Many places in Africa have distinct dry, wet, hot and cool periods during the year, which can affect travel plans hugely. You wouldn’t want to spend your two-week holiday on the tropical island of Zanzibar in the pouring rain, would you?
If you’re going on a wildlife safari in Africa, it’s important to choose the right month to travel in for the parks you’re going to visit – if you travel during the rainy season, you might see a lot of birds, but you won’t see a lot of game. In contrast, if you travel during the dry months, you’ll be treated to abundant wildlife sightings, as the dry foliage makes animals easier to spot, and the lack of water draws animals to water sources such as waterholes and rivers.
Planning Your Safari Around the Calendar
A few honest takeaways, if you’re weighing up when to go:
- If wildlife concentration is your priority, aim for the Southern African dry season (May–October) — Kruger, Etosha, Chobe, Moremi, and South Luangwa are all at their best.
- If the Great Migration is the goal, August and September in the Masai Mara give you the best odds of a river crossing, while June and July in the Serengeti offer excellent resident game viewing ahead of the crowds.
- If you want newborn animals and predator action, late January into February in the southern Serengeti is genuinely one of the best wildlife spectacles in Africa.
- If you’re combining beach and bush, February and June–October both offer good weather windows on the Tanzanian coast (Zanzibar) alongside strong inland safari conditions.
- If budget and crowds matter more than peak wildlife concentration, the shoulder months — March–April and November — tend to offer the best value across the region.
Here’s our guide on where to travel in Africa month by month:
January
The beginning of the year is a great time to visit the South African city of Cape Town, when the sunny, warm weather is perfect for beach hopping and wine touring.
January in Southern Africa is high summer — thunderheads building over the escarpment by mid-afternoon, mango trees dropping fruit in the camps, and the bush at its greenest and most tangled. It’s not peak game-viewing season in the classic sense (there’s water everywhere, so animals don’t need to queue at a single waterhole), but it’s peak drama season in East Africa, and peak beach and city season in the south.
Late January to February is when wildebeest calving happens in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, so if you want to see newborns (and predators on the prowl) this is when you should go.
Where to go in January:
- Cape Town, South Africa — beaches, wine country, warm dry days
- Serengeti, Tanzania — wildebeest calving season begins
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — lush and green, excellent birding, quieter than winter months
- Zanzibar, Tanzania — hot, mostly dry, good diving before February’s peak
A note on East Africa’s rain: January and February sit in a short dry window between Tanzania and Kenya’s two wet seasons — sometimes called the “short dry season.” It’s not guaranteed, but it’s usually reliable enough for a calving-season safari.
February
If you’re into scuba diving, February is when you should visit Zanzibar – it’s one of the best times of year to dive, and the weather is hot and dry.
February belongs to the Serengeti’s calving season at its peak, and to Zanzibar’s diving conditions at their best. It’s the hottest, driest stretch of the East African short dry season — warm, clear water, excellent visibility, and none of the June–September wind that can chop up the surface.
Back in Southern Africa, February is transition month. The bush is still thick and green through most of Botswana, Zambia, and northern South Africa, but the first signs of the coming dry season are starting to show at higher elevations. It’s a quieter, greener, often cheaper time to visit parks like Kruger — fewer crowds, dramatic afternoon storms, and outstanding birdlife as migratory species are still present.
Where to go February:
- Zanzibar, Tanzania — one of the best months of the year for diving and snorkelling
- Serengeti, Tanzania — calving season continues; predator action is at its most concentrated
- Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania — resident wildlife is easy to find year-round, but February’s dry spell makes for comfortable game drives
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — green season birding and lower rates
March
March is the hinge month — the tail end of the wet season across most of Southern Africa, and the start of the shift toward drier, more predictable weather. It’s a month for two very different kinds of traveller: those chasing lush landscapes and low prices, and those starting to think ahead to the dry-season parks that are about to come into their own.
March to May are the best months to visit the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which borders South Africa and Botswana. This is the end of the wet season, when the rivers attract animals, making them easy to spot. The last of the wet-season rains have topped up the waterholes and pans, drawing in gemsbok, springbok, and the black-maned Kalahari lions the park is known for, while daytime temperatures have dropped from summer’s extremes to something far more comfortable for long game drives.
In East Africa, March marks the start of the long rains in Tanzania and Kenya — heavier and less predictable than the short rains of November, and the main reason most safari operators consider March through May the off-season there. It’s a good month to lean south instead.
