best time to visit maun

January is the wettest stretch of the year in Maun, and the month the town's water starts falling, hundreds of miles away. The rain that lands on the Angolan highlands now is the flood that will reach the Thamalakane in the middle of the year. In town, expect afternoons in the low thirties, nights around twenty, and thunderstorms that build through the afternoon.

Out in the reserves, game is spread across fresh water and green grazing, so this is a month for birds, newborn animals and the lowest rates of the year rather than dependable big game. The farmers' market at Motsana runs on the last Sunday of the month and is a good hour if you have one to spare before flying out.

February is Maun at its wettest and greenest, with afternoons in the low thirties and warm nights near twenty. Storms tend to build late in the day and then clear, rather than settle in, and the light after one of them is the reason photographers come now.

Birding is at its peak, with the migrants in and many species in breeding plumage. Game viewing in the Delta and Moremi is harder because the animals have water everywhere, so we would only send you now if the green season is what you want.

March turns the corner. The rain eases, the afternoons stay in the low thirties, and the nights start to cool. The country is still green and the tracks are still soft, but sightings begin to steady as the seasonal pans dry.

If Easter falls early, the horse racing outside Maun is on, which is the town's own event rather than a visitor one and better for it. Green season rates still apply, and the camps have space.

April is the handover month. The rain stops, afternoons ease to around thirty and the mornings drop into the middle teens. Up at the top of the Delta the flood is already in Botswana, working its way south towards Maun through channels that fill one after another.

The country is green and empty of crowds, and the wildlife has begun drifting back towards permanent water. Rates start climbing towards the dry season, so this is the last of the quiet value.

May is when Maun expects its river back. The first floodwater normally reaches the Boro and the Thamalakane between the middle of the month and early June, and the town notices. People drive out to watch the front come down the riverbed, which is a strange and lovely thing to see in a place that has had no rain for weeks.

The weather has turned: afternoons in the high twenties, mornings near eleven, and almost no rain. The Ngamiland cultural festival is held in Maun this month, with food, dance and music, and it is a local occasion rather than a staged one. Out in the reserves the game is beginning to concentrate and the predators are busier.

June opens the dry season and is one of the best months of the year to be here. Afternoons sit in the middle twenties and the mornings are genuinely cold, around eight degrees, so the first hour on an open vehicle needs a jacket and gloves rather than a jumper.

The water is usually in the Thamalakane by now, which means boats on the river at Maun and a green line of reeds through a brown landscape. In Moremi and the Delta the animals have started gathering at the water that is left, and the viewing is reliable.

July is the coldest month and the driest, with afternoons around twenty six and mornings near seven. It is also the month that shows how little the flood cares about a calendar: in 2023 the water did not reach the Thamalakane until the twenty fourth of July, and crowds went out to Matlapana to watch it come.

For the reserves this is prime time. Water is scarce, the bush has thinned, and sightings are as dependable as they get. Maun has a rock festival this month, which is not what most people expect of the place and is worth an evening if the timing lands.

August is when the flood is usually at its strongest at Maun, and when the town looks its best. Boat trips run on the Thamalakane, the mornings soften to around ten degrees and the afternoons climb back towards thirty.

This is the busiest month in the camps for good reason: the game is concentrated, the light is clean and the days are dry. Book it a long way out, because the good rooms in the Delta go first and the flights fill behind them.

September keeps the best of the season and loses the cold. Afternoons run into the low thirties and the mornings sit in the middle teens. The river at Maun is still up, so the boats are still going, and the mokoro channels further north are at their most navigable.

Game viewing stays excellent as the last seasonal water goes and the animals commit to the permanent channels. It is our own favourite month for a first trip, because you get the wildlife of August without quite the same competition for space.

October is the hottest month of the year in Maun, with afternoons in the middle thirties and nights that stay warm. The heat is real and it shapes the day: out early, back late, and the middle hours by the pool rather than in a vehicle.

It is also the most concentrated wildlife month, because every animal in the region is tied to the few places still holding water. If you can take the temperature, the sightings are extraordinary. There is a music weekend at a conservancy outside town this month, which grew out of an older Maun festival and still has the same feel.

November is the turn. The first storms arrive, usually in the afternoon, and the heat breaks for a few hours at a time. Afternoons still reach the middle thirties between them, and the nights stay warm.

Early in the month the game is still gathered at water and the viewing can be as good as October's. Once the rain sets in, the animals scatter and the birds arrive. Rates drop, and the camps are quiet again.

December is green season: afternoons in the low thirties, nights around twenty, and storms most days. The country transforms in a fortnight, and the light after the rain is the best of the year.

Maun itself is at its liveliest now, with the festive season bringing music and events to the riverfront that have nothing to do with tourism. In the reserves the game is dispersed, so come for the birds, the scenery, the young animals and the price rather than for a lion every morning.