Information correct as of February 2020
Entry into Zambia from Tanzania (Nakonde Border post)
- In theory a one-stop border post but really a case of multiple stops. Prior to entering the border post area look for a yellow building above you and on your right hand side. The vehicle entry is marked by a sign “Staff Parking”. This is the customs for Tanzania and where you should cancel your Carnet or TIP.
- The proceed into the border area for the processing of Emigration and Immigration. At the time of writing this was the only part of the border which functioned as a One-stop.
- Road Access fee/tax: USD 20 is payable. There are counters in the main One-stop area which if manned will make life easy, otherwise you will need someone to show you the ay upstairs to a separate office for payment of this. Don’t be daunted by the queue and ideally skip to the front as most people are runners for the commercial trucks. Keep this road toll document handy for the rest of your drive through Zambia as it will be asked for often when presented at the toll gates will get stamped and no further payment is required.
- Carbon tax is also payable. Again you will probably need a tout to show you the way. The system was offline and so we were told we could pay on exiting Zambia. At all checkpoints on our trip nobody asked for proof of this tax. For vehicles between 2000 – 3000 cc the cost should be KWH480
Council Tax
We tried to avoid paying this and in fact passed through the first check point with nobody stopping us but had to pay at the next one and were issued a receipt for this. Over the next couple of hundred kilometres at each checkpoint they checked for this receipt and the national road toll tax fees. Cost was Zambian kwacha 50.
3rd party Insurance
For the first time in the whole COMESA region we managed to purchase 3rd party insurance at reasonable rates (USD11 for 30 days) and if heading north could have also organized COMESA at reasonable rates too. We bought online via Phoenix insurance https://www.phoenixzambia.com Use the “buy online” link. In theory you choose your border post of entry and then meet an agent their to get your disk, this didn’t work very well but we were able to whatsup the supervisor and ultimately collected our disk in Lusaka but in the meantime had an email with proof of purchase in case required.
Cellphone data and access to Social Media
To obtain a SIM card you are required to go through the RICA process so have your passport handy and be patient. It appears possible to bypass this process at the border but we heard that often then you get disconnected a few days later as the seller has too many SIM cards registered under his identity. We chose to stop in Isoka at the MTN connect store and purchase our SIM and data there. Approximately KWH200 for 12gb data