Zimbabwe Border Crossing

The southern African country of Zimbabwe is bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. It has crossable borders in the form of roads with all of these countries.

Many travelers cross from Zambia to Zimbabwe to at Victoria Falls, to be able to better see the falls. The most common way is walking across from the Victoria Falls National Park, Livingstone on the Zambian side to Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side. After officially exiting Zambia (getting your passport stamped), it is around a 15 minute walk to the Zimbabwe entry border post. US citizens are issued a visa on arrival for $30 (it’s a little more if you want multiple entries). Then it’s another short (10-15 minute) walk to the Falls or to the Victoria Falls Hotel. The border is open from 6am to 10pm. There are also border posts between Zambia and Zimbabwe at Chirundu and Kariba. These are open from 6am to 6pm.

Crossing the border from South Africa to Zimbabwe should be relatively easy. In fact there are direct buses from Johannesburg to Harare. The official border is the Limpopo River, and the Beit Bridge is the bridge that crosses from South Africa into Zimbabwe. The Beitbridge border crossing is a busy industrial shipping border, so the lines can be very long if you try to go through at the wrong time.

There are two border crossings from Mozambique to Zimbabwe, Nyamapanda, which is southwest of Tete on the Mozambique side and just east of Mutare in Zimbabwe, and Machipanda which is west of Chimoio on the Mozambique side. The borders are open from 6am to 6pm.

The most common border crossings between Botswana and Zimbabwe are at Ramokgwebana–Plumtree and at Kazungula, west of Victoria Falls. The borders are open from 6am to 8pm. If crossing into Botswana, you may be asked to clean your shoes by dipping them in a disinfectant solvent in an attempt to stop foot-and-mouth disease from entering the country. There are buses from Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) and Francistown.

Return to the Zimbabwe Travel Guide

More Vagabond Journey.com Travel Guides

Update this page or add your experiences of crossing the Zimbabwe border below!