Hiking Africa

When to hike Africa

In November and December, all 19 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. The area is quietest in July and August, with 15 of 19.

Averaged across the destinations, September is the warmest month at 20 degrees in the hiking window and January the coldest at 17. 11 of the 19 destinations lie in the southern hemisphere, where the year runs the other way.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 115 metres at Table Mountain to 3,109 metres at Aberdare Range, with a median of 1,632 metres. Both clear the criteria in 12 months (all year).

The longest season belongs to 13 destinations, including Mount Meru and Nyika Plateau, at 12 months each; the shortest to Tassili n'Ajjer, at 5 months (from November to March).

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is heat for 6 of the 19 destinations. 13 are recommendable in all twelve months.

In July, the quietest month, 4 of 19 destinations are closed, all of them by heat.

Not counted here are 6 further destinations for which we publish no recommendation. They are listed below with the reason.

Conditions in November

November is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 7 degrees at Mgoun Massif to 26 at Fouta Djallon, and rain falls on 1 to 99 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 19 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.