We want to go from Malawi to Livingstone to see Vic Falls during our trip in July. It seems we would have to travel from Mbeya to Lusaka to Livingstone. I am still not sure if we should travel by train or by bus. Overall I am weary of the travel time since it is an almost 1000 mile trip! My first question is if anyone has made this journey and can give us advice on how to go and how long it takes. Second question is if we are nuts and should just concentrate our time in fewer places and come back at another date. THANKS!!

This is a pretty standard route that most travelers do. You can take a bus.

I have not taken this route but researched it when planning a possible trip to the area but later decided against it for other reasons.

You are not nuts... like Donovan said, it seems to be pretty well traveled and shouldn't present problems.

Obviously though, I have no on the ground experience so hopefully someone can chime in with more specific advice to the journey itself.

we travelled by bus from Lilongwe to Chapata in Zambia, stayed there overnight, then bus to Livingston from there.....took 10 hrs to Livvy.
lots of people do it.....and Vic Falls is a MUST!

Which bus company makes the trip?

Another question for Chuggy, where were you staying in Malawi? We are probably going to be at Nkhata Bay. I am wondering how long the trip to Lilongwe is from the north part of the country.

I just completed this trip in the opposite direction, about a month ago. It is very easy, you can get a bus direct from Nkhata Bay to Lillongwe. It runs each day. Stay at Mayoka (I may have spelt that very wrong) in Nkhata Bay, a fantastic hostel, one of the best I have ever been to.

In Lillongwe, I stayed in Mabuya Camp (named Kiboko Camp in the lonely planet, it has changed it's name). This place is another very good hostel. You can then either get a bus from Lillongwe to Lusaka (a very long trip), or break the journey up, and go from Lillongwe to Chapata in Zambia, stay overnight in Chapata, and then go onto Lusaka the next day. To get from Lillongwe to Chapata (approx half a day of travel), you will have to get a local minibus to the border town on the Malawi side (I forget it's name), and then from there, a shared taxi to the border. Once you complete border formalities (very easy in this part of the world), you can get a shared taxi to Chapata. I stayed in a hotel in Chapata that was nothing special in quality or price. I think you could find somewhere better.

From Chapata, there are many buses that run to Lusaka, leaving quite early in the morning. I would not take NPS (I took them), take another as I hear the other companies are better. Chapata to Lusaka will take approximately 8-10 hours on the road. Be warned that buses sometimes leave very late (my NPS bus left 7hrs after scheduled time, hence my recommendation against them).

From Lusaka to Livingstone there are many companies, leaving throughout the day. The trip takes 6-8 hours. Jollyboys in Livingstone is an excellent hostel.