Safety in Zambia: what overland travellers should know
Our summary of the country advice published by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Viaggiare Sicuri) on 26 March 2026.
Safety
- Protests — Conditions have been broadly stable, but isolated protests are always possible and can turn violent with no warning. The places most affected are the big cities, the main trunk roads and the areas around university campuses.
- Crime — Crime is rising, though not alarmingly, and there are occasional incidents against foreign tourists in the larger cities. Avoid going into the densely populated compounds of the main cities, especially after dark. Card cloning and digital identity theft at ATMs have been reported recently.
- Mined border areas — Some areas along the borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola still hold antipersonnel mines laid during earlier regional conflicts. Non-essential travel to those border zones is discouraged.
- Poisoned Copperbelt rivers — Acid and toxic waste released by the Sino Metals Leach mine at Chambishi has contaminated the Mwambashi and Kafue rivers, and it will not be cleaned up soon: fish die-offs and symptoms of heavy-metal poisoning are still being reported along and downstream of them. Do not transit the area around the mine, avoid contact with those waters, do not eat fish that may come from them and drink only water of known origin.
- Rivers and lakes — Do not bathe in lakes, ponds or watercourses: crocodiles and hippos may be present.
- Power rationing — Electricity supply is rationed daily, in stretches that can reach 15 to 16 consecutive hours, so anywhere you stay needs a generator or another fallback if you are counting on mains power.
Before you rely on this
This is our summary of advice written by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Italian travellers, published on 26 March 2026. We summarise in good faith, but we cannot guarantee it is accurate, current or complete, and we take no responsibility for decisions made on the basis of it. Rules change without notice and are applied by officials at the border, not by websites. Always read the original source and the travel advice your own government publishes for Zambia before you travel. GuideMeet has no way of checking whether an individual guide meets any standard mentioned here — ask them directly.
Source: Viaggiare Sicuri — Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, updated 26 March 2026. Last checked by GuideMeet on 2026-09-20.