Hi At the risk of repeating what everyone else have said (I didn't read the entire thread) here it goes.

Lusaka is fairly safe, but the standards are not as good as western standards. You can describe it as "functional".

The road from Lusaka to Livingstone is good, until the last 60km or so. It's awful, the driving standard is not good so use a driver or take the bus if you plan to travel by road, if I had to do it again, I would probably book a flight.

Hotels in Lusaka: The IC is good but with small rooms, The Southern Sun Ridgeway (Used to be the Holiday inn, and is still referred to as the HI by the locals) , I recommend Taj Pamodzi, excellent hotel.

Hotels in Livingstone are mostly basic, the town is not very developed but is growing after Zimbabwe went downhill.

I stayed at a Maramba river lodge in Livingstone, it was overpriced for a "Luxury" tent. $150 per night per tent.

Victoria falls are amazing, I have only seen them from the Zambian side, most of the falls are in the Zambian side but are best viewed from Zimbabwe.

Crossing the border to Zimbabwe was easy, $55 visa on arrival (It also means you have to get dual entry visa for $80 on arrival in Zambia)

The hotels in Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls town) are Grand, reminiscent of a glorious past. I would actually try and stay there

I crossed the border on foot , it was interesting, highly recommended.

If you don't want to cross the border, you can ask the border control people for permission to see the bridge, you don't need a visa for that and you won't be leaving the country.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, please let me know.