Botswana during the Green Season

Although enjoying an enviable amount of sunshine of 300 days a year, corresponding to the semi-arid subtropical climate regime of the Kalahari, Botswana, fortunately, benefits from a rainy season.

It’s in December that the first summer rains begin to fall, marking the start of the “green season” and bringing a promise of abundance and renewal that nature awaits impatiently after several months without a drop of water.
The rainy season is mainly characterized by thunderstorms and heavy showers, regularly giving way to beautiful moments of sunshine.

Most of the volume of rain falls in January and February, the landscapes usually remain green until April but this can differ depending on the rainfall of the year and the region of Botswana.

The high season of safari in Botswana takes place during the dry winter season, from July to October, when wildlife observation is easiest thanks to sparse vegetation and gatherings at water points and on the banks during this dry season. In addition, park attendance is at its peak, the austral winter coinciding with the summer vacation period in the northern hemisphere.

So why not let yourself be tempted by the “green season”? If you want to discover all the magic of Botswana from another angle, the green season is an interesting option which, beyond limited attendance and attractive prices, will allow you to immerse yourself in the heart of a Botswana full of surprises.

Here are some reasons to experience a safari in the green season…

The best color and light conditions for photography

Photographers love the green season…

The pure and clean air makes the colors richer and deeper, the rains transform the arid and brown landscape of winter to a luxuriant explosion of color demonstrating a palette of green. The sunsets combined with clouds are more intense, cloudy skies bring a depth of field to shots, thunderstorms and lightning create a unique atmosphere…

The scenography is also very rich, it is the time of abundance and opulence for fauna and flora. Acacia trees with full leaves cast a deep, cool shade on green, wavy meadows, flowers spring up unexpectedly from the sand, and marshes turn into shimmering wetlands filled with water birds and colourful migratory species, the fauna is prolific, plentiful births and abundant predators…

It is the season of births and therefore also that of predators!

The saving rains offer an assurance of easy access to water, the flora explodes and nourishes each species allowing the entire chain of the ecosystem to benefit from a season of plenty.
A rich and nourishing pasture is offered to all the herbivores which give birth to their offspring which itself benefits the whole chain of predators and scavengers thus allowing them to ensure the subsistence of their newborns. The cycle of life is at its peak…

It’s the season of great migrations!

During the rainy season, one of the largest migrations in Africa takes place, the great migration of zebras… Leaving from Chobe and southern Makgadikgadi, more than 20,000 zebras, accompanied by several thousand blue wildebeests, join the fertile pastures from northern Makgadigadi and Nxai Pan to enjoy nourishing herbs and give birth. Thousands of oryx and springboks converge on the green Kalahari valleys to give birth to them. These migrations are of course accompanied by a cohort of predators and exceptional hunting moments.

This is the season for flora and ornithology lovers…

The arrival of the rains is, of course, a season of preference for the flora which explodes and is exposed in all its variety and its beauty. It’s a unique and ephemeral season to discover the Kalahari decked out in green, the arid sections and valleys lined with green meadows and flowers…

Already enjoying a great ornithological richness with nearly 600 species of birds listed, Botswana becomes in the rainy season a paradise for birdwatchers with the arrival of migrants, courtship displays, broods, nesting exceptional flamingos in the sides of the Kalahari,…

The reasons to visit Botswana during the green season are therefore numerous, and even if you will sometimes have to be flexible in the face of occasional rains and possible floods in the parks and delta region, it is little compared to what nature will offer you, almost exclusively…

If you would like to visit Botswana during the rainy season, contact us today.