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Hi all, sorry for writing in English, but I hope most of you can understand it. If no, please use Google Translate
So, I just got back from VFA last week, here is a trip summary/report with quite some details, I hope someone will find it helpful.

We (2 people) traveled Zimbabwe-Zambia-Botswana-Zimbabwe on a budget for 7 days with backpacks only and had nothing booked prior, except for the first two nights' stay in Livingstone.

DAY 0/1:
Flight CPH-FRA - nothing special here.
Flight FRA-WDH (15-04-2023) - full, maybe 5 empty seats on the whole plane. In WDH 99% of the plane disembarked, leaving around 20 people on the whole A330-300 that continued to VFA. The whole crew changed. I saw another 4Y A330-300 stationed in WDH and asked a steward what happened, he told that a day before, aircraft broke down in WDH and passengers had to be taken by bus between VFA and WDH (15 hours ride). Another steward mentioned there was a ‘hard landing’ but did not elaborate on what happened, just said nobody was injured. The steward also said that the plane on WDH-VFA leg is usually so empty. So I am a bit surprised how Eurowings Discover is still operating this unprofitable route, but maybe Zimbabwean government is involved in financing it?
So on an almost empty WDH-VFA leg, we could stretch over the 4 center seats and had a personal steward .
On arrival to VFA, a lady checked vaccine/test certificates. We have a single vaccine from 2021 january, that was OK, no scanners, she just looks at a certificate and lets you go. Further at immigration, they work quite slowly, but with so few people, it did not take long. We got double entry visas for 45 USD pp. Payable only in cash, they had plenty of change (a wooden drawer full of cash in USD. I asked the officer if it was possible to pay by card, he told no and said that there was an ATM further if we need to withdraw. On the visa, officer actually wrote the fee as 700 rand (which is about 38 USD), so I guess the officer just keeps the 7 USD difference for himself. Later, when entering Zim from Botswana on DAY 6, the Zim officer made a remark about the 700 rand fee written on the visa, saying something like ‘oh, you paid so much’ followed by a small laugh.
After exiting the airport, we immediately got approached by taxi drivers offering rides for 30 USD. Haggled to 25 USD and were brought to the Vic Falls bridge. Tip: if you want to go cheaper, wait until a taxi from town brings people to the airport and after the drop-off, offer the driver ~10/15$ to bring you to town, since they are not allowed to wait in the airport and are going back to town empty. All prices are per ride and not per person.
From our drop-off near the bridge, we got Zim exit stamp, walked over the bridge with amazing views, then to went to the bridge museum (for free) on the right side. A bit further there is a Zam immigration office, got Zam entry stamp (no covid docs or anything else needed). Then again got approached by Zam taxi drivers, just refuse their ridiculous offers, walk about 100 meters further and there is a taxi park. A guy brought us for 5 USD to our lodge in Livingstone, on the way we stopped by ATM and withdrew kwachas (no extra fees with revolut on Atlasmara and FNB ATMs). Then got some rest in the lodge (Tabonina BIS - 600 kwacha (31 eur)/night, breakfast included) - only 2 rooms were occupied in the whole lodge so we had almost a private pool

DAY 2:
After the breakfast by the pool, we caught a shared taxi from the main Livingstone taxi park (near Shoprite and Dambwa central market), it costs 10-20 kwacha per person, depending on how much you want to haggle. Drops off by the Zam entrance to the falls. The entrance is 20 USD pp. Make sure to bring swimwear or a good raincoat and a waterproof phone/camera - spray is very strong. We got wet even under our raincoats. Explored all the paths, including the knife edge bridge to the danger point, boiling pot trail, etc. After that, we walked to the Big Baobab about 1 km away. And then caught another shared taxi back to Livingstone for 15 kwacha pp. Most people on these shared taxis are local Zimbabweans going for shopping to Livingstone, as everything, including shops, are much cheaper in Zambia than in Zimbabwe.
Then some evening walking/exploring in Livingstone. And extended the stay in the lodge for one more night.

DAY 3:
Breakfast in the lodge, then off to Livingstone museum to buy postcards (20 kwacha each) and to the post office for stamps (10 kwacha each). Some souvenir shopping (haggle everywhere). Then walk to the new international bus terminal to ask about transfers to Botswana. There are two buses per day: Livingstone-Windhoek bus at 8:30 that stops at Kasane (operated by Intercape, price - 120 kwacha/~6 eur), and an 11:00 bus going to Kazungula (operated by Power Tools, price - also 120 kwacha). After that we walked around Livingstone - Train/Jewish museum - interesting history of how Lithuanian/Polish Jews built most of the infrastructure and industry in Zambia but the exposition is very small, so we didn’t go in, just talked to a museum guide and gave him a tip after. He got upset that nobody comes to the museum, but what do you expect with the outrageous entrance fee for foreigners - 15 USD pp (for locals it is 7 kwachas (0.4 USD). We explained that many great museums in Europe are cheaper than that, and 15 USD just doesn’t seem right to see one room with a couple of artifacts and some text on the walls.
Then we walked to Livingstone train station and eventually to Maramba market (a true dusty local market with no tourists). Then back to the lodge after sunset, where we book our lodge in Kasane/Botswana for the next day.

