The water
Bottled water; treat all drinking water on safari. Tap water: Not drinkable.
Zambia
The Kasanka bat migration, up to about 10 million straw coloured fruit bats, the largest mammal migration on Earth
RegionAfricaCurrencyZMWPowerType C/D/M, 230VTap waterNot drinkable
Good
Eco Index
What to expect on the ground
At a glance
Food & farming
Farming underpins the economy and Zambia is usually self sufficient in its maize staple, nshima, sometimes exporting surplus to neighbours. Production is dominated by smallholders, but the system is narrow and rain dependent, and…Read more
Farming underpins the economy and Zambia is usually self sufficient in its maize staple, nshima, sometimes exporting surplus to neighbours. Production is dominated by smallholders, but the system is narrow and rain dependent, and the 2024 drought turned a normal surplus into an emergency maize deficit.
Local staples
Nshima (maize meal), beans, groundnuts, cooked greens such as rape and pumpkin leaves, sweet potato and cassava
Markets
Daily township markets; rural markets on set weekly days
In season
Maize harvest April to July after the November to April rains
Wildlife
Zambia offers iconic African megafauna and genuine endemics: Kafue and black lechwe, the Thornicroft's giraffe of the Luangwa Valley and the shoebill of the Bangweulu wetlands. South Luangwa is famous for its leopards and one of…Read more
Zambia offers iconic African megafauna and genuine endemics: Kafue and black lechwe, the Thornicroft's giraffe of the Luangwa Valley and the shoebill of the Bangweulu wetlands. South Luangwa is famous for its leopards and one of the densest hippo populations in Africa, and the country lists 148 IUCN threatened species (2023).
Found nowhere else
Kafue lechwe, black lechwe and Thornicroft's giraffe; the Bangweulu shoebill
Natural phenomena
Dry May–Oct (safari prime), wet Nov–Apr; the Falls swell hugely in the wet.
When to go
The dry season for wildlife
Getting around
Charter and scheduled flights to remote parks, 4x4 self drive or transfers, and long distance buses between towns
Good to know
Cash widely used; ZMW. USD accepted at top lodges.
Safety
Solo female travel: Take care. LGBTQ+: Illegal.
Only hereThe Kasanka bat migration, up to about 10 million straw coloured fruit bats, the largest mammal migration on Earth
Assessed across 10 equally-weighted pillars
The Eco Index, pillar by pillar
65/100
Good
The Eco Index: Zambia
12 pillars, equally weighted, from published sources. All 12 assessed. Blanks mean unverified, never estimated.
Only here The Kasanka bat migration, up to about 10 million straw coloured fruit bats, the largest mammal migration on Earth
- Forest cover
- 59.5%
- Land protected
- 41.3%
- Organic farmland
- 0.003%
- Threatened species
- 148
- Found nowhere else
- Kafue lechwe, black lechwe and Thornicroft's giraffe; the Bangweulu shoebill
- Renewable power
- 92.0%
- CO2 per person
- ~0.4 t
- Air quality (AQI)
- 20.2
- Cleanest air
- The remote national parks and Northern Province
- Water from
- Bottled water; treat all drinking water on safari.
- Tap water
- Not drinkable
- Safe drinking water
- 73.4%
- Cleanest water
- Lake Tanganyika and the upper Zambezi
- Springs
- Kapishya Hot Springs in Northern Province
- In season
- Maize harvest April to July after the November to April rains
- Plastic ban
- Ban on thin single use plastic bags, with uneven enforcement
- Watch out for
- Copperbelt smelting and the lead contaminated town of Kabwe
- Solo female travel
- Take care
- LGBTQ+ acceptance
- Illegal
- Best months
- May to October; Victoria Falls is fullest around March to May
- Getting around
- Charter and scheduled flights to remote parks, 4x4 self drive or transfers, and long distance buses between towns
- Power
- Type C/D/M, 230V
- Currency
- ZMW
| Pillar | Score | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| WaterWhere the water comes from, and whether there is enough of it | 2/5 | Zambia is exceptionally water rich on paper, with the Zambezi, Kafue and Luangwa rivers, Lake Tanganyika, the huge Kariba reservoir, the Bangweulu wetlands and Victoria Falls. Full assessmentAccess is the weak point: about 73% of people have at least basic drinking water (World Bank and JMP, 2024), safely managed coverage is lower, and tap water is generally unsafe. Heavy reliance on Kariba hydro also left supply exposed during the 2024 drought. |
| Food and farmingWhat the island actually grows, and what arrives by boat | 4/5 | Farming underpins the economy and Zambia is usually self sufficient in its maize staple, nshima, sometimes exporting surplus to neighbours. Full assessmentProduction is dominated by smallholders, but the system is narrow and rain dependent, and the 2024 drought turned a normal surplus into an emergency maize deficit. |
| Plant based and real foodWhether you can eat unprocessed from local supply | 4/5 | The everyday Zambian plate is plant based by default: nshima made from maize meal, served with beans, groundnuts and cooked greens such as rape, pumpkin leaves and cassava leaves, plus swee… Full assessmentpotato and cassava. Fresh produce is cheap in township markets, so unprocessed plant eating is the norm. |
| OrganicCertified and chemical free growing, which is not the same thing as plant based | 1/5 | Certified organic farmland is negligible, around 0.003% of agricultural land (FiBL, 2020). Full assessmentAs across much of the region, many smallholders farm with few synthetic inputs out of necessity, but almost none of this is certified organic. |
| ConservationWhat is protected, and whether protection is enforced | 4/5 | Zambia protects about 41% of its land (World Bank, 2025) through vast national parks such as Kafue, one of Africa's largest, plus South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, and a ring of Game Managem… Full assessmentnt Areas. The headline figure is undercut by funding: many Game Management Areas are under resourced and poaching remains a real pressure, so paper coverage exceeds effective protection. |
