The calendar
Find your month
Each one with what it rules in, across six countries and both coasts.
January
Hot and dry across East Africa. Kenya is excellent and noticeably quieter than July. The southern Serengeti calving begins. The coast is at its best — calm sea, low humidity, reliable sun.
Botswana is in green season: the Kalahari is transformed and the Delta is at its lowest water.
February
Peak calving in the southern Serengeti, which is one of the great wildlife events and is far less discussed than the river crossings. Kenya is hot and very good. The best single month on Zanzibar.
March
Still good, getting hotter and more humid towards the end. Rates soften in the second half as the rains approach. A good value window if you do not mind heat.
April
The long rains begin. Genuinely wet. Some camps close for the month. Grass grows tall enough to make game viewing harder. Rwanda and Uganda are the answer, and green-season rates apply everywhere else.
May
The wettest month in much of East Africa, and the quietest. Spectacular skies, superb birding, almost nobody there, and the lowest rates of the year. Botswana’s flood begins to arrive in the Delta.
June
The dry season begins and everything improves quickly. The Okavango flood arrives, which is the beginning of Botswana’s best months. Prices climb. An excellent shoulder window in the first half.
July
Migration herds reach the Masai Mara and the first river crossings happen. Peak game across the region. Peak prices. Book six to twelve months ahead or take what is left.
August
The busiest month of the year, and the game is extraordinary. In the Mara reserve you will share sightings; in the conservancies you will not, which is the whole argument for them.
September
The month we would choose. Peak dry-season conditions, the migration still in the Mara, marginally fewer people than August, good weather on the coast, and Botswana at its very best.
It also sells out earliest, which is the price of being right.
October
Dry, excellent and the last of the peak period. Botswana is spectacular and hot. Rates begin to ease late in the month.
November
The short rains. Brief, heavy afternoon storms and clear evenings, with the best light of the year after them. Rates drop sharply and camps are quiet. Unpredictable — a fortnight can be dry or wet.
December
Excellent throughout, and split in two. The first half is a quiet secret: peak conditions at shoulder prices. From roughly the 20th it is the most heavily booked fortnight of the year, with premium rates and minimum stays.
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