DAY 4:
Early breakfast by the pool and off to the taxi park, where we find a shared taxi with 2 people waiting for Kazungula, so we all wait for one more guy and go for 80 kwacha (4.1 eur) pp. It takes about an hour and the driver brings us over the new bridge straight to the Botswana border. For that he charges 50 kwacha extra. Apparently, for 80 kwacha he would have dropped us before the bridge, which would also be ok for us.
Then Botswana health officer checks our covid vaccine certificate, and everyone is asked to disinfect their shoes (there is a Foot-and-Mouth disease outbreak, so they take it seriously) and we enter big hall with both Zam and Botswana immigration. After getting both stamps, we get out and there is already a Botswana taxi guy who wants to take our backpacks and put in his car, we ask for the price to Kasane and he says 15 USD. We have a laugh and tell no, then walk 50 meters further, where a female taxi driver stops by and agrees to bring us to Kasane for 80 Pula (5.5 EUR). We stop next to FNB ATM on the way to withdraw some Pulas (again with no extra fee from Revolut). Eventually, we arrive at Chilotto Guesthouse in Kasane (520 pula (35,8 EUR)/night). Drop our stuff and go to the town. It is very small but has two large supermarkets - Spar and Choppies. Close to Choppies, on the riverside, there are a couple of containers with booking agents, we walk in to ask about prices for safari drives and boats. They all give different quotes and we take the cheapest from Chool Investments / Dreams Safaris - 3h evening game drive for 200 pula (13,8 eur) pp. plus 190 pula (13,1 eur) park fees (valid for the whole day) Same operator didn’t have the morning drive for the next day, so we book it in another container from Nkwe Agency for 250 pula (17,2 eur) pp plus park fees. Then we quickly run to Choppies for some snacks and at 15:00 safari guide picks us up directly from Choppies parking and we go straight to the park with 5 people in total. The drive was amazing, we saw so many animals/birds, including a lion passing just 2 meters from our car and a charging elephant blocking the road and roaring at us. Guide is very knowledgeable, tells many facts and answers all our questions about any animal. Even though the driver said there would be a stop to stretch and use a bathroom, we spent the time chasing the lion and did not do any stops, only got a bottle of water each.
After the safari, the guide dropped us at our lodge at around 19:00, we tipped him 40 pula (2.76 EUR).

DAY 5:
Early wake up and at 6:00 we are picked up by another guide from our lodge for the morning drive. This time only 4 people in the car, the morning is quite cold, so make sure to take a sweater. This time there are less animals than the evening before, but we saw a herd of zebras, which is very rare in Chobe as they do not like the bushes, our guide told he hasn’t seen any zebras in the park in a year. We also manage to spot another lion and plenty of other birds/animals. This time there is a toilet stop, with some tea and cookies served by the guide. The other couple in the car told us that they just came to Chobe after days spent in Kruger where they did not see any of the big cats. We asked the guide how likely is it to see a cheetah or leopard, he said it is rare but he saw one a week ago. At around 10:00 we are back to the lodge, tip 50 pula (3,4 eur) to the guide, get some sleep and go to the same booking agency that did an evening drive to book a boat cruise for 200 pula (13.8 EUR) pp. This time no park fees, as we already paid them in the morning (just make sure to ask the guide for a copy of the receipt in the morning). Boats start from nearby the office at 15:00. The boat goes about 5 km upstream. We saw plenty of animals, including swimming and playing elephants. And a beautiful sunset on the way back. We gave a boat driver 30 pula (2 EUR) tip, but strangely nobody else from the boat tipped him. Back on shore, we walked to a baobab prison near the police station, then for dinner to a curry place opposite of Spar and back to the lodge, where we booked the lodge for the last two days in Zimbabwe/Vic Falls.

