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Chobe in July

July is peak Chobe and the coldest month of the year. The river is back within its banks by the middle of the month, the pans are drying, elephants and buffalo build up along the riverfront, and the lodges move to their highest rates on the first.

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July is Chobe's most reliable month for game and its coldest: no rain on the average, highs of 25.2°C and model nights of 12.2°C that drop much lower at dawn. Peak lodge rates start on 1 July, campsites are booked months ahead, and the riverfront herds build through the month.

July weather: the coldest nights of the year

The normals for the middle of the park give July no rain at all on the average, afternoons of 25.2°C and nights of 12.2°C, the lowest of the year. Nights can be a good deal colder than that figure: the lowest daily minimum in the thirty-year model series for Kasane is 3.4°C, in July, and a 1960s riverfront station put the June and July average minimum at 9°C, 2 to 3°C below the models.

Pack a warm hat, gloves and a proper jacket for dawn in an open vehicle, and layers you can shed as the day warms.

The river returns to its banks and the herds arrive

The Chobe at Kasane is typically back to bank-full by mid-July, uncovering floodplain grass and sandbanks as it falls. With the inland pans drying, elephant and buffalo build up along the riverfront through the month. The 2018 aerial survey, flown from July to October, counted about 2,556 elephants and 938 buffalo in the riverfront strip alone.

Expert Africa calls July the very best time to visit. At Savuti, with the channel dry in most recent years, the dry-season game depends heavily on pumped waterholes.

Peak rates, crowds and bookings in July

Peak rates start on 1 July and run to 31 October: Ghoha Hills Savuti Lodge at $1,109 per person per night, Nogatsaa Pans Chobe Lodge at $827, Wilderness Savuti in the Linyanti concession at $2,038, and Chobe Bakwena outside Kasane at $766 for a two-night stay. SafariBookings marks July to October as high season and warns that the park gets crowded.

Campsite bookings open twelve months ahead, and a campsite booking site says the April to October season is often booked a year in advance. Gate hours are 06:00 to 18:30, and malaria risk is low until the end of September.

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