The best time to visit Botswana, month by month.

Botswana’s seasons explained.

Safari people talk about three seasons in Botswana rather than four. Each one is genuinely different, and none of them is a write-off.

The dry season: May to October

From May the rain stops completely, the skies clear, and the bush begins to dry out. Seasonal pans and waterholes shrink one by one, and the animals are forced back towards permanent water: the Okavango, the Chobe and Linyanti rivers and the Delta’s channels. At the same time the leaves fall and the grass is grazed down, so you can see much further into the bush. That combination, animals concentrated and visibility opening up, is why game viewing improves steadily from June and peaks in September and October.

The early dry season, May to July, is winter. Days are sunny and pleasantly warm, but nights are cold, and early mornings in an open vehicle can be close to freezing. From August the temperatures climb, and by October the afternoons can pass 40°C. There are almost no mosquitoes in the coldest months, which makes this the lowest-risk period for malaria.

The green season: November to April

The first rains usually arrive in November, often as dramatic afternoon thunderstorms after weeks of building heat. Within days, the dust settles, the bush turns green and the animals that have been tied to rivers all winter scatter across the country to feed on fresh grass and drink from rain-filled pans. Most antelope give birth between November and January, so the bush is full of young animals, and the predators follow them.

This is when the Kalahari, the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan come alive, when tens of thousands of zebra migrate onto the pans, and when hundreds of migrant bird species arrive. Rain usually falls in short, heavy afternoon showers rather than for days on end, and mornings are often clear. Game in the Delta is more dispersed and the vegetation is thicker, so sightings take more work, but you share them with very few vehicles. Some camps and mobile operations close for part of this period; those that stay open drop their rates sharply.

The shoulder months

April, May, June and November sit between the two and are, in our view, the most underrated months of the year. April and May bring the last green, clear air and comfortable temperatures as the country dries. June brings the flood and the start of the dry-season concentrations at a lower price than July. November is hot and unpredictable, but the first rains can transform the landscape overnight, and the game is still concentrated from the dry season.

Botswana month by month.

Temperatures below are typical daytime highs and early-morning lows for Maun and the Okavango Delta. The Kalahari runs a little hotter by day and colder at night.

Botswana in January

The heart of the green season. Hot and humid, with highs around 32°C and warm nights, and afternoon thunderstorms most days. This is the best time of year for the Central Kalahari, where springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest gather on the short grass of the fossil valleys and the black-maned Kalahari lions follow them. The zebra migration is on the Makgadikgadi and at Nxai Pan. In the Delta, water levels are at their lowest, game is dispersed and birdlife is outstanding. Rates are at their lowest, apart from the first week of the month, when festive-season pricing still applies.

Botswana in February

Usually the wettest month, though even now most days have long dry spells. Everything is green, the light after storms is extraordinary and the antelope lambs and calves of December are growing fast. It is the best month for photographers who want skies and colour rather than dust, and for anyone who wants the bush almost to themselves. Black-cotton soil makes some areas, such as parts of Savuti, difficult to drive, which is why we favour fly-in camps and private concessions now.

Botswana in March

The rains begin to ease, though March can still be wet. The pans are full, the zebra are still at Nxai Pan and on the grasslands, and the Kalahari is excellent. Far to the north, the new flood has already crossed into Botswana and begun filling the Okavango Panhandle. Rates are still green-season, and the combination of the pans and the Delta works well this month.

Botswana in April

The end of the rains and one of the loveliest months in the calendar: clear skies, green landscapes, highs around 30°C and cooler nights. The zebra start to drift back west towards the Boteti River. The flood is moving down through the Delta, and impala begin their rut, so the bush is noisy with roaring males. Many camps move to shoulder rates, and crowds are still thin. Easter is the one busy fortnight.

Botswana in May

Dry, crisp and comfortable: highs in the high twenties, nights dropping towards 10°C and no rain. The flood reaches the central Delta and the mokoro channels begin to open properly. Vegetation is still fairly thick, but game is starting to move back towards permanent water, and there are very few mosquitoes. May is excellent value and one of the most pleasant months to travel in Botswana.

Botswana in June

Winter proper. Days are sunny and around 25°C, but early mornings can fall to 5°C or below, with frost on the pans and in the Kalahari. The flood is spreading across the Delta, water camps have their best mokoro and boating of the year, and the animals are concentrating. Wild dogs often begin denning from June, which can make them easier to find in the Linyanti and Delta concessions. Many camps keep shoulder rates for June, making it one of the best-value months of all.

