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Month by month

Chobe in September

September is the month the heat comes back and the river birds change. Rock pratincoles settle on the boulders the falling river exposes, the southern spring opens the carmine bee-eater season, and the elephant and buffalo herds on the riverfront reach full strength.

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September is one of the best months for game and the start of the heat: 4 mm of rain, highs of 33.5°C, big elephant and buffalo herds along the river, and Savuti's lions still hunting young elephants. Peak rates apply, many camps are full, and malaria risk stays low until 30 September.

September weather: the heat returns

The normals for the middle of the park give September 4 mm of rain on a single day, afternoons of 33.5°C and nights of 19.3°C, almost 5°C warmer by day than August. The model series for Kasane averages six to nine days of 35°C or more this month. The climate record classes September as shoulder because of that heat, but for game viewing it sits squarely in the best stretch of the year.

Chobe Game Lodge counts September to November as its dry season. Plan drives for dawn and late afternoon, and carry more water than you expect to need.

Rock pratincoles, carmine bee-eaters and the spring birds

As the river drops it uncovers the boulders on the lower Chobe, and BirdLife records 10 to 20 pairs of rock pratincole there from September to early February, while the boulders stay exposed. African skimmers, 10 to 20 pairs, breed on the sandbanks that the same falling water leaves behind.

The southern carmine bee-eater is a spring and early-summer bird on the Chobe, nesting in colonies in the riverbanks. No primary source gives exact colony months, so treat any operator's calendar as a guide and ask your guide or skipper where the birds are this year.

Herds, lions and the last month of winter hours

Expert Africa describes large elephant and buffalo herds along the Chobe in September, and notes that many lodges and camps are fully booked. At Savuti the lions' late dry-season hunting of young elephants, documented from August to November, is in full swing, and the sand on the Savuti tracks is deep and loose. Peak rates apply: Ghoha Hills Savuti Lodge $1,109 per person per night, Nogatsaa Pans Chobe Lodge $827, Wilderness Savuti $2,038.

September is the last month of winter gate hours, 06:00 to 18:30; from 1 October the gates open at 05:30 and close at 19:00. It is also the last low-risk malaria month: NaTHNaC's high-risk season for the Chobe district starts on 1 October.

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