January to February
Green season
219 and 169 mm
- January 29.3° day, 21.9° night 258 mm over 27 wet days
- February 29.0° day, 21.7° night 208 mm over 22 wet days
Month by month
Best time to visit South Luangwa
June to October for walking safaris and the classic dry-season game viewing, September for the peak, and January to April for a green valley, boat safaris and prices that halve. The park never closes; most of the bush camps do.
If you only want the answer
June to September, and the two halves of it are not the same trip. The bush thins out and the game walks to water, but September averages 34.9 degrees in the afternoon. Early in the window you are more comfortable, late in it you see more.
- January: Green season, 258 millimetres
- February: Green season, 208 millimetres
- March: Green season, 151 millimetres
- April: Shoulder, 35 millimetres
- May: Shoulder, 7 millimetres
- June: Prime, 2 millimetres
- July: Prime, 1 millimetres
- August: Prime, 1 millimetres
- September: Dry but hot, 2 millimetres
- October: Shoulder, 6 millimetres
- November: Shoulder, 84 millimetres
- December: Green season, 227 millimetres
Prime
Dry but hot
Shoulder
Green season
Bar height is average rainfall, the figure above it is the daytime high.
The year, season by season
The periods below are how this park actually divides its year, with thirty-year climate averages against each month. Averages hide bad years: a dry January still happens, and so does a wet July.
March
Green season
122 mm
- March 29.3° day, 21.3° night 151 mm over 17 wet days
April
Shoulder
31 mm
- April 30.0° day, 20.4° night 35 mm over 7 wet days
May
Shoulder
4 mm
- May 29.7° day, 18.5° night 7 mm over 2 wet days
June
Prime
0 mm
- June 28.5° day, 16.5° night 2 mm, and rarely a whole wet day
July to August
Prime
0 mm
- July 28.6° day, 15.7° night 1 mm, and rarely a whole wet day
- August 31.2° day, 17.3° night 1 mm, and rarely a whole wet day
September
Dry but hot
0.4 mm
- September 34.9° day, 20.4° night 2 mm, and rarely a whole wet day
October
Shoulder
10 mm
- October 37.8° day, 23.2° night 6 mm over 1 wet day
November
Shoulder
77 mm
- November 35.8° day, 23.7° night 84 mm over 11 wet days
December
Green season
172 mm
- December 30.3° day, 22.1° night 227 mm over 24 wet days
Climate figures are Open-Meteo climate normals, 1991 to 2020, measured at -12.85, 31.85. Prime, shoulder and green are worked out against this park's own year, not a fixed threshold: the four months with the least rain, the four with the most, and the rest in between. Full charts on the weather page.
The rhythm of the valley
The Luangwa is one of the last major unaltered rivers in southern Africa: no dams, no serious abstraction. It floods through the rains from November to March, then drops hard, and as it shrinks the game piles onto whatever water is left. That is the dry-season spectacle, and it peaks in September and October.
Two myths worth clearing up before you plan. The park does not close in the rains, most of the bush camps do, roughly mid-January to mid-March. And flights to Mfuwe run all year, just less often.
Choosing by activity
- Walking safaris: June to October. Grass height and river crossings make walking impractical in the rains.
- Boat safaris: January to April, when the river is high. The rest of the year there is not enough water.
- Leopard: year-round, but night drives are the difference-maker and they run in every season.
- Carmine bee-eater colonies: late August to October, when thousands nest in the riverbanks.
- Birding: November to April, when migrants have settled and breeding plumage is out.
- Best value: May and early June, or April, when rates are low but the bush is drying out.