Month by month
Liwonde in December
December more than doubles November's rain, 212 mm over 20 days against 93 over 12, and the floodplain that only started refilling a month earlier is now genuinely flooding. It is also, by Mvuu's own rate sheet, the cheapest month of the year to sleep inside the park's best-known camps.
If you only want the answer
December is proper wet season again: heavy, frequent rain, a 4x4 recommended, and the lowest published rates of the year at Mvuu.
The wet season resumes at full strength
The thirty-year average puts December at 212 mm of rain over 20 days, close to January's record and a sharp jump from November's 93, with days easing to 29.8°C and nights at 21.7°C. Whatever dryness the middle of the year built up is undone within a few weeks.
This is also the first month the park's own advice puts a 4x4 back on the packing list, a recommendation that runs through April.
The floodplain floods, and the boat takes over again
With standing water back on the floodplain, game disperses the way it did the previous January, and a boat safari on the Shire again becomes more dependable than a drive when roads turn soft. Elephant sightings shift from the guaranteed riverside parade of September back toward genuine searching.
Birders gain what game viewers lose: the return of wet-season migrants and breeding activity that the dry months don't offer.
The cheapest month, and a closing camp
Mvuu Lodge and Mvuu Camp both publish their lowest rate of the year for December, roughly $465 and $305 per person, a clear step down from the July-to-November tier. Kuthengo Camp is still open throughout, but only until 11 January, so it is your last chance at that camp before its scheduled break through February.
If cost matters more than dust-dry conditions, December is the year's best value at Mvuu; just budget the extra time a wet road can cost you. At the budget end, Chinguni Campsite keeps running at its usual rate through the rain, so a wet-season trip inside the park is still possible for well under fifty dollars a night all in.