Eastern Cape

Best Time for Addo & Eastern Cape Safari

Malaria-free Big 5 — South Africa's third-largest national park, year-round

Monthly scores for 3 activities — derived from multi-year wind, rainfall, sea temperature, and wave averages. No opinion: every score is calculated from the data.

Hiking — Month by Month

Scored on: Dry trails, mild–warm temp, low wind

Best months: Apr, May, Jun, Jul

Scale:ExcellentGoodFairPoorAvoid· key data point shown per cell

Jan

3/5

Fair

7d rain

Feb

3/5

Fair

8d rain

Mar

3/5

Fair

8d rain

Apr

4/5

Good

7d rain

May

4/5

Good

7d rain

Jun

5/5

Excellent

6d rain

Jul

4/5

Good

6d rain

Hols

Aug

3/5

Fair

7d rain

Sep

3/5

Fair

8d rain

Oct

3/5

Fair

10d rain

Nov

3/5

Fair

9d rain

Dec

3/5

Fair

10d rain

Hols

Where to go

Spekboom Trail (Addo, 2-day overnight)
Zuurberg Mountain Section trails
Sunday's River valley walks

Best Months per Activity

Months scoring 4/5 or higher. Click a row to explore that activity.

Hiking

Apr, May, Jun, Jul

Camping

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Nov

Game Drives

May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

Monthly Weather Averages

5-year averages 2020–2024 (ERA5); wave height 3-year average 2022–2024 (CMEMS)

Month	High/Low (°C)	Rain days	Wind (km/h)	Sea (°C)	Wave (m)	School
January	24/19.1	7	30.2	23.2	2.6	Term
February	24.2/19.1	8	29.4	23.8	2.8	Term
March	23.7/18.5	8	29.6	23.5	2.9	Term
April	21.2/15.8	7	27.8	22.6	3.1	Term
May	21.1/14.2	7	26.9	21.8	3.4	Term
June	20.1/12.8	6	27.4	20.7	3.6	Term
July	18.8/11.4	6	28.6	19.7	3.8	Winter break
August	18.9/11.7	7	30.8	19.3	4.2	Term
September	19.1/13.1	8	31.8	19.4	3.7	Term
October	20.1/15	10	31.9	19.9	3	Term
November	21.4/16.1	9	30	21	2.8	Term
December	22.8/17.8	10	30.1	22.3	2.8	Summer break

How Scores Are Calculated

Each month receives a score of 1–5 per activity using fixed thresholds on the raw data. No editorial judgement — every score is derived directly from ERA5, NOAA ERSSTv5, and CMEMS figures.

Hiking:Dry trails, mild–warm temp, low wind

Camping:Dry nights, mild temperatures (frost/heat penalty)

Game Drives:Dry season May–Sep: dense animals at water sources

Data Sources & Attribution

Wind speed, rainfall & air temperature

ERA5 reanalysis (ECMWF) via Open-Meteo Archive API. Daily-max 10 m wind speed, total daily precipitation, and 2 m temperature, 2020–2024, averaged to monthly means. License: CC-BY 4.0.

open-meteo.com

Sea surface temperature

NOAA ERSSTv5 (Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature, version 5) accessed via NOAA CoastWatch ERDDAP. Monthly mean SST at nearest 1° grid cell, 2020–2024. NOAA NCEI public domain dataset.

coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap

Significant wave height

CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Service) via Open-Meteo Marine API. Daily-max significant wave height at nearest offshore grid point, 2022–2024 (3-year average; CMEMS model data available from 2022). License: CC-BY 4.0.

marine-api.open-meteo.com

Data last fetched: 2026-05-02

All Destinations Long Weekends Leave Optimizer