Climate

Botswana straddles the Tropic of Capricorn and experiences a variable climate. In winter, usually late May to August, the days are clear, warm and sunny, and nights are cool to bitterly cold. Although Botswana is mostly desert country, there is a fairly pronounced rainy season during the summer, November to March, when afternoon showers and thunderstorms bring pula (rain). April, early May, and September/October tend to be dry, but the days are cooler than in summer and the nights are warmer than in winter. Botswana's is usually characterized as having a semi-arid cliamte; it is hot and dry for most of the year. The rainy season tends to eratic, unpredictable, and highly regional. Showers are often followed by strong sunshine so that a good deal of the rainfall does not penetrate the ground but is lost to evaporation and transpiration.

The dry season usually occurs from April to October and the drier it becomes the easier it is to spot animals close to permanent water holes. At this time much of the Okavango dries out, apart from permanent rivers in Moremi Game Reserve and the northern reaches of the Okavango. The heat starts to build in earnest from October onwards. The wet season usually kicks in November to March. It is a hot rainy season and the roads can be quite bad. The landscape is lush and green and there is an abundance of wild flowers.

During the summer months of November to April, temperatures can rise to over 40ºC and there are often thunderstorms in the early afternoons and evenings. At night the temperatures usually drop to around 20 - 25ºC. May to October are the winter months and temperatures can reach about 20 C during the day but can drop to as low as 5ºC at night. Days normally remain dry, sunny, cool and warm.