Where to go March:
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa/Botswana — best three-month window begins
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — still green, still quiet, good value
- Cape Town, South Africa — late-summer weather without January’s crowds
April
The Namib Desert, in Namibia, is scorching during the summer months of November to March, so the best time to go is when it starts to cool down, from April onwards.April marks the start of cooler mornings and evenings, and by extension, the start of the best window for exploring Sossusvlei’s towering red dunes, the eerie skeleton forests of Deadvlei, and the wide gravel plains of the Namib-Naukluft. The desert doesn’t cool down all at once — think of April as the opening door rather than a switch flipped — but conditions improve steadily from here through the middle of the year.
April is shoulder season almost everywhere in the region, and that’s exactly its appeal. Southern Africa’s rains are easing off, East Africa’s long rains are still running, and the crowds and prices of the coming high season haven’t arrived yet.
April marks the start of cooler mornings and evenings, and by extension, the start of the best window for exploring Sossusvlei’s towering red dunes, the eerie skeleton forests of Deadvlei, and the wide gravel plains of the Namib-Naukluft. The desert doesn’t cool down all at once — think of April as the opening door rather than a switch flipped — but conditions improve steadily from here through the middle of the year.
Further east, Victoria Falls is worth timing carefully. April sits near the end of the Zambezi’s wet season, which means the Falls are at or near their most powerful — a genuinely thunderous wall of water and spray visible for kilometres, though the spray itself can obscure the view from certain viewpoints. If you want to see the Falls in full roar rather than see through the mist to admire the rock face, this is one of the two or three best months of the year to do it.
Where to go in April:
- Namib Desert, Namibia — cooling temperatures begin; best conditions building from here to October
- Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia — peak water volume, dramatic full-flow viewing
- South Luangwa, Zambia — the start of the dry season approach; parks are beginning to open up for the year ahead
May
The best time of year to visit Kruger National Park (as well as most wildlife parks in southern Africa) is the winter months, from May to September. This is the driest time of year, which means the animals tend to congregate around waterholes. That, coupled with the fact that the vegetation is drier and sparser, makes the animals incredibly easy to find.
Namibia’s Etosha National Park is best visited in the winter months of May to October, when this arid region receives no rain. It’s super easy to spot lions, elephant, rhino and other animals at this time of year, because they all have to come to the waterholes to drink. Temperatures are also pleasant at this time of year – warm days and cool nights.
In Botswana, Chobe National Park’s dry season runs from May to October, when animals gather along the river to drink. September and October are extremely hot, making May, June, July and August the best months to visit.
Where to go in May:
June
June is the start of the dry season in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, when animals migrate to the Delta in search of water, making for excellent wildlife viewing. The temperature is also pleasant, and there also are less mosquitoes at this time of year.
June is the start of the dry season (which lasts until September) in Rwanda and Uganda, and is one of the best times of year to visit the central African countries if you’re thinking of going gorilla tracking. (While you can go gorilla tracking during the rainy season, the muddy paths make hiking more difficult.)
June marks the beginning of the dry season in Mozambique, and it’s the best time to visit the coastal country before it gets starts getting very hot in September.
The rainy season in Zanzibar ends in May, and June marks the beginning of the dry season, which lasts until October, and is the best time to visit the East African tropical island.
June is a great time to visit Tanzania’s flagship park, the Serengeti National Park, before the wildebeest return to the Masai Mara in Kenya around August. The rainfall at this time of year is low, while daytime temperatures average around 26 degrees centigrade.
Where to go in June:
- Okavango Delta, Botswana — annual flood begins; outstanding, concentrated game viewing
- Bwindi Forest, Uganda — dry season begins; best gorilla trekking conditions of the year
- Serengeti, Tanzania — resident wildlife excellent, ahead of the migration crowds
- Zanzibar, Tanzania — dry season begins, running through October
- Mozambique coast — dry season begins
July
July to October is the best time for the Ngorongoro Crater, when it’s dry season, animals are congregating around rivers and waterholes in search of water and there’s a low risk of malaria.
In Tanzania, the Ngorongoro Crater enters its best four-month run, from July through October. The Crater floor holds a permanent, high-density population of wildlife year-round, but the dry season pushes animals toward the remaining rivers and waterholes and keeps the malaria risk low, making game drives both easier and more comfortable. Because the Crater’s wildlife doesn’t migrate in and out the way the Serengeti’s does, this consistency makes it one of the most dependable wildlife-viewing destinations on the continent, whatever else is happening with the rains elsewhere.
Meanwhile in Botswana, the Moremi Game Reserve — bordering the Okavango Delta — is deep in its own dry season stride, with wildlife drawn to the permanent water of the Delta’s fringes. And across Southern Africa generally, July delivers some of the year’s coldest, driest, clearest days: expect frost on the ground at dawn in places like the Karoo or the high veld, and brilliant, dust-free light for photography.