Botswana in July

Peak season begins. The flood is at or near its height, often reaching Maun itself, so you can have water and big game in the same camp. Mornings are the coldest of the year; days are dry and clear. Game viewing is excellent everywhere in the north, the zebra are on the Boteti River, and the European summer holidays make this one of the busiest months. Book well ahead.

Botswana in August

If you must choose one month, many people would choose August. The flood is still high, the bush has thinned out, the mornings have warmed a little, and the elephant herds are building along the Chobe riverfront and the Linyanti. Predator viewing is at its best, and late in the month the first carmine bee-eaters return to nest in the riverbanks. It is also the most expensive month of the year and the first to sell out.

Botswana in September

Hotter and drier, with highs around 33°C. Water sources away from the rivers have almost gone, so the concentrations of game at water are extraordinary, and the Chobe’s elephants come down to the river in their hundreds every afternoon. The flood begins to recede at the edges of the Delta but the central channels are still full. Carmine bee-eater colonies are busy. For serious game viewing it is one of the very best months.

Botswana in October

The hottest month, sometimes called “suicide month”: afternoons regularly reach 38–40°C or more, and the air is dusty and hazy. For game viewing it is arguably the best month of the year, because the animals have nowhere else to drink. Plan around the heat: long siestas, a camp with a pool and some shade on the vehicle. Clouds start building at the end of the month.

Botswana in November

The month the weather breaks. The first rains are unpredictable, but when they come the heat drops, the country greens within days and the first impala and tsessebe are born. Migrant birds arrive from Europe and the rest of Africa, and the zebra begin to move from the Boteti back to the pans. Game is still concentrated in the early part of the month. Rates fall to shoulder or green season, which makes November an underrated window if you can travel then.

Botswana in December

Green, warm and full of young animals, with afternoon storms and some of the most dramatic skies of the year. The zebra migration reaches the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan, and the birding is superb. Rates are low until the festive season, when Christmas and New Year bring peak pricing and minimum stays at many camps. Malaria risk rises with the rains, which matters for families with young children.

Botswana weather and rainfall by month.

Botswana is a dry country. Maun, the gateway to the Delta, receives around 450mm of rain a year, almost all of it between November and March, and almost none from May to September. The figures below are approximate long-term averages for Maun and are a guide, not a forecast.

Two things the averages hide. First, the daily range is huge in winter: a July day can run from near freezing at dawn to the mid-twenties by lunch, which is why layers matter so much. Our packing guide covers what to bring for each season. Second, rainfall varies a great deal from year to year, and green-season rain comes mostly as short storms, so a “wet” month still has plenty of sunshine.

The Okavango flood: why the Delta peaks in the dry season.

The single most important fact about timing a Botswana safari is that the Okavango Delta floods in the dry season. The water does not come from Botswana’s rain. It falls on the highlands of Angola between December and March, flows south down the Okavango River, crosses into Botswana at the Panhandle around March, and then spreads slowly across the flat Kalahari sand, moving only a kilometre or so a day.

It reaches the central Delta around May and June, peaks between June and August, and often reaches Maun, at the far end, in July or August. So the Delta is at its fullest in the middle of Botswana’s dry winter, when every other water source in the region has gone. That is why the game concentrations are so extreme in the dry months, and why a water safari in the Delta is best in the season you would assume was worst for it.

How far the water gets varies from year to year with the Angolan rainfall. In a high flood year, tracks are cut off and some land camps become islands. In a low flood year, some water camps lose their mokoro channels altogether. We know which camps are affected each season and tell you before you book, not after you arrive.

The best time to visit each destination.

Okavango Delta

For water activities, mokoro and boating, June to September, when the flood is high. For big game in the Delta’s land and mixed camps, July to October. The green season is quieter and excellent for birds, with boating still possible from camps on permanent channels. See our Okavango Delta guide.

Moremi Game Reserve and Khwai

Moremi is at its best from July to October, when predators are concentrated on the floodplains around Xakanaxa and Third Bridge. In a high flood some tracks are cut. Khwai, on the reserve’s north-eastern edge, is good all year and particularly strong from June to October.

Chobe riverfront

August to November, when vast elephant and buffalo herds come down to the river every day. Boat cruises on the Chobe River work all year, and the green season is quieter, with superb birding. See Kasane, the base for the riverfront.