DAY 6:
After checking out of our lodge in Kasane, we walked to the taxi park near Spar and cough a shared taxi to Kazungula for 8 pula (0.55 EUR) pp. The driver dropped us next to Choppies in Kazungula, where other taxi drivers approached us offering a ride to Zimbabwe border for 10 USD. That just didn’t sound right as the distance is about 3 km, and since we were not in a hurry, we decided to do some shopping (prices are way lower in Botswana than in Zimbabwe), and walk to the Zim border by foot. Half way, a safari car stopped and offered to bring us to the border for free. The driver was surprised that we were not afraid of wild animals. Just a week before, buffalos killed a child and a man in Kasane.
At the border, stamping out was very fast, with no need to disinfect the shoes anymore, but there was a tourist bus crossing so entry into Zimbabwe took quite a while (immigration officers are very slow with issuing visas). Here covid vaccine certificates were checked again in a container just next to immigration. After finally getting the Zim stamp, taxi driver approached us and offered a lift to our lodge in Vic Falls for 15 USD pp, but we negotiated to 10 USD pp, and he took one more local guy with us. The drive was about 1 hour. In Vic Falls we stayed at Victoria Falls Budget hotel for 35$/night.
In shops, the prices are written in Zimbabwean dollars (ZWL) and when we were there, the official rate was 1 USD = 1100 ZWL, but they only accept USD or bank cards. We tried paying for groceries with Visa and Mastercard but both were declined with a ‘Fraud alert’ notice, so make sure you bring enough cash in USD, or other currencies. In many places they accepted USD, EUR and GBP at a rate of 1:1:1. And while supermarket shelves were full, the prices of food were just crazy. Some items seemed twice or three times more expensive than in Europe. Bananas cost almost 3 dollars per kilo. 1 liter of juice - 3 to 5 dollars. And when paying, instead of change, they just offered us to take some chewing gum or water bottles. Once I asked for change and had to wait for the manager who brought me bills of hundreds of Zimbabwean dollars.
Rest of the day explore/walk around Vic Falls.

DAY 7:
Morning walk to the Viewpoint cafe for breakfast with probably the best views imaginable. Then pased the souvenir stalls (negotiation in Zim can be crazy: with several vendors we negotiated from 10 USD for one item to 4 USD for three items). We did not enter the falls from Zimbabwe side, as 50 USD is really a rip off as you only get very intense spray and no better views during a high water season than from Zam side for 20 USD. It would only make sense to pay for the Zim side when the water is low and Zam side is dried up (around August to December). So we walked via Zambezi Dr to the Big Tree. Along the way there were plenty of views to the river with some huge lizards and a lot of elephant poop. On the way back, we walked in to some of the activities booking offices and tried to haggle a good price for a helicopter ride. They all usually ask for 150 USD + 25 USD park fee. Eventually we found a guy who agreed to sell it for 100 USD pp, all fees included (it was the office next to Chicken Inn VictoriaFalls complex). The guy at the desk even told us that if we were with more people, price would be even lower. 20 minutes later a driver came to the office and we were on the way to the helipad. We were only 3 passengers on the helicopter: one guy next to the pilot and we had all 4 back seats for ourselves. The views were incredible! Afterwards, driver dropped us at our lodge. Some pool time and dinner at local restaurant nearby.

DAY 8:
Once again a morning walk to the Viewpoint cafe for breakfast. Then back to the lodge for checkout at 10 am. After checking out, reception allowed us to stay by the pool for another couple of hours and around noon, walked to the taxi rank next to OK Supermarket on Clarke Rd and cough a taxi to the airport for 20 USD. At VFA, only one check in counter was open and it worked very slow, so it took a while to just get our boarding passes. About 25% of the plane was filled. Then at WDH, about 5 people disembarked and the new passengers filled almost the entire plane for WDH-FRA leg. Had to wait about 2 hours before departing, as the pilot said, because FRA airport only opens at 5 AM. Landed at around 5:05 AM in FRA.


Some other remarks:
USD ATM:
FRA departure area has some Deutsche Bank ATMs that dispense 20 USD bills. Rate is not the best, but still much better than any exchange in Germany or the Netherlands, so we took out a couple of hundered before our flight.

Diseases/Mosquitos/Malaria:
We did not do any vaccinations before, only took Malarone pills. Even though, there were almost no mosquitos everywhere we went, but two Irish doctors we met during our safari in Botswana said they visited a local hospital and there were a lot of malaria patients. I asked about Malarone in a pharmacy in Zimbabwe, they sell it without prescription, but the price was 54 USD per 12 pills. Forgot to ask in Zambia or Botswana, but i believe they would be cheaper there.

Safety:
I have travelled to South-East Asia, Central and South America, and this was the safest I have felt out of all my exotic trips. Almost every person on the street says hello when he/she sees you. Also there are not many white people just walking on the streets, as most of them come in groups and are being brought by their tour bus everywhere.

Bylem tam pod koniec marca 2023. Pytaj, jak cos chcesz wiedziec

Jak wygląda możliwość wykupienia w miejscowym biurze safari do Chobe ? Chodzi mi o dostępność na dzień czy dwa przed .Czy lepiej rezerwować z wyprzedzeniem przez internet ?

