had to buy it again in Lusaka. I spoke with the lady from General alliance insurance, they do not sell at the boarder. Only way to ensure you getting a legit document would be to call the insurance company. The number is on the form (legit or fake) that the guys in the insurance booths fill out and verify if the document colour and details are correct and if that insurer sells at the boarder. Simcards can be pirchased at the boarder.

Council levey

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Coming from Botswana into Zambia
with TIP in an Eastafrican registered Landcruiser

Botswana out easy: Passport exit stamp and TIP rendered at the Customs counter

Ferry: 150 ZKW, changed money for a good rate near to Spar in Kasane. I asked around and found some tourguide who changed with me against Pula.

Zambia Border:
1. Immigration with Passport (50$ for Germans) single entry, got 30 days extension possible up to 3 month in all bigger cities)
Passport counter sent me to the next counter
2. Application for TIP
On the application state a destination in Zambia. I mentioned that I travel to Malawi. Don’t do that. They issued me a transit permit only valid for 5 days and the carbon tax doubles then. I had to turn around at the carbon tax counter and start the whole process again.
TIP application counter sent me to Carbon Tax counter
3. Carbon Tax according to your vehicles capacity payable in ZKW
Carbon Tax counter sent me to Roadtoll and Council Fee offices, next to each other
4. Council Fee 30 ZKW
5. Roadtoll depending on you registration payable in $
6. TIP (free of charge)
7. Insurance, see picture for correct price. I did it just outside the gate.
Mine was correct, I took 3 month for 100 ZKW more than the monthly rate of 163 ZKW and bought an additional Comesa for 3 month for 127 ZKW only for Malawi at their headquarter in Lusaka. I phoned the Number stated on the policy to find out if the insurance is correct and where I can find other branches of them for the Comesa. Comesa was only possible in Lusaka.
The Comesa for Malawi was much cheaper than the insurance directly at the border in Malawi would have been.

All my papers have been checked at various police roadblocks. Roadtoll paper got stamped at all Roadtoll Stations.

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Please take notice: this is what happened to us.
Like we noted before we got ourselves a mandatory insurance at the border in Zambia. In Lusaka we wanted to buy a Comesa insurance since this was not possible at the border. We did this at Innovation Insurance. At the border we also had an insurance just for Zambia from Innovation Insurance. At the office in Lusaka they told us that our Zambian insurance from the border was a total scam. Innovation does not sell insurances at the border. This means that we were not insured at all. In Lusaka we got ourselves a proper insurance. So if you get an insurance at the border from Innovation Insurances there is a great chance this is a scam.

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Crossing the border from Botswana to Zambia is very chaotic. You need to pay five times and there are three currencies involved (Pula's, Kwachas and USD). The chance of getting ripped off is very realistic. On top there are lots of touts offering and pushing for taking their services. The crossing might be done by yourself independently but taking one these touts is very temping to help you cross the border. We found a very reliable one. He was recommended by other travelers. He helped us in a great way. Everything that needs to be payed in Kwachas he payed for us because you cannot get Kwachas in Botswana except with those touts offering a bad rate. After crossing the border we withdrew Kwachas from an ATM and payed him back. Our left over Pula's we changed to Kwachas with him at a one to one rate. He was asking 20 USD for his service but we negotiated 15 USD. Only the fact that he payed the ferry in Kwachas for us instead of USD saved us 10 USD because of the bad exchange rate for dollars.
In case you also want use his service, his name is Noble Kalunga. We called him the day before to make the arrangements (telnr +260-976511330) or WhatsApp.

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Be carrefull, we took money from the customs ATM side Zambia to pay taxes in kwacha and our card was hacked. We did not use our card elsewhere in Zambia. Three days later, purchases were made from the United States : 2 dollars for the first purchase, then 80 dollars in a drugstore which was refused by my bank before I oppose it.

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Crossing from Zambia to Botswana

Ferry to Botswana is 150 ZMW (cash). They also ask for council fee, but we didn't pay.

