Botswana
Botswana in May
🍂 AutumnPleasant and mostly dry.
🎒 Pack: warm jacket for evenings · sunglasses & hat
Why May scores 9.2What goes into the score
How it works- Weather comfort9.5
- ✓Comfortable temperatures (26°C highs / 8°C lows)
- ✓Comfortable humidity (dew point 4.3°C)
- ✓Mostly dry (~7 mm rain)
- Air quality8.7
- ✓Good (within WHO guideline) (PM2.5 ~13 µg/m³)
- Seasonal hazards10.0
- ·No notable seasonal hazards
- Safety baseline7.5
- ·Increased caution
| May | Apr | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 9.2 Excellent | 9.4 Excellent |
| Season | 🍂 Autumn | 🍂 Autumn |
| High / low | 26° / 8° | 28° / 14° |
| Rain | 7 mm | 60 mm |
| Humidity | dew pt 4° | dew pt 10° |
| PM2.5 | 13 µg/m³ | 11 µg/m³ |
Typical-month data: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis) 2015–2024 (modelled, not a forecast). Temperatures: Gaborone weather-station normals.
Holidays & crowdsMay 2027
Long weekendThere's at least one long weekend. Domestic travel picks up and popular spots get busier over those days.
- Labour Day 1–3 May · 3 days off in a row
Other public holidays: Ascension Day (6 May)
National holidays only; regional holidays and school breaks aren't included. Source: holidays (open-source public-holiday calendar).
Explore BotswanaEvents, sights, food & souvenirs
Check event dates locallyA southern African country known for low-volume, high-quality safaris in the Okavango Delta, Chobe and the Kalahari, with some of Africa's largest elephant populations.
No major events on our calendar for May.
Coming up later
Okavango flood peakDate variesUsually June to August
Rain that fell in the Angolan highlands months earlier reaches the delta, filling its channels.
Why go: This is peak safari season, so lodges book up far in advance.
Where: Okavango Delta
Botswana Day (Independence Day)Every year30 September every year
A national holiday marking independence in 1966, with celebrations and events across the country.
Why go: Government offices and many businesses close around the holiday.
Where: Nationwide
Zebra migrationDate variesUsually December to March, depending on rains
Thousands of zebra move onto the pans to graze on fresh grass after the rains.
Why go: Timing depends on rainfall, so plan with some flexibility.
Where: Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans
Okavango Delta
A vast inland delta of channels, lagoons and islands explored by mokoro (dugout canoe), boat, on foot and on game drives.
💡 The floodwaters peak in the dry winter months, which is also when wildlife concentrates and viewing is easiest.
Chobe National Park
A park in the north famous for huge elephant herds, best seen from boat cruises on the Chobe River near Kasane.
💡 Late dry season brings the largest herds to the riverfront.
Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans
Enormous salt pans and grasslands where zebra and wildebeest gather after the rains.
💡 The zebra migration happens in the wet season; in the dry season the pans are a stark salt landscape.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
A huge, remote desert reserve known for black-maned lions, gemsbok and open skies.
💡 Self-driving here requires a fully equipped 4x4 and pre-booked campsites.
Tsodilo Hills
A UNESCO World Heritage Site with thousands of San rock paintings in the remote northwest.
Seswaa
Botswana's national dish of beef or goat slow-boiled and pounded, usually served with pap.
Pap (bogobe)
A stiff maize or sorghum porridge eaten with stews and meat.
Magwinya
Fried dough balls, often called fat cakes, sold as a snack.
💡 Roadside stalls and markets
Mopane worms
Dried caterpillars of the mopane moth, fried or stewed, a traditional protein source.
Woven baskets
Intricately patterned baskets woven from mokola palm by women in the Okavango area.
💡 Craft cooperatives in Ngamiland and craft shops in Maun and Gaborone
San crafts
Ostrich eggshell beadwork and other crafts made by San communities.
💡 Community craft shops, for example in the Ghanzi area