A new multi-country visa, similar to Europe’s Schengen Visa, will soon allow entry into various countries in Southern Africa. Five nations in the region committed in late May to expanding the use of a special common visa to make tourist movement easier, aiming to boost tourism arrivals.

KAZA region agreement

Officials from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—members of the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area—pledged to broaden the use of the univisa. This special visa, currently utilised in Zambia and Zimbabwe for day trips to Botswana through Kazungula, will now be extended.

“We must simply say that this will happen,” stated Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema during a KAZA summit in Livingstone, Zambia. “I am grateful that my colleagues have reached consensus on the univisa.” Botswana’s Vice President, Slumber Tsogwane, also confirmed his country’s full adoption of the univisa.

Lifting ban on ivory trade

In addition to the visa expansion, the KAZA member states are advocating for the lifting of the ban on elephant and ivory trading imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1989. This ban was initially put in place to combat the significant decline in elephant populations.