On Botswana site you have to pay Insurance, National Road Safety Fund and Road Permit. For a german 4x4 (Ford Ranger) 256 Pula. All can be paid by Credit Card.

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This comment agrees with Furgonauta however also contains additional/different requirements for South African registered vehicles and South African citizens:

1. Botswana side:
- after getting your passport stamped, and receiving a small ticket for your vehicle, proceed to customs counter and obtain a customs import/export form for your vehicle (free).
- drive to gate and provide above documents plus vehicle registration papers to official before proceeding.

2. Zambian side
- Get passport stamped
- Vehicle was inspected by police officer. An original police clearance was asked for, which the officer verified and stamped on the back. He told us he would not have let us through without this police clearance certificate!
- Then go inside building, fill in book and get Vehicle inspection form
- Vehicle inspection form verified by official at left window
- Proceed to back of building and out into customs Asycuda hall to obtain Temporary Import Permit (TIP) (free), also called customs import permit. Complete book and get the TIP form.
- Take TIP to cash office in same building to pay carbon tax 200 ZK for 3.2 diesel.

Expect 3rd party insurance to cost ZMK162 for 30 days.

This border is cash only, be prepared before you reach border. Road tax must be paid in USD, all other payments in ZMK. No ZMK available in Kasane. Change at the border with the touts. We did it just before embarking onto ferry. We did it at a rate of 1P to 1ZMK.

TIP and passport is valid for stay of 30 days. Carbon Tax, Council levy and Road tax are for a 90 day period. You can extend your passport stay and TIP for another 30 days twice (i.e. 90 days in total). Go to nearest Zambian Revenue Authority office to extend stay.

First extend passport stay at immigration office then go to
customs for the extension of TIP for vehicle. Must be done before stay expires, otherwise fine of ZMK900/day you exit late.

3rd party insurance would also need to be extended.

General Alliance Insurance is not fake. They just don't have offices in Livingstone where you can add the COMESA onto. You need to add COMESA to your 3rd party insurance with the same insurer. We can recommend Nico Insurance. Call them ahead of time and they will meet you at the border to give you the 3rd party insurance. You can then go with them to their offices in Livingstone to add the COMESA. Telephone number +260 223 320 751 / +260 979 520 978 email [email protected] Nico Insurance is also represented in Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi if COMESA extensions are needed.

Took a draining 3.5 hours to get through. Not a pleasant experience.

Remember, the above is for a RSA registered vehicle and RSA citizens, in addition to the above.

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Bots to Zim with motorbike

ferry costa 50 pula per bike.
make sure you have usd and kwecha to pay all the fees and insurance. usd to kwecha change is really bad at the border so change in kasane.

20usd road tax (give it a try to not pay that as bikes seem not really need to pay that)
50usd for kaza visa
163 kwecha for insurance
70 kwecha for carbontax
20 kwecha for council tax

easy and pretty fast, no waiting for ferry as there is always space for bikes. the insurance and change guys are nice and friendly. they show you the way wont ask for money.

att: the General Alliance Insurance you get there is a fake so look for another company. we got stopped by the police on the way to livingstone who checked insurance.

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NB: as of 01 August 2019, all Botswanan borders will no longer accept foreign currency for road tax payments. We paid 165 Pula for our 4x4. Fairly easy crossing from Zambia to Botswana. We paid 150 Kwacha for the Zambian ferry. There were 2 operating. Total 1.5 hours start to finish. Bridge only due for completion 2021.

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Border crossing Zambia to Botswana.
Quite easy and quick.
Got exit stamps in passports and carnet dp. They also wanted to us to pay council fee, but we just said we have no need for council fee.

Tickets for the ferry can be bought at fixed prices. Ferry leaves every 10 minutes, ship can take 1 big truck and 1 smaller vehicle (like our LandCruiser).

At Botswana side our is quite straightforward.
We had to get all our shoes through decontamination because of foot and mouth disease. Also no meat is allowed.
Insurance is included with tax and since other things.