Savuti

Savuti is famous for predators, and the dry season, July to October, is the classic time. It is also on the route of a zebra migration, with herds passing through around November to December and March to April, depending on the rain.

Linyanti and Selinda

Private concessions with night drives and walking, best from July to October, when the elephants gather along the Linyanti and the Selinda Spillway. Wild dogs often den here from around June to August. See Linyanti and Selinda.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The opposite of the Delta: best in the green season, December to April, and especially January to March, when the rain brings springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest onto Deception Valley and the other fossil river beds. In the dry season it is hot, sparse and silent, which has its own appeal for people who want solitude.

Makgadikgadi Pans and Nxai Pan

Two seasons, two different trips. From December to March the zebra and wildebeest migration fills the grasslands and Nxai Pan. From May to October the pans are dry and white, which is the time for quad biking across the salt, sleeping out under the stars, the habituated meerkats and the zebra gathered on the Boteti River. See the Kalahari and the pans.

Tuli Block and Tsodilo Hills

The Tuli Block in the east is best in the dry season, May to October, when elephants and predators are easier to see in the open, rocky landscape, and it carries a lower malaria risk than the north. Tsodilo Hills is pleasant from April to September, before the heat makes climbing to the rock paintings hard work.

The best time for what you want to see.

Most people have one thing they would be heartbroken to miss. Start there, and the months usually choose themselves.

Lion, leopard and wild dog

July to October. Prey animals gather at the last water and the thinner bush makes predators far easier to find and follow. Moremi, Khwai, Linyanti and Savuti are the strongest areas. For wild dogs, the denning season, from around June to August, is the best chance of regular sightings.

Elephants

August to October. Botswana has the largest elephant population in Africa, and once the inland pans dry, herds of hundreds come down to the Chobe and Linyanti rivers every afternoon to drink, bathe and cross.

Mokoro and the water

June to September. The flood is high and the shallow channels the mokoro needs are at their fullest. Water camps in the permanent Delta offer mokoro for more of the year, but the experience is at its finest in winter.

The zebra migration

December to March. Tens of thousands of zebra, with wildebeest, move onto the Makgadikgadi grasslands and Nxai Pan with the rain, followed by lions and cheetah. The timing follows the rain, so we position on current information rather than a brochure calendar. See The Zebra Migration.

Birdwatching

November to March. Migrant species arrive from Europe and the rest of Africa and resident birds are in breeding plumage, taking Botswana’s list well past 500 species. Carmine bee-eater colonies are busy from late August to November.

Photography

November to April for storm skies, green landscapes, clear air after rain and young animals. The dry season gives warm, dusty light, big concentrations and easier tracking from July to October. Both are excellent; they simply produce different pictures.

Families and avoiding malaria

June to August, when it is cool, dry and mosquitoes are few, and when school holidays in many countries fall. Pair the Delta with the lower-risk Kalahari and pans. See our health and malaria guide.

Honeymoons

Any season works, but May, June and September balance beautiful weather, strong game viewing and quieter camps. The green season adds drama and privacy at a lower price.

Value

December to March (outside the festive season) for the lowest rates, and April, May, June and November for close to peak quality at noticeably less.

Prices, crowds and when to book.

Camp rates follow the seasons closely. Peak rates apply from July to October, and again over Christmas and New Year. Shoulder rates usually cover April to June and November. Green-season rates, from December to March, can be up to 40% lower than peak at the same camp, and some camps offer extra nights free on longer stays.

“Crowds” in Botswana are relative. Concessions are large and camps are small, so even in August you rarely share a sighting with more than one or two other vehicles. What peak season does affect is availability: the best camps have only eight to twelve tents, and for July to October they fill twelve to eighteen months ahead. For the shoulder and green seasons, six to nine months is usually enough.

Our collections and rates show what each level of comfort costs per person per day, and every quotation we send states the season each night falls in.

Our honest recommendation.

If this is your first safari and you want the best chance of seeing the most, go between mid-June and mid-October, combine a water camp in the Delta with a land camp in Moremi, Linyanti or Savuti, and book early. If you have been on safari before, or you care about value, birds, photography or solitude, look hard at April, May and November, or at a green-season trip built around the Kalahari and the zebra migration.

The worst choice is usually not a month but a mismatch: a Delta water camp in a low-flood January, or the Central Kalahari in October. Tell us your dates and what matters most, and we will tell you plainly whether they fit.