Savanna is the biome most people picture when they think of Africa, and it covers more of Southern Africa than any other: grass with scattered trees, thorn and combretum bushveld, mopane in the hotter north, running from the Kruger Lowveld across the Waterberg and the North West into Botswana, Zimbabwe and beyond. It carries almost all of the region's big game, because grass feeds the grazers, trees feed the browsers, and the whole system runs on a wet summer and a dry winter.
That cycle decides your trip. From May to September the grass dies back, leaves drop, surface water disappears and everything concentrates at rivers and waterholes, which is why the dry winter is the classic game-viewing season. Days are warm and clear, nights and dawn drives are genuinely cold. From November to March the bush turns green and thick, animals disperse and are harder to see, but the migrant birds arrive, the young are born and the light and the storms are the best of the year.
Much of the savanna is a malaria area in summer, which is worth planning around. Stays run from national park rest camps to private reserve lodges with traversing rights and night drives, and bush camps deep in the concessions.
May to September, the dry winter, when thin bush and scarce water concentrate game at rivers and waterholes and the days are warm and clear. Bring warm clothes for dawn drives. The green summer, November to March, is better for birds, newborn animals and photography but harder for game viewing.
The Kruger Lowveld and the private reserves on its boundary, the Waterberg and Limpopo bushveld, Madikwe and Pilanesberg in the North West, and the Zululand reserves. The same biome continues north into Botswana and Zimbabwe, which is why an Okavango or Chobe camp feels familiar after Kruger.
The Lowveld, the far north of Limpopo and northern KwaZulu-Natal carry a malaria risk, highest in the wet summer months. The Waterberg, Madikwe, Pilanesberg and the Eastern Cape reserves are malaria-free, which is why they are the usual choice for families with young children. Speak to a travel clinic before a Lowveld trip.