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Going from Botswana to Zambia.
Bots side quick and easy. Ferry was pretty efficient, cost 150 kwatcha.
Zambia side was a bit more involved. We were met by a runner on the bots side, who wouldn't take no for an answer. To be fair he was helpful and we got through quicker with his help. Take careful note of the costs (esp third party insurance) listed on the forms at the border post. Our guy arranged insurance for us and tried to charge us 750 kwatcha, when the correct price is 162! We flatly refused to pay and in the end a guy from the insurance company came over to see what the fuss was about, randomly signed our insurance receipt, told us he'd changed something (he hadn't) and told our guy to charge us 162 kwatcha.
Our guy then tried to cheat on the exchange rate. We'd had enough by this point and had our paperwork back in our hands, so we paid him including his service fee at 10 kwatcha/USD (which was more than fair) and drove off.
A very helpful car guard had tipped us off that he would try to rip us off so we were forewarned.
Probably worth getting a runner on balance, but don't be afraid to stand your ground and don't pay more than the costs listed on the forms (plus a reasonable fee for the runner).
Took a bit more than 3 hours in total to get through.

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very quick border.
atm still not working on Zambia site.
Pay for the ferry in kwaha because in dollar is too expensive. You have to talk with locals to get good rate to exchange it.

On Botswana site they didn't check our car even for food.
Buy BTCMobile simcard. We bought orange. No internet at all. Sometimes "edge" but I saw very often BTC signal.

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Zambia to Botswana
Zambia side (30 minutes): exit stamps at customs and immigration are easy, ignore all the fixers. Interpol clearance before carnet exit stamp, had to wait for this guy.... There is an ATM on this side.

Ferry (15 minutes) - ticket office last building on the left. Car is 150kw. Ferry was fast, 10 minute wait, 5 minute ride. Crossed on a Sunday.

Botswana side (15 minutes)
Visa - ask for 90 days if you want, otherwise you will get less (first we got 20 days).
Customs - you pay for the road permits in one go: motor vehicle insurance, national road safety fund, road transport permit. In total we paid (weight 2300): 256 pula with card.
Vet check - they checked for vegetables and meat, so better to do groceries after the border!

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Easy borser crossing from Zambia to Botwana. Ferry was 50 kwacha per motorbike. In Botswana paid 320pula for tax, insurance etc. paid by card.

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One of the easiest borders we have crossed! Took an hour from start to finish. What a pleasure entering Botswana where you pay for TIP, road tax and insurance all in one go!

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Traveling with three motorbikes with cdp from Zambia to Botsuana.
Very easy border crossing.
10 USD per bike for ferry boat.
320 Pula road tax and insurance per bike in Botsuana (card possible), no more money needed.
They are building a bridge, the poles allready stand. so enjoy the Zambesi ferry as long it ist still existing!

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Exit Zambia - Enter Botswana

On the Zambian side, immigrations and customs are in the same building on your left right after the gate. Park before the gate and get your exit stamp into the passport and stamp the Carnet out. Then walk down towards the river - 3rd or 4th building on the same side (right after the police station) is the ticket office for the ferry. We paid 50 Zambian Kwacha per motorcycle and rider.
Now you can pass the gate and get in front of the line of trucks to get on the ferry which is actually not even a ferry, but the mobile floating platform.

On the side of Botswana, everything is in the same building. Get your immigration stamp to the passport, get your Carnet stamped in. Don’t forget to get a small paper slip with stamps from both officers: you will need to show that at the gate when exiting the territory.
Then get to the small window in the wall where the cashier is and pay for insurance and taxes. For two motorcycles we paid a total of 647 pulas. They accepted payment by card.

All easy and relaxed, except waiting in the queue to the cashier was a bit annoying as it was very crowded and hot.

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Busy but not too complicated border. No fixer needed and officials were kind to help. Ferry costs 200 Pula or 150Kwa. ATM was working and visa can be paid in Kwacha. Carbon tax needs to be paid in US Dollars. Border Crossing took us about 1 hour.

