Lusaka, Zambia – Proflight Zambia has announced a significant enhancement to its domestic schedule, increasing the frequency of its Livingstone–Lusaka route from once daily to twice daily, effective 1 April 2025, as safari season starts up. 

LIVINGSTONE–LUSAKA FREQUENCY INCREASE

The Safari Schedule features:

• An early afternoon service departing Livingstone at 12:20, with an arrival in Lusaka at approximately 13:30. Flights from Lusaka to Livingstone will run at 10:35 for arrival at 11:45.

• An early evening service departing Livingstone at 18:20, arriving in Lusaka around 19:30. Flights from Lusaka to Livingstone will run at 16:35 to arrive at 17:45.

This enhancement is particularly significant as it facilitates seamless connectivity for travellers arriving in Livingstone from Cape Town via direct services and those connecting through Johannesburg. 

The improved frequency reduces transit time and aligns with the peak flow at Victoria Falls, ensuring passengers have maximum time to experience the natural wonder and its associated adventure activities – including white-water rafting, helicopter tours, and wildlife excursions in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.

SAFARI SEASON FLIGHT SCHEDULE

Alongside the Livingstone–Lusaka enhancement, Proflight Zambia’s comprehensive safari season timetable, is designed to support travel into Zambia’s key attractions:

Lusaka–Mfuwe 

• Flights on Fridays from 06:55 to arrive at 08:05; Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, departing at 10:35 to arrive at 13:30; and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, departing at 18:20 to arrive at 17:45. 

Livingstone – Mfuwe 

• Flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (via Lusaka) and returning on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. 

Mfuwe is the gateway to South Luangwa, renowned as the birthplace of the walking safari. This schedule is tailored to enable optimal use of daylight for game drives and walking safaris, offering travellers exceptional opportunities to encounter leopards, elephants, and endemic species such as Thornicroft’s giraffe.

ADDITIONAL CONNECTIVITY TO TOURISM DESTINATIONS

Proflight Zambia’s Lusaka services also connect travellers with other enticing destinations:

• Mansa: Offering access to Lake Bangweulu—one of Africa’s largest wetlands—Mansa is ideal for birdwatching, fishing, and boat tours. The diverse wildlife makes it a must-visit for nature enthusiasts.

• Kasama: Kasama provides visitors with memorable experiences at sites such as Chishimba Falls and the Mwela Rock paintings. It is also the gateway to  Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world and known for its fishing and snorkelling.

Meeting Traveller Needs with Agility and Reliability

Josias Walubita, Director of Flight Operations at Proflight Zambia, commented: 

“As a proudly Zambian airline that closely monitors seasonal travel trends, we consistently assess our route performance and adapt to meet passenger demand. Increasing the Livingstone–Lusaka frequency gives our customers more flexibility and less transit time. This, along with our detailed safari season timetable, ensures that travellers—from those arriving on our new Cape Town–Livingstone service launched in December 2024 to our long-standing routes—can reach Zambia’s iconic attractions more efficiently.”

“With Victoria Falls at its most dramatic in April and our national parks offering some of the world’s best safari lodges, now is the ideal time for South African travellers to experience Zambia’s unique blend of natural beauty and adventure,” he added.

Passengers are encouraged to secure bookings early via www.flyzambia.com or through their preferred travel agent as demand surges during this peak period.

Flight Schedule:

• Cape Town to Livingstone: Departs 12:00, arrives 14:50 (P0 051)
• Livingstone to Cape Town: Departs 08:10, arrives 11:10 (P0 050)
• Operates Thursdays and Sundays
• Additional Saturday flights: December 1st – January 5th holiday season

“Our timing is specifically designed around the tourism experience,” says Proflight Zambia Director of Flight Operations Captain Josias Walubita. “Passengers can leave Cape Town after breakfast and be at Victoria Falls in time for an afternoon sunset cruise. The morning departure from Livingstone also means Capetonians can be back at their desks before lunch.”

The service offers dual benefits: tourism access to Victoria Falls and enhanced business connectivity to Lusaka, with passengers to Zambia’s capital remaining onboard during a brief Livingstone stopover. The new routing increases seat availability on the popular Lusaka-Cape Town route and features improved baggage allowances.

The Zambian side of Victoria Falls offers unique experiences, including the Devil’s Pool swim (available mid-September to early January), exclusive Livingstone Island tours, and microlight flights over the Falls. 