| Wildlife and endemicsWhat lives here and nowhere else on earth | 4/5 | Zambia offers iconic African megafauna and genuine endemics: Kafue and black lechwe, the Thornicroft's giraffe of the Luangwa Valley and the shoebill of the Bangweulu wetlands. Full assessmentSouth Luangwa is famous for its leopards and one of the densest hippo populations in Africa, and the country lists 148 IUCN threatened species (2023). |
| Natural materialsWhat you can eat from and carry here instead of plastic, and who still makes it | 3/5 | Zambia keeps living craft traditions in basketry and reed and grass weaving, and grows cotton that feeds the ubiquitous chitenge printed cloth. Full assessmentThe crafts are genuine but localised rather than a defining national industry. |
| Pollution and plasticPlastic law and contamination | 2/5 | The national PM2.5 annual mean is moderate, around 20 micrograms per cubic metre (World Bank, 2023), and Zambia has banned thin single use plastic bags, though enforcement is patchy. Full assessmentThe bigger issue is severe localised pollution: copper smelting on the Copperbelt and the notorious legacy lead contamination at Kabwe, one of the most polluted places on Earth. |
| Recycling and wasteWhat actually happens to the rubbish once you have thrown it away | 1/5 | There is no meaningful formal municipal recycling system and no reliable published rate. Full assessmentRecovery is minimal and informal, limited to some scrap metal and PET collection in the larger cities. |
| Energy and climateClean power, carbon emissions per person and the pace of decarbonisation | 5/5 | Zambia's electricity is overwhelmingly renewable, with hydropower supplying roughly 84 per cent of generation, chiefly from the Kafue Gorge and Kariba stations. Full assessmentEmissions per person are very low at around 0.4 tonnes of CO2 a year, among the lowest in the world. The country's NDC 3.0, submitted in 2025, pledges to cut emissions by 25 per cent unconditionally and up to 47 per cent with international support by 2030, anchored in the National Policy on Climate Change and Vision 2030. Severe drought has recently cut Kariba output and exposed the grid's dependence on rainfall, prompting a pivot towards solar. On balance Zambia is a very low emitter running on clean power with credible policy. |
| Culture and peopleIndigenous and living communities, and who the money reaches | 4/5 | Zambia has more than 70 living ethnic groups and vivid traditional ceremonies such as the Lozi Kuomboka, and community based tourism and conservancies operate around the major parks. Full assessmentSouth Luangwa is the birthplace of the walking safari, and community partnerships channel some tourism income to local people, though a share still concentrates with operators. |
| Living heritage and ancestral traditionsNational dance and music, and the ancestral and spiritual traditions still practised | 5/5 | Zambia sustains a calendar of living traditional ceremonies that remain central to community and spiritual life. Full assessmentThe Lozi Kuomboka sees the Litunga move by royal barge from the flooding Barotse plain, while the Ngoni Nc'wala gives first fruits thanks to the ancestors for the harvest. Other living observances include the Lunda Mutomboko, the Bemba Ukusefya Pa Ng'wena and the Luvale Likumbi Lya Mize with its Makishi masquerade. Kalindula music and drumming carry these gatherings, and ancestral thanksgiving and remembrance remain widely practised. This is deep, widely alive heritage held across many peoples. |
Before you go
Cash widely used; ZMW. USD accepted at top lodges.
Where these figures come from
- World Bank, Forest area (% of land area) AG.LND.FRST.ZS, 2023 source
- World Bank, Terrestrial protected areas (% of land area) ER.LND.PTLD.ZS, 2025 source
- World Bank, Renewable electricity output (% of total) EG.ELC.RNEW.ZS, 2021 source
- World Bank / WHO-UNICEF JMP, People using at least basic drinking water services (%) SH.H2O.BASW.ZS, 2024 source
- World Bank, PM2.5 mean annual exposure (micrograms per cubic metre) EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3, 2023 source
- FiBL, The World of Organic Agriculture (via List of countries by organic farmland), 2020 source
- UN Statistics Division, Statistical Yearbook 2024 (68th issue), Threatened species table (source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, accessed June 2025), 2023 figures source
- Kasanka Trust, the straw coloured fruit bat migration in Kasanka National Park source
- Human Rights Watch and Pure Earth, lead contamination at Kabwe source
- Our World in Data, Zambia CO2 country profile, 2023 — source
- Worldometer, Zambia CO2 emissions per capita, 2022 — source
- IEA, Zambia country profile (electricity mix), 2023 — source
- Yale Environment 360, Zambia drought hydro to solar pivot, 2024 — source
- UNFCCC, Zambia Revised and Updated NDC, 2021 — source
- Discover Zambia, Traditional Ceremonies, 2024 — source
Living heritage and ancestral traditions
The culture still danced, played and believed
Zambia sustains a calendar of living traditional ceremonies that remain central to community and spiritual life. The Lozi Kuomboka sees the Litunga move by royal barge from the flooding Barotse plain, while the Ngoni Nc'wala gives first fruits thanks to the ancestors for the harvest. Other living observances include the Lunda Mutomboko, the Bemba Ukusefya Pa Ng'wena and the Luvale Likumbi Lya Mize with its Makishi masquerade. Kalindula music and drumming carry these gatherings, and ancestral thanksgiving and remembrance remain widely practised. This is deep, widely alive heritage held across many peoples.
- Kuomboka royal barge procession of the Lozi
- Nc'wala first fruits ceremony of the Ngoni
- Mutomboko of the Lunda
- Ukusefya Pa Ng'wena of the Bemba
- Likumbi Lya Mize and the Makishi masquerade of the Luvale
- Kalindula music and drumming
- ancestral first fruits and thanksgiving traditions.