What To Take:

Comfortable walking shoes, sun hats, sun-glasses, sun screen.
Cameras and binoculars.
Summer: lightweight clothing and swim wear, warm clothing for game drives.
Winter: light clothing for daytime, very warm insulated jackets for game drives.

The Weather

A sunny area most of the year.

Mattanu is situated in a semi arid area with predominantly Camel thorn (acacia erealoba) trees and Kalahari savannah vegetation.
November – March can unleash majestic, rolling thunderstorms with an annual rainfall of between 425 and 500mm. Booming across the wide plains, they threaten to shred the sky’s dark curtain, their mighty bolts of lightning mercilessly stabbing the earth. Fading swiftly, they melt back into a quiet, cobalt sky. The Northern Cape’s weather is typical of desert and semi desert areas.

Afternoon temperatures are usually between 33-36° Celsius. In 1939, at Goodhouse on the Orange River, an all-time high of 47.8° was recorded! Though somewhat unusual, summer temperatures do sometimes top the 40° mark. Winter days are warm – the onset of night bringing dew and frost to supplement our rainfall. Our winter temperatures can drop down to -7, but minimum average day temperatures seldom drop below 15 degrees C.

In general, though, take it that you’ll enjoy hot summer days, warm company and chilly nights.