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Climate in Zambia


Climate in Zambia

If you look at a map, Zambia appears to be squarely in the tropics, but thanks to its landlocked and elevated position it does have distinct seasons that run as follows:
  • Dry season ? May to August. The coolest time of the year, with temperatures 24-28�C during the day, can drop as low as 7�C at night. Probably the best time of year to visit Zambia: come early in the dry season for birdwatching or to see Vic Falls at their biggest, or later when the bush has dried up for good game-spotting on safari.
  • Hot season ? September to November. Temperatures rocket up to a scorching 38-42�C and clouds of swirling dust make driving on dirt roads an asthmatic's nightmare. If you can take the heat, though, it's a good time for safaris as wildlife clusters around the few remaining watering holes.
  • Wet season ? December to April. Temperatures cool down to 32�C or so and, true to the name, there is a lot of rain ? sometimes just an hour or two, sometimes for days on end. Unsealed roads become impassable muddy nightmares, and many safari lodges close.
  • All temperatures above are given for the lowland valleys that house most of Zambia's population and national parks. If you're heading up to the plateaus, temperatures will be around 5�C lower.

    The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Zambia


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    Zambia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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