Africa’s climate is incredibly diverse, influenced by its geography, topography, and ocean currents. Rainfall in Africa varies significantly across different regions and seasons, impacting ecosystems, agriculture, tourism and the livelihoods of the millions of people that live on this beautiful continent. People often plan their trips around rainfall and the seasons and so it is important to know when the best time to travel is.
Climatic Zones
With Africa being such a large continent, there are different climatic zones influenced by the rainfall and the rain pattern’s. This will determine the types of habitats found in that area and so the wildlife that can be expected to be found in that areas as well.
Most of Central Africa and parts of East Africa or covered by tropical rainforest. This zone experiences high rainfall throughout the year, around the region of about 2000mm a year. This is mainly in the equatorial region and includes countries like the Democratic Republic pop Congo, Rwanda and parts of Uganda. This zone also has no distinct dry season, as even then you may end up getting a random downpour.
Surrounding the tropical rainforest, the savanna regions, such as parts of Kenya and Tanzania, experience seasonal rainfall. The wet season lasts from May to October, with average annual rainfall between 750 mm and 1500 mm. This region is characterized by grasslands and scattered trees. The Sahara in the north and the Kalahari in the south are examples of desert climates, receiving less than 250 mm of rainfall annually. Rainfall is sporadic, often limited to brief thunderstorms.
The coastal regions of North Africa, particularly around the Mediterranean Sea, have a Mediterranean climate. These areas experience wet winters and dry summers, with annual rainfall ranging from 300 mm to 800 mm. In Southern Africa, particularly in regions like the Western Cape, a temperate climate prevails. This area has wet winters and dry summers, with annual rainfall varying from 500 mm to 1500 mm. The rest of Southern Africa, has a summer rainfall.
Seasonal Patterns
Rainfall in Africa is heavily influenced by seasonal changes, largely driven by the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). This zone, where the trade winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, shifts north and south with the seasons, affecting rainfall distribution.
In West Africa, the rain season usually runs between the months of May to October, with the highest rainfall generally in August. The northern regions receive less rain compared to the coastal regions. North Africa on the other hand has rain from November to March with very little moisture being present in the other months. This is the driest region along with the Sahara of the continent.
East Africa is a little different to the rest as they have two separate rain season. The longer of the two is from February to May while the shorter one is from October to December. This is part of the reason the great herd is moving between the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania. Southern Africa is a summer rainfall (excluding the Western Cape), with rains falling between November and March. The peak months over the last few years have been in January and February. This can make trip planning for South Africa a bit tricky as visiting in the winter months and you run the risk of rain in Cape Town or summer when there could be rain in the rest of the country.
Implications of Rainfall
The availability of water to both the people and wildlife of Africa or closely tied to the rainfall patterns. Areas with higher rainfall areas will support larger rivers and lakes while arid areas can sit with the water for months. This will determine where larger populations of animals and people are to be found on a permanent basis.
One of the problems for people is that they cannot move like the wildlife can and so if water dries up, they may loose drinking water. People have built houses and set up villages and cannot just pack up and move these. Fortunately many rural areas will have boreholes and so they have access to underground water sources. In areas where wildlife cannot migrate with the rains, water must be subsidized for them. Another problem for people rather than wildlife, is hydroelectric power, generated by large rivers. Ethiopia and Zambia are good examples of this and years of poor rainfall can lead to fluctuations in power supple.
Rainfall patterns will massively impact Africa’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Rainforests, like in the Congo Basin or Bwindi in Uganda, support huge numbers of flora and fauna, including the great apes found on the continent. Animals in this area do not move and are permanent residents. On the Savanna ecosystem though, rain leads to distinct wet and dry periods. This changes the movement of animals and they tend to migrate, having to follow plant growth.
As with most places in the world now, climate change is changing traditional rainfall patterns across the African continent. This change is leading to more extreme weather events and both drought and floods are a more common occurrence. This is having a much larger impact on people than wildlife at the moment, but this could change for them too if it continues any longer.
Travel
For people like us that are dealing with wildlife, it is essential for us to have some sort of idea as to weather and rainfall patterns in the areas we most use. As we have learnt in the last few years though, this is changing and making life a bit more tricky for us planning trips. As we all know and appreciate though, this is wildlife and anything can happen at anytime and embracing it is all we can do. Sitting with a herd of elephants as they enjoy the cool weather, or play in a mud wallow that has just filled up with fresh rain water. Or one of the big cats taking advantage of the chaos of a thunderstorm to cover them as they stalk a herd of animals are some of the special sightings that one can still be experienced in the wet conditions.