For those looking to explore further, Livingstone serves as a gateway to Zambia’s pristine safari destinations, with connections available to various wildlife reserves.

South African passport holders benefit from visa-free entry to Zambia, reducing immigration queues. This streamlined access, combined with the new direct flight, makes Victoria Falls more accessible than ever for Cape Town residents.

Early booking incentives are now available.

On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for the second time in two years. This was followed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declaring a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) on August 13, 2024. These declarations were prompted by the emergence of a new strain (clade Ib) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its spread to neighbouring countries.

Tshifhiwa Tshivengwa, Chairperson of the SADC Business Council Tourism Alliance, stated: “We take these declarations seriously and commend the proactive approach of global and regional health authorities. However, it’s crucial to understand that the risk to travellers in Southern Africa remains low. Our member countries are implementing robust measures to manage and mitigate any potential spread of the virus.”

SADC member states have responded swiftly to the situation:

1. South Africa: The Department of Health has reported 24 cases of Mpox (clade IIb) as of August 2024, primarily affecting people who have had physical contact with an infectious person. The country has implemented enhanced surveillance and contact tracing protocols.
2. Botswana: As of August 16, 2024, Botswana has intensified screening for Mpox at selected ports of entry, including Kazungula, Maun airport, and Gaborone Airport, demonstrating proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
3. Angola: As of August 16, 2024, Angola has not registered any cases of Mpox but has reinforced its contingency plan, particularly focusing on border control with the DRC and Congo.
4. Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi: These countries have not reported Mpox cases but have heightened surveillance and preparedness measures.
5. Democratic Republic of the Congo: While experiencing a significant outbreak, the DRC is working closely with WHO and Africa CDC to implement control measures. It’s important to note that typical tourist destinations in Southern Africa are far from affected areas.

The SADC Business Council Tourism Alliance further wishes to clarify its position on Mpox and travel to Southern Africa:

1. Low risk for tourists: The risk of Mpox transmission in Southern African countries remains lower than in many traveller source markets. Typical tourist activities do not put travellers at high risk for contracting Mpox.
2. No travel restrictions: As of August 2024, there are no widespread travel restrictions related to Mpox for Southern African countries. Only Canada has issued a level 2 advisory, simply recommending realistic precautions.
3. Safe tourist activities: Safari and wildlife viewing activities are safe. There is no increased risk of Mpox transmission from being in forests or around wildlife.
4. Proactive management: SADC member states have implemented surveillance, contact tracing, and treatment protocols to effectively manage potential Mpox cases.
5. Economic importance of tourism: Tourism is vital for our economies and conservation efforts. We encourage travellers to maintain their plans to visit our region while staying informed about health guidelines.

Advice for travellers

While we emphasise the low risk, we advise travellers to:

1. Practice good hygiene, including frequent hand washing.
2. Avoid close contact with individuals who appear ill or have visible skin lesions.
3. Stay informed about health guidelines in their specific destination.
4. Seek medical attention if they develop symptoms such as fever or unexplained skin rash.

“We want to reassure our global partners and potential visitors that Southern Africa continues to offer safe, unforgettable experiences,” Tshivengwa added. “Our member countries have taken proactive steps to manage health concerns, ensuring that tourism activities remain low-risk and enjoyable.”

The SADC Business Council Tourism Alliance remains committed to providing accurate, up-to-date information and ensuring a safe, welcoming environment for all who wish to experience the wonders of Southern Africa.

The unveiling of the new tourism destination brand marks a pivotal moment in the region’s journey towards promoting conservation, sustainable tourism, and community empowerment in the respective TFCA components across the five partner countries – Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Spanning an area of approximately 520,000 square kilometres, the KAZA TFCA is the world’s largest terrestrial transfrontier conservation area. The new brand embodies the region’s rich biodiversity, iconic wildlife, vibrant cultures, and the life-giving rivers that connect it all.

“Today marks a defining moment for conservation and sustainable tourism in Africa,” says Dr. Nyambe Nyambe, Executive Director of the KAZA Secretariat. “The ‘Rivers of Life’ brand embodies our unwavering commitment to preserving the extraordinary natural and cultural heritage of the Kavango Zambezi eco-region. It is an invitation to the world to join us on a transformative journey, where the power of unity and collaboration knows no boundaries.”