W Livingstone są ogłoszenia na ulicach i możesz kupić safari. Ja nawet chciałem, ale miejscowi mi to wybili z głowy mówiąc że możesz siedzieć 5 dni na safari i nie zobaczyć ani jednego zwierzaka bo tam są tak duże odległości w Chobe.
Zaraz obok wodospadow jest park narodowy w którym jest dużo zwierząt na dość na małej powierzchni. Nie ma jedynie drapieżników.
Słonie tez są jeśli akurat stado nie poszło na drugą stronę Zambezi.
Poza tym w samej Zambii są dzikie stada słoni żyjące poza parkami więc możesz trafić na takie gdzieś po drodze.
W samym Livingstone przedtem bylo widać zniszczenia przez stado które uciekło z parku. Powykręcane lampy itp. Może już te lampy wymienili....

5 dni bez zwierzakow w Chobe???

Nie rezerwuj przez internet ! Na miejscu wykupisz spokojnie z duzym rabatem z jedno- lub dwudniowym wyprzedzeniem.
( sprawdzone pod koniec marca 2023 w Victoria Falls ). W Chobe jest duza populacja sloni. Sam widzialem - po raz pierwszy w zyciu - plynacego w poprzek rzeki slonia !.

A pamiętasz może ceny safari do Chobe na miejscu w Victoria Falls ?

Byłem w listopadzie w Botswanie, m.in. w Parku Chobe.
5 dni bez zwierzaków w Chobe jest niemożliwe, bo nawet gdybyś leżał pijany w namiocie to same przyjdą. Po 6-godzinnym safari będziesz miał przesyt zwierzaków, gwarantuję.

A jak z pogodą było w listopadzie ?

To prawda. Ja byłem w porze deszczowej a i tak widziałem mnóstwo zwierząt. W szczycie pory suchej zdaniem przewodnika, z którym jeździliśmy po parku, wystarczy przyjechać na parę godzin,

Sucho i ciepło, choć bez masakrycznych upałów. 28-30 stopni w ciągu dnia. Oprócz safari lądowego polecam safari wodne po rzece Chobe/Kuando. Jest kilka budek tour operatorów koło rzeki tuż obok centrum handlowego w Kasane. Ale, jak chcecie to zorganizować z Livingstone/Vic Falls jako jednodniowy wypad i powrót do bazy w ZIM/ZAM to nie wiem, czy dacie radę.

Ludzie, przecież to jest najbardziej "zasobny" w zwierzęta park w Afryce, impale i gnu zobaczycie po 5 minutach od wjazdu. Z samego rana sporo lwów. Żyrafy i słonie chodzą tam, jak ratlerki po Marszalkowskiej

-- 11 Maj 2023 19:40 --

Ceny do Chobe z Victoria Falls : na 1 dzien - ok 140-150 USD + bilet wstepu (wywolawczo). Zbilem cene do 100 USD z biletem . Kupowalem bilet w polaczeniu z inna wycieczką, to tak dokladnie nie pamiętam

-- 11 Maj 2023 19:40 --

Ceny do Chobe z Victoria Falls : na 1 dzien - ok 140-150 USD + bilet wstepu (wywolawczo). Zbilem cene do 100 USD z biletem . Kupowalem bilet w polaczeniu z inna wycieczką, to tak dokladnie nie pamiętam

W listopadzie 2022 r. za 6-godzinne safari, organizowane na miejscu w Kasane płaciliśmy 600 BWP od osoby (180 PLN) + bilet wstępu do parku 120 BWP (36 PLN).

Przesyłam przykładowy cennik z agencji wild horizons w victoria falls

Myślę, że nikt normalny nie kupi tego w drogim Zimbabwe, a dopiero na miejscu za grosze, w vfa się ląduje i od razu ucieka do tańszej Zambii, a potem jeszcze tańszej Botswany

Prices we paid (per person) in April 2023, everything booked last minute at the location:

Shared taxi Livingstone - Kazungula: 80 Kwacha (4.1 EUR);
Shared taxi Kazungula - Kasane: 10 Pula (0.7 EUR);
Chobe evening game drive (3h) 200 Pula (13,8 EUR) + park fee 190 Pula (13,1 EUR);
Chobe morning game drive (3h) 250 Pula (17.2 EUR) + park fee 190 Pula (13,1 EUR);
Chobe evening boat cruise (3h) 200 Pula (13.8 EUR) (park fee paid in the morning already);
Shared taxi Kasane - Kazungula: 10 Pula (0.7 EUR);
Shared taxi Kazungula - Victoria Falls: 10 USD.

W uzupełnieniu tego co powyżej. To w Kasane w agencji Nkwe game drive i boat cruise są po 250 puli od osoby (http://www.nkwebookingagency.com/) .
Tuż obok tej agencji jest kontener z konkurencyjną agencją Dream Safari, tutaj to samo co wyżej jest po 200 puli. Korzystałam z obydwu, natomiast w tej pierwszej są bardziej zaangażowani i szybciej ogarniają grupy na game drive.