A Glimpse of the Okavango Delta

Botswana is an all year destination. We only have two seasons... summer and winter, both of which are fairly indistinct. Summer is generally from November to April and the winter months May to October... these are generally categorised by temperate rainfall but can be distinguished thus: Dry season: June to August Pre-rainy season: September and October Rainy season: November to March Post-rainy season: April and May Winter is simple enough. It is the cold and dry season when there is no rain. Ironically it is also the season when the Okavango Delta Floods are at their largest... These floods are not created by rain in Botswana however, rather it is caused by rain falling in previous months over the hills of Angola that take a long time to reach and flood the delta area. The combination of dry weather and high delta floods makes July to October peak season for game viewing in the northern regions of the Okavango, Linyanti and Chobe areas, as the animals seek out life giving waters that the delta floods provide them. Winter can be much colder than you think here and can go down to as low as nearly freezing... Botswana is, after-all, a desert. Summer is a little more ambiguous. It may rain in November, but the rain will generally be short and will not be sustained enough to gather and collect in the dry dams from the winter months. Therefore there is no large material change in game viewing opportunities as the land will still be quite parched. The rains come in earnest from late January onwards and stay until well into March (if it rains at all)... This can affect game viewing and is when the central areas like the Central Kalahari come in to peak season as it is the rain itself that produces new shoots of grass into an arid area which can attract game in the thousands.