Africa Travel Facts

Africa Gap Years - when to go, what to expect!

When to go

If you're planning on making Africa a stop on your gap year, you'll probably be wondering about the best time to visit. Well, remember we told you how big Africa is? - it's pretty hard to summarise climate in such a big land mass, it depends where you go!

Weather

Africa's varying weather and climate is largely controlled by the continent's location astride the equator and the fact that it is almost equally in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. To get reliable information on the best time to see the country you are planning to visit, we recommend you check a website focusing in that country. However, as a general rule of thumb, starting from the equator and working outwards:

1. The climate near the equator is tropical, with high temperatures throughout the year and a rainy summer season.
2. North and South of the equator the climate is semi-arid to arid - with the most extreme conditions found in the Sahara in the North and Kalahari in the South
3. On the Northern and Southern coasts of Africa the climate is usually similar to the Mediterranean - with subtropical temperatures and a concentration of rainfall mostly in the autumn and winter months.

Useful Links:

BBC: African Weather Page

The Weather Channel: African Weather by Satellite

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