Botswana trip in May - Conditions in general

[RDB123]

Hi everyone
I'm brand new on the forum/community, but have already learnt so much from reading the forums. We are now in the process of planning a 3-week trip to Botswana in May 2024. I will soon ask some questions to help me finalise my itinerary, but in the meanwhile a few general questions to the experienced Botswana hands on here:

- What is the mosquito situation like in May? (we will handle it, just want to mentally prepare my travel companions!)
- This is at the beginning of dry season, will we still have problems with deep water/mud in places like Moremi/Khwai/Makgadi/Savuti? (we are renting Landcruiser 79's and have some offroad experience)

Thanks!
RDB

[Hylton]

Never had a mozzie problem in May. Just take usual precautions.

[CalDriver]

I suppose it depends on the rain, but we were there last May (latter half of the month) and the mud was minimal. A couple spots that made you think twice, but it was fine. There was actually more water when we went back at the end of July, because it takes a long time for water to come down from Angola in the river.

[alannymarce]

The last time we were in this area was late May/early June - there were some areas which required crossing water, some which were still closed for water, and a couple of points where we had to pick our way carefully for mud (we met several others who had been stuck for a while, however we had no problems). There are usually "dry" routes marked to avoid the most difficult areas, although we took a couple of "wet" routes and were OK.

re mosquitoes, I guess it depends on what you're used to; I've never found the mosquitoes in Botswana to be particularly bothersome, compared with some other areas - long sleeves/trouser legs and good repellent work well.