Liwonde National Park Where to stay

Month by month

Best time to visit Liwonde National Park

The dry season runs May to October, and July to October is the sweet spot: as inland water disappears, the park's wildlife concentrates along the Shire River and the game viewing gets better by the week.

If you only want the answer

June to September. July here is genuinely rainless, 2 mm on the thirty-year average, against 232 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 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.

January to February

Green season

31/19°C

  1. January 29.5° day, 21.8° night 232 mm over 21 wet days
  2. February 28.7° day, 21.5° night 201 mm over 17 wet days

March

Green season

31/19°C

  1. March 28.7° day, 20.9° night 128 mm over 14 wet days

April

Shoulder

±30/18°C

  1. April 28.5° day, 19.4° night 30 mm over 5 wet days

May

Shoulder

±28/16°C

  1. May 27.3° day, 17.1° night 9 mm over 2 wet days

June to July

Prime

26/14°C

  1. June 25.9° day, 15.2° night 4 mm over 1 wet day
  2. July 25.7° day, 14.5° night 2 mm, and rarely a whole wet day

August

Prime

±28/16°C

  1. August 28.0° day, 15.9° night 3 mm, and rarely a whole wet day

September

Prime

±30/18°C

  1. September 31.2° day, 18.8° night 7 mm over 1 wet day

October

Shoulder

±33/21°C

  1. October 34.1° day, 21.7° night 15 mm over 3 wet days

November

Shoulder

±33/20°C

  1. November 32.9° day, 22.4° night 93 mm over 12 wet days

December

Green season

31/19°C

  1. December 29.8° day, 21.7° night 212 mm over 20 wet days

Climate figures are Open-Meteo climate normals, 1991 to 2020, measured at -14.85, 35.35. 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.

Why the late dry season wins

Liwonde's geography does the work for you. The park is small, and the Shire River is its only permanent water once the inland pans dry out. From July the bush thins, the floodplain empties of standing water, and elephants, buffalo and antelope press toward the river in growing numbers. African Parks' own advice is to visit in the dry season, when the bush is dry and open and game is easier to spot.

October is the crescendo: the hottest month, around 33°C by day, with peak concentrations along the river before the first rains break. If you can stand the heat, it is the best game viewing of the year.

When to take the boat

Boat safaris run year-round and are the park's most weather-resilient activity. Our reading is that they are at their best in the late dry season, August to October, when elephants, hippos and antelope crowd the banks; no official source names a best month for boating, so treat that as this guide's judgement rather than African Parks' advice.

The wet season flips the logic rather than breaking it: the river rises and animals disperse inland, but boats become the primary transport when roads deteriorate, so the river keeps working for you when driving does not. Birding from the water in the green season is superb.

Camp seasons

  • Kuthengo Camp: open 19 March to 11 January, closed February for maintenance.
  • Chimwala Camp: year-round, with a 4x4 recommended December to April.
  • Mvuu Camp and Mvuu Lodge: no closure is stated anywhere and rate calendars run through December, so year-round is the reasonable inference. December rates drop.
  • The park-run houses and Chinguni Campsite: year-round.

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