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Many thanks for the description below; very helpful! We crossed this border in October 2017 and had a similar experience. Since we don't have a carnet, we needed to obtain a Customs Import Permit (CIP, same as a TIP). Moreover, they were out of stickers for the Zambia/Zimbabwe visa, so we paid 80$ for a double entry visa (while crossing the border to Zimbabwe we paid another 30$ for a single entry visa). For the rest the procedure was similar and there is definitely no need for a fixer; you will figure it out!

Since third party insurance is privatised, this is the only part of the process were you have options and you have to get it right after the border. We bought our Comesa insurance in Livingstone and note that some only sell Comesa when you have their third party insurance, so you can already check at the border whether they have an office in Livingstone.

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Crossing from Botswana to Zambia supposed to be a challenge without fixer, we could say that our experience with carnet and european vehicle was one step further thant Namibia or Botswana, but pretty easy. Here our experience:

EXISTING BOTSWANA:
Before the border post there was a line of 3km of heavy vehicles waiting on the side of the road for crossing. As private vehicles have preference we overtaked them until the barrier.

At the border post there is only one building with migration and customs:
Migration there is the first two counters inside the building where they stamped strait our passport out (no forms available/necessary) and provide the Gate Recipe (on this paper we collected also the customs stamp for the gate control).
Next three counters are for customs, they just took the CDP, passport and gate recipe, stamped out the carnet, the gate recipe and give back the passport. No charges at all.
Just drove out the gate with exchange of the gate recipe to the guard.

RIVER CROSSING:
A few meters after gate are the ferrys dock, suppose to be two boats, one belonging to each country, for us it was only the Zambian working. By this time we realized that the price of 150 ZMW was sensible cheaper than 200 P or 30 USD, so we negotiated the exchange to one of the multiple trout around us 500 P to 460 ZMW, ignore all the other 15 fixers trying to guide us, take care of our vehicle or selling expensive insurance, reflectors, warning triangles… etc.

When the ferry arrives should fit one truck and maximal two cars, here the ferry operators are the only authority. Once the vehicle loaded we paid the 150ZMW at the counter under the ferry cabin and take the recipe. Crossing takes only 5 minutes, so we was almost at the other side for disembarking and dive the 100m to the Zambian barrier gate.

Note: A new bridge is under construction on the river, so maybe next time we do not need the ferry anymore.

ENTRY ZAMBIA:
The building right of the barrier contains migrations and customs. The counter right for migrations offered us the KAZA Uni-Visa valid for multi entry between Zambia and Zimbabwe during 30 days for 50USD.

On next counter left the official provide us a paper with all the taxes we have to pay depending of our vehicle (copy on the pictures). Crossing inside the counter to the back counter there is another official who will stamped our carnet in. Than we only needed to pay the taxes:

- Carbon Tax: backside of the customs is connected to another room with a payment window. The fee depends of our motor size, in our case between 2.001 and 3.000 c.c. we paid 200 ZMW (payment only in ZMW we changed before) an got the recipe.

- Kazungula District Council Levy: Exiting the customs building, next oneroom building on direction back to the river is where we paid it and take the recipe. 30 ZMW for a Landcruiser or similar.

- Road Tax: Is the last building direction to the river, we fill in the details of our vehicle and show the carnet for preparing the document. The fee depends of the veicle’s country registration, here Southafrican or no African vehicles get the lowest rate with 20 USD.

- Insurance: We can already drive out the gate showing the bunch of recipes to the official who open it for us, parked 50 meters after the gate and buy the insurance from one of the marine containers on the right side of the road. Price look fix with 103 ZMW for thirty part insurance. They informed us that no COMESA is available at the border.

Behind the Migration building there is an ATM, but it was not working. And after the barrier must be a bureau of exchange, but we did not need as we negotiated a good rate with one of the fixers before the ferry. Rest of our Pulas we changed in Livingstone at a better rate.
All the officials was VERY friendly and helpful during all the process, giving informations and keeping away to the fixers if necessary.

Wellcome to Zambia!!

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