Both sides of Victoria Falls are malaria country. Plan around the sunset cruise.

Are there mosquitoes at Victoria Falls? Yes, on both sides of the river. The CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for all of Zambia and all of Zimbabwe, so Livingstone and Victoria Falls town are both covered, and so is a Chobe day trip into Botswana. The cool, dry months of June to August have the fewest mosquitoes, though the CDC's advice applies all year.

Malaria on both sides, and in Chobe

The CDC's pages for the two countries read the same: "CDC recommends that travelers going to Zambia take prescription medicine to prevent malaria," with the identical sentence for Zimbabwe. In both, transmission occurs in all areas, mostly Plasmodium falciparum resistant to chloroquine. Chobe day trips cross into Botswana, where the CDC lists "Chobe (including Chobe National Park)" among the districts with malaria transmission. For all three it names atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine and tafenoquine.

Zimbabwe's numbers rose sharply this year. Ministry of Health surveillance figures, reported by Al Jazeera on May 28, 2026, showed 65,399 malaria cases and 174 deaths nationwide in January–April 2026, against about 36,000 cases and 85 deaths in the same months of 2025. Save the Children linked the rise to heavy 2025–26 rains and aid cuts. The figures are national, with no breakdown for Victoria Falls.

Per the CDC, yellow fever vaccine is not recommended for Livingstone or for Zimbabwe, and neither country requires it on a direct trip from the US. Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana all check certificates from travelers arriving from countries with yellow fever risk, including layovers of more than 12 hours there.

The sunset cruise is malaria hour

A Zambezi sunset cruise ends just as the malaria mosquitoes start biting. Anopheles feed from dusk to dawn, which covers the last drinks on deck, a riverside dinner and the walk back to your room. Put repellent on before you board, bring a long-sleeved layer and light trousers for the ride back, and sleep under a net or in a screened, air-conditioned room. In the rains, watered hotel and guesthouse gardens tend to draw mosquitoes too.

The CDC's Zambia and Zimbabwe pages also list African tick-bite fever, so wear long trousers on bush walks. Separately, Zambia is on the CDC's Global Polio notice, which advises being up to date on polio vaccine.

When to go

The rain sets the bite season. June to August, the cool dry season, tends to have the fewest mosquitoes, and visitors who go then report few or none. September and October stay fairly light but hot. The November to March rains bring the most, and Zimbabwe's 2026 surge followed heavy 2025–26 rains, Save the Children reported. The falls tend to carry the most water and spray around February to May, so the fullest falls overlap the end of the buggiest months. The CDC's malaria advice applies year-round.

Where you're going

Going on to Kruger or Cape Town? Our South Africa briefing shows which half of that trip needs malaria planning. For a Serengeti leg, see Tanzania.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor threads about both sides of the falls and linked so you can read them in full. None carries a year, and the season changes the picture more than anything else.

• Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) · June-August dry season and rainy season

  Regulars who visit in the June-August dry season said they see few or no mosquitoes but still take a daily antimalarial. A longtime poster who goes in the rainy season found more mosquitoes around hotels and guesthouses, from watered gardens, than on safari. One reply cited NHS Fit for Travel as rating all of Zimbabwe high risk from November to June. TripAdvisor ↗

• Livingstone (Zambia)

  A traveler worried after starting malaria pills late and getting about eight bites. A reply said the odds of an infected bite were remote and to keep taking the pills through the trip and for four weeks after, and another said to tell a doctor about the trip if a fever appears up to a year later. TripAdvisor ↗

• Livingstone hotel Q&A · August / southern winter

  Answers to a hotel Q&A about malaria were split: some guests who visited in winter or August saw no mosquitoes and skipped pills, others took them anyway, and most said to ask a doctor. TripAdvisor ↗

One more rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were at Victoria Falls, on which side and whether you went into Chobe. Malaria can show up weeks later.

Traveler questions