The new tourism destination brand, developed by The Journey Tourism Consultant and Management, encapsulates a unique value proposition: The Rivers of Life, rich in natural and cultural diversity to share with all who love wildlife without borders.

The visual identity of the new tourism destination brand features a graphic depiction of an elephant, a keystone species whose migratory nature highlights the need for transboundary collaboration among the five KAZA countries.  

Encircling the elephant are dynamic brushstrokes in bold colours – yellow, red, blue, and green – representing the rivers, landscapes, and the vibrant cultures of the KAZA eco-region. Each colour has been carefully chosen to convey a specific aspect of Kavango Zambezi – from the warmth and energy of the African sun and its beautiful sunrises and sunsets to the blue lifeblood of the TFCA, the mighty rivers that sustain wildlife and communities, and the lush green vegetation.

A brand forged through collaboration

The development of the new Kavango Zambezi destination brand has been inclusive and participatory.

The brand launch event was graced by the presence of high-level leadership representatives from all five partner countries, underscoring the strong political commitment to this initiative. Also in attendance were key stakeholders from the tourism industry, conservation organisations, donor agencies, and local community representatives, reflecting the multi-sectoral and collaborative spirit of partnership that birthed the Kavango Zambezi “Rivers of Life” tourism destination brand.

“The journey to this momentous day has been one of extensive consultation, collaboration, and co-creation. Over the past year, we have engaged with a wide spectrum of stakeholders – from government representatives and conservation experts to tourism operators and local community leaders – across all five partner countries. This inclusive approach has ensured that our new brand is a true reflection of the shared values, aspirations, and unique attributes of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area,” explains Dr Nyambe.

The new brand represents a bold vision for the future: To see Kavango Zambezi as a well-known and valued tourism destination actively promoted by the tourism trade and appreciated by local stakeholders who can measurably see the benefits of both conservation and tourism.

To achieve this vision will require the KAZA Secretariat to:

• Follow the five governments’ lead in implementing strategies for ease of access.
• Collaborate with the tourism trade both locally and internationally to:
  • Promote awareness of Kavango|Zambezi.
  • Develop special interest products.
  • Design routes that promote cross-border travel and extend duration of visits.
  • Provide easily accessible information.
• Actively seek to ensure the inclusion of local communities.
• Ensure sustainable conservation, including consumptive use of resources, is appreciated.
• Promote the ideals of eco-tourism.
• Make a conscious contribution to combatting climate change.

“Our new brand is an open invitation to the world to experience the wonders of the Kavango Zambezi landscape,” says Dr. Nyambe. “By visiting Kavango Zambezi, travellers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the raw beauty of the African wilderness while contributing directly to conservation efforts and the well-being of the communities who call this landscape home.”

KAZA TFCA: A new chapter begins

In the coming months, the Kavango Zambezi “Rivers of Life ” brand will be rolled out across various platforms, including brand workshops, social media, and marketing materials. The KAZA Secretariat will work closely with partner organisations to integrate the new brand into their communications and marketing efforts, ensuring a coordinated and impactful brand presence.

As the KAZA TFCA embarks on this new chapter, the organisation remains committed to its core values of conservation, cooperation, and community empowerment. With its new brand as a catalyst, KAZA TFCA further enhances its stature as a leading model for sustainable development in Africa, demonstrating that thriving wildlife, resilient communities, and responsible tourism can coexist in harmony.

For more information about the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and its new destination brand, please visit www.kavangozambezi.org and uncoverkaza.com.

About Kavango Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA)

The Kavango Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area is the world’s largest terrestrial trans frontier conservation area, spanning five southern African countries – Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Established in 2011, KAZA TFCA represents an ambitious vision for conservation, sustainable development, and regional integration. The KAZA Secretariat, formed under the KAZA Treaty, plays a vital role in coordinating and facilitating these efforts, working with a wide range of partners to achieve a shared vision for a thriving and resilient KAZA landscape.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), small-scale farmers are the country’s predominant food producers as they meet as much as 80 percent of the country’s food needs.

However, their capacity to increase productivity is constrained by the high cost of farming inputs, limited agricultural infrastructure, poor post-harvest storage facilities and limited access to credit.

Added to this situation, are the ravages of climate change and weather variability in the region, meaning that the incidence of extreme weather events – such as drought – have over the past decade threatened a mainly rainfed agricultural season.

In fact, Zambia ranks in first place on a CARE International report entitled “The Most Under-Reported Humanitarian Crises of 2021”, which seeks to highlight the 10 crises that didn’t make headlines over the course of that year but really should have.

