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Month by month

Best time to visit Chobe National Park

Chobe runs on two clocks that do not match. Rain falls from November to March, but the Chobe River floods later, from about March to May, pushed back upstream by the Zambezi, and the elephants follow neither: they come to the river when the inland pans dry, from about June until the rains return.

If you only want the answer

May to August. July here is genuinely rainless, 0 mm on the thirty-year average, against 166 mm in January. Nothing concentrates animals like water that has stopped falling.

Prime Dry but hot Shoulder Green season Bar height is average rainfall, the figure above it is the daytime high. The $ signs show what a night in the park runs in that period.

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.

Climate figures are Open-Meteo climate normals, 1991 to 2020, measured at -18.56, 24.535. 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 river floods late and the rain comes early

The Chobe does not flood with the local rain. Its flood is mostly Zambezi water: the Zambezi pulse reaches the wetlands upstream at the end of February, and from about the start of March it is pushed east and down the Chobe, spilling over the floodplain through March and April. Between 2000 and 2014 the river's peak came anywhere from 1 March to 17 May, and it is usually back to bank-full at Kasane by mid-July. A second, smaller pulse from the Kwando reaches the Linyanti around mid-June. Water is at its lowest in October.

Rain is a separate clock: about 620 mm a year at the middle of the park, almost all of it between November and March, with April to September close to dry. The elephant spectacle is driven by neither clock directly. It follows the inland pans: as they dry from about May or June, the herds move to the river and to Savuti's pumped waterholes, and they stay until the storms refill the pans in November and December.

The Savuti marsh and channel

Savuti has a third water clock that runs over years rather than months. The Savuti Channel carries overflow from the Linyanti system towards the Savuti marsh and flows only in some years, independently of local rain. The flow phases on record are the 1960s and 1970s, a dry spell from the early 1980s to 2008, and a return that reached the marsh by January 2010 and ran as a major flow until about 2015. From about 2016 the channel dried, with only a small flow past the upper camps in 2023.

In June 2026 an operator with a camp at the upper end of the channel, in the Linyanti concession outside the park, reported the channel flowing again, with satellite imagery dated 8 June 2026. Whether that water has reached the Savuti marsh inside the park has not been reported, so do not plan on a flooded marsh. In the wet season the marsh grassland is fed by rain and draws the migrating zebra; in the dry season, with the channel dry, Savuti's game depends on pumped artificial waterholes.

Lodge rate seasons in 2026

Every lodge with a published rate table prices July to October as its peak, and Chobe Bakwena starts its peak in May. Green-season pricing runs from December or January to March, with April to June and November in between. Chobe Game Lodge, inside the park on the riverfront, names December to March its green season, April to June its shoulder and September to November its dry season, but publishes no rates. Park fees do not move with the seasons: P270 per person per day for non-residents all year.

Lodge (where)Green or lowShoulderPeak
Ghoha Hills Savuti Lodge (Savuti; inside the park per its own site)1 Jan to 31 Mar and Dec 2026: $6361 Apr to 30 Jun and Nov 2026: $8411 Jul to 31 Oct 2026: $1,109
Nogatsaa Pans Chobe Lodge (Nogatsaa, inside the park)Closed 1 Jan to 31 Mar 2026; Dec 2026: $6071 Apr to 30 Jun and Nov 2026: $6071 Jul to 31 Oct 2026: $827
Chobe Bakwena Lodge (Chobe River, outside the park)Jan to Apr and Nov to Dec 2026: $653 (2 nights), $644 (3+)Not usedMay to Oct 2026: $766 (2 nights), $749 (3+)
Wilderness Savuti (Linyanti concession, outside the park)6 Jan to 31 Mar 2027: $1,0431 Nov to 19 Dec 2026: $1,259; Apr 2027: $1,334; May 2027: $1,7461 Jun to 31 Oct 2026: $2,038; 20 Dec 2026 to 5 Jan 2027: $1,400

US dollars per person per night sharing, fully inclusive, from each lodge's own rate page, read 4 October 2026.

Chobe boat cruises by quarter

Cruises run all year from Kasane, but the river they run on changes completely. Use this to pick the quarter that matches what you want from the water.

QuarterThe riverWhat you see
January to MarchLocal rain; from about the start of March the Zambezi flood pushes into the Chobe and spills over the floodplainHippo, crocodile and a wide range of waterbirds and migrants; fewer elephants at the water because inland pans hold rain
April to JuneHigh water: the peak came between March and mid-May in 2000 to 2014; floodplain and channels at their widestBig open water and flooded grass; herds start returning to the river in May and June
July to SeptemberFalling; back to bank-full by mid-July, with floodplain grass and sandbanks exposedElephant and buffalo drinking and crossing at their peak; skimmers and other sandbank birds as the banks surface
October to DecemberLowest water in October; first rains in November and DecemberThe densest game at the water until the rains; rock pratincoles on the exposed boulders, there from September

Which season suits you

  • January to March: choose it for birds, low rates and quiet roads; skip it if riverfront herds or an easy Savuti drive are the point.
  • April to May: choose it for high water, green country and shoulder prices; skip it only if you need the peak-season herds at the river.
  • June: choose it for the start of the dry-season concentrations with cool, clear days; book campsites a year ahead.
  • July to August: choose it for Chobe at its most reliable; accept peak prices and full campsites.
  • September to October: choose it for the most game at the water; skip October if heat above 35°C will spoil your trip.
  • November: choose the first half for late dry-season game at shoulder rates; storms make the second half a gamble.
  • December: choose it for birds, newborns and green-season rates; skip it if you came for big riverfront herds.

Practical notes

  • The climate figures on this page are model normals for the middle of the park. Nights in June and July can be colder than the figures suggest: a 1960s station record on the riverfront ran 2 to 3°C colder than the models, and Chobe Game Lodge says early mornings from April to June can drop to 4°C. Pack proper layers for open-vehicle dawn drives.
  • October averages 35.8°C in the afternoon; drive at dawn and late afternoon and carry more water than you think you need.
  • Gate hours change twice a year: 06:00 to 18:30 from 1 April to 30 September, 05:30 to 19:00 from 1 October to 31 March.
  • Malaria risk in the Chobe district is high from October to May and low from June to September (NaTHNaC); take advice on antimalarials.
  • For June to October, book Ihaha and Savuti campsites as soon as the operators' twelve-month booking window opens.
  • Recreational fishing is closed nationally in January and February, and never allowed in park waters.

Sources

Where to go next

Wildlife What you can expect to see in each season Entry Fees What a day inside costs, whatever the month Getting There Flights and roads change with the season