Climate and Travel Seasons With 300 days of sunshine on average per year, Namibia is truly a sunny place. It rains sometimes, during the summer months from November to February usually in form of cloudbursts. In this "rainy season" - which is a slightly exaggerated term - the dry riverbeds, called "riviere", get filled with torrents of muddy water for a short time. Then the sun-scorched land comes to life and develops a colourful horizon to horizon floral carpet within a few days.
Namibia can be travelled at any time of the year. The best time, however, are the months from April to October, when the temperatures are around 25 degrees during the day and the sky is always blue. The nights are cool, but a pleasantly dry cold.
The dry winter months (July to September) are also a good time to visit this desert country. The day temperature usually stays above 20 degrees. But on the central plateau and in the Namib desert the nights can be freezing.
Photo: Dramatic sky in southern Namibia. Rain comes down in great cloudbursts in summer.
Photo: Sossusvlei, Namib Naukluft Park. The summer temperatures in the Namib desert often rise above 40 C degrees during the day.
The summer months are hot in Namibia. Then Namibians like to move to the cooler coastal towns, preferably to Swakopmund. Here, they can expect sea fog in the mornings, which keeps temepratures down. The fog usually dissolves around midday. Windhoek is also bearable in summer due to its altitude of about 1650 m. However, the Namib regions should be avoided in summer when temps climb to over 40°C. Same applies to the tropically humid north-eastern regions, especially the Caprivi.
In your travel planning keep in mind that the seasons are the other way round in the southern hemisphere!