“Prolonged droughts, climate change, Covid-19 and poverty, which mainly affects women, rarely made it into the news. As a result, the country moved into first place among the neglected crises in 2021 – with just 512 online articles recorded,” says the report.

The United Nations tallies up that around 235 million people worldwide needed humanitarian aid last year, and that this number is predicted to rise to 274 million by the end of 2022. Globally, that’s one in 28 people. Hunger is rampant and spreading.

For many people, every day is a struggle for survival, but the world’s attention has been primarily focused on COVID-19 – and more recently on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zambian climate scientist, Mulako Kabisa told Jeremy Williams of the BBC: “Zambia has been experiencing the negative impact of climate variability and change for the last three decades. The biggest impact has been increased temperature and reduced rainfall, resulting in climate shocks that include droughts and floods… Being an agrarian economy, the sector provides employment for 22 percent of the country. These changes in rainfall and temperature have resulted in crop failure, livestock death and reduced contribution to the GDP,” she advised.

One can’t deny the connection between drought and climate change, Kabisa continued, with the recent incidents of drought in 2015, 2018 and the agricultural season of late 2021/early 2022 all proving attributable to climate variability and change. “Local evidence and simulated projects all indicate that rainfall will be more variable [going forward], that the production season will shift and drought incidents will … increase in frequency and intensity,” she said.

However, a recent partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and Good Nature Agro saw more than 30 000 Zambian smallholder farmers receiving post-drought recovery. The programme targets farmers in five drought-prone districts – i.e. Gwembe, Monze, Kalomo, Sioma and Shang’ombo – and aims to boost their access to and production of high-yielding legume crops.

In its latest situation report, the United Nations said that via a legume out-grower scheme under this WFP-GNA partnership, 722 smallholder farmers received nearly 30 mt of soya bean – thereby enabling them to grow an abundance of nutrient-dense crops. “With nutrition improvement high on the national Zambian agenda, the WFP has continued to support government efforts in ensuring social protection systems and programmes are nutrition-sensitive,” said the report.

Other farming inputs comprised 440 metric tonnes of cowpeas, groundnuts, orange maize and sorghum, and 1.6 million cassava cuttings, with the WFP linking agro-dealers with seed suppliers/producers and 30 002 smallholders (53 percent of whom were women). The WFP then procured the beans from the farmers, improving their earnings and livelihoods.

Also notable in the region is the work of African Risk Capacity (ARC), a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) tasked with assisting member states to improve their ability to plan, prepare for and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters; as well as to develop an outbreak and epidemic (O&E) insurance product that enables governments to protect at risk populations.

One recent example thereof is the US$7.1 million climate risk insurance pay-out to the WFP in Mali, which will assist over 204,000 vulnerable people in drought-affected regions of that country.

The African Risk Capacity’s (ARC) Group Strategy 2020 – 2024 outlines, as just one of the challenges of their drought early-warning model, is how tricky it can be to correctly identify “crop timing”.

Making use of the Water Requirements Satisfaction Index (WRSI) to model the progression of agricultural and rangeland seasons, the ARC hopes to eliminate any discrepancies between model estimates and the actal drought situation by giving the highest priority to improving its software functionality.

A further ambition for the ARC Group, which is comprised of ARC Agency and ARC Ltd, its financial branch, is to provide up to US$1.5 billion of coverage for over 200 million people against drought, food insecurity and cyclones.

But the vital role of African voices in light of the outcomes of COP26 also need highlighting, enthuses Mulenga. “It’s time to centre the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis,” she says, highlighting the important role of journalism and media services in the mix. A lack of African voices certainly undermines the fairness of international discussions…[while] centring our voices and experiences in climate conversations, policies and solutions means honoring the unique insights and stories we have to tell from the catastrophe’s coalface.

ENDS

<sources>
https://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/161518
https://earthbound.report/2022/02/10/the-unreported-climate-crisis-in-zambia/
https://www.care-international.org/news/press-releases/in-the-shadow-of-the-pandemic-10-crises-that-didnt-make-headlines-in-2021
https://farmersreviewafrica.com/30-000-zambian-farmers-benefit-from-wfp-post-recovery-support/
https://www.arc.int/sites/default/files/2021-09/ARC-Group-Strategy-2020-2024_EN.pdf