Namibia in December – First Rains, Long Days and Green Season Rates
December is hot, green and split in two. Windhoek averages 33°C by day and 17°C at night with about 40mm of rain; the north gets 95mm and the coast none. Early December is quiet and cheap; from about 20 December it is peak season., the dry winter. Rainfall is near zero, wildlife concentrates at Etosha’s waterholes, and roads are at their best. July and August are the peak — and the coldest, near 6 °C at dawn.
December is really two months wearing one name. Up to about the twentieth it is a green-season month — hot, thundery, empty, and priced accordingly. After that the festive peak arrives, rates jump into the top band, and the places worth staying have been booked since roughly March. Almost every disappointing December trip we hear about is someone who planned for the first half and travelled in the second.
Namibia in December: the numbers
Long-term monthly averages from Climates to Travel, cross-checked against the Windhoek normals on Weather Atlas, which also records December as having the longest days of the year at about 13 hours 30 minutes. The north column is the one to look at — 95mm is the wettest regional figure anywhere in the country.
December gives you the most daylight Namibia has — useful for covering distance, and a problem for anyone hoping to photograph the Milky Way, because full dark arrives late and leaves early. If astro is the point of the trip, come in winter instead.
What the first rains change
- The country turns green, genuinely and quickly, sometimes within days of the first serious storm.
- Animals calve. Springbok and other antelope drop young in the green months, which brings predators in behind them.
- Migrant birds arrive. December is one of the two best birding months of the year.
- Game viewing gets harder. Surface water everywhere means nothing has to walk to a waterhole, and the grass grows tall enough to hide most of what is out there.
The two halves, and what they cost
On the published 2026 rate cards the green-season band runs to around 9 or 10 January, with a high-season block cutting in from 20 December. Kwessi Dunes is N$10,845 per person per night in green season and N$18,445 in the high band; Hoanib Valley Camp is N$15,995 against N$22,545. Same camp, same bed, a fortnight apart. If your dates are flexible at all, the first two weeks of December are one of the best-value windows of the year.
Where December works
The coast is the obvious winner: Swakopmund gets no rain, sits at 19°C, and is at its liveliest over the festive period. Sossusvlei and the Namib take summer cloud well and see very little rain. The Kalahari greens up beautifully. Where December is hardest is Etosha and the far north, which are simultaneously the wettest, the most difficult for game viewing and inside the malaria window that runs roughly November to June.
If you are travelling between 20 December and early January, treat availability as the binding constraint and book everything before you plan anything. It is the one period where the itinerary has to be built around what is free rather than the other way round.
January carries the same green season on with fewer people once the festive rush clears, and our month-by-month weather guide sets all twelve against each other. If early December suits you, our 18-day self-drive route adapts well to a green-season itinerary.
Frequently asked questions
Is December a good time to visit Namibia?
It depends which half. Early December is hot, green and quiet, with green-season rates still in place at many camps. From around 20 December it becomes one of the busiest and most expensive weeks of the year. Windhoek averages 33°C by day and 17°C at night with about 40mm of rain.
Does it rain a lot in Namibia in December?
In the north, yes by Namibian standards — around 95mm around Etosha and Tsumeb, the wettest figure of any region in the country. Windhoek averages about 40mm, and the coast at Swakopmund gets none at all. The rain comes as afternoon thunderstorms, not all-day cloud.
Is Etosha good in December?
It is green, full of newborn animals and dramatic to look at, but game viewing is difficult because water is everywhere and animals no longer need the waterholes. If you want the classic Etosha waterhole experience, come between August and October instead.
Desert Tracks arranges self-drive and fly-in itineraries across Namibia, Botswana and East Africa. December splits into two very different halves — send us your dates and we will tell you which one you are in. Tell us what you want out of the trip rather than when you can travel, and we will tell you honestly whether your dates fit — including when the answer is that they do not. Get in touch with Desert Tracks.