Where to go in July:
August
In August, the wildebeest herds move into Kenya’s Masai Mara, so if you want to see part of the famous Great Migration, head to the flagship East African park this month.
Sometime in August (the exact date shifts year to year depending on rainfall patterns), the great wildebeest herds that have spent the dry season in Tanzania’s Serengeti push north across the Mara River into Kenya’s Masai Mara. The river crossings themselves — thousands of wildebeest and zebra plunging into crocodile-filled water, some making it, many not — are the single most photographed wildlife event on the continent, and for good reason. If seeing part of the Great Migration is on your list, August is when the odds are best, though it’s worth noting that crossings can happen anywhere along many kilometres of riverbank, so patience (and a good guide) matters as much as the calendar.
In South Africa, August has a quieter but equally distinctive event: in late August, Namaqualand, in the arid Northern Cape, transforms almost overnight as spring rains trigger one of the world’s great wildflower displays — carpets of daisies, gazanias, and bulbs turning what looks like semi-desert into a technicolour landscape for a few short weeks. It’s an entirely different kind of natural spectacle, but no less worth planning around.
Where to go:
- Masai Mara, Kenya — wildebeest herds arrive from the Serengeti; river crossings likely
- Namaqualand, South Africa — wildflower season, typically late August into September
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — dry season game viewing remains excellent
- Chobe National Park, Botswana — still within the comfortable dry-season window
September
September and October are good months to visit the Okavango Delta (as long as you don’t mind the heat), as the dry weather makes animals congregate at water sources, making them easy to spot.
September keeps the Great Migration story going in East Africa while Southern Africa’s dry season approaches its final, driest weeks — good news for wildlife viewing, less good news for comfort, as temperatures start to climb noticeably in the lower-lying parks.
In Kenya, the Masai Mara typically continues to hold large numbers of wildebeest and zebra through September as the herds graze the northern Mara ecosystem before beginning their journey back south. It’s a slightly quieter month than August’s peak crossing frenzy, but the resident predator population — the Mara has one of the highest lion densities in Africa — keeps things eventful regardless of whether a crossing is happening on any given day.
Where to go in September:
- Okavango Delta, Botswana — flood at its peak extent; superb, concentrated game viewing
- Masai Mara, Kenya — migration herds remain in the ecosystem
- Etosha National Park, Namibia — hot but exceptional, final weeks before the heat peaks
- Chobe National Park, Botswana — heat builds; early mornings and river cruises recommended
October
October is a great time to hike in the Drakensberg in South Africa, when temperatures are pleasant and the mountains are green and lush.
October is a month of contrasts: the very end (and often the hottest, most intense stretch) of the dry season across Southern and East Africa’s wildlife parks, alongside a couple of destinations that are actually at their most pleasant right now precisely because they don’t depend on wildlife concentration at waterholes.
Where to go in October:
- Drakensberg, South Africa — best hiking conditions of the year
- Okavango Delta, Botswana — final weeks of the dry-season concentration, intense heat
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — last month of the prime dry season
- Etosha National Park, Namibia — final, hottest weeks of the waterhole season
November
In November the wildebeest herds make their way south to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
This month it’s whale shark season in Zanzibar, so head to the tropical Tanzanian island if you’d like to dive with the biggest fish in the world (there’s also great visibility in the water in November).
Explore the beaches of Cape Town and South Africa’s Garden Route, as the weather warms up for the beginning of summer – before the Christmas holiday crowds arrive. It’s arguably the best-value month of the year to explore this stretch of coastline, combining good weather with reasonable prices and manageable visitor numbers.
Where to go November:
- Serengeti, Tanzania — herds return south; short rains begin
- Zanzibar, Tanzania — whale shark season, excellent underwater visibility
- Cape Town & Garden Route, South Africa — warm, quiet, good value before the December rush
- Kruger National Park, South Africa — first rains, landscape turning green again
December
If you don’t mind the holidaymakers flocking to the beach, December is a great time to travel in South Africa, whether you go to Cape Town, the beaches of the Eastern Cape, or the beautiful KwaZulu-Natal coast.
In December, thousands of zebra arrive in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana for fresh grazing, as this arid land is transformed into a lush paradise with the summer rains.
And in East Africa, December marks the start of the short dry season that will run into the new year — the same window that, come late January, kicks off the Serengeti’s calving season all over again, bringing this guide full circle.
Where to go in December:
- Cape Town & South African coastline — peak summer holiday season
- Kalahari Desert, Botswana — zebra migration follows the first rains
- Serengeti, Tanzania — short dry season begins, building toward January’s calving
