Month by month
Matusadona in August
August is when the heat returns and the game concentrates. The bush is bare, water inland is scarce and the lakeshore does the work.
If you only want the answer
August is one of the best months at Matusadona: dry, warming up and with game concentrated on the lakeshore and at the springs. Expect high-season rates and busy camps.
Weather
The park's information pack starts its hot, dry season in August, with an average of 28°C and no rain. Afternoons warm quickly through the month.
On the thirty-year model normals August averages 25.8°C by day and 13.7°C at night, with 1 mm of rain over 0 wet days.
Game
Animals gather on the lakeshore grassland and at the springs on the valley floor. Boat cruises along the shore and up the Sanyati Gorge are at their most productive.
Rates
High season at Changa, $682 per person per night international. Bumi Hills' 2027 peak of $1,490 runs June to September.
The lake
Check the Zambezi River Authority's current Lake Kariba reading before you go: on 22 September 2026 the lake stood at 481.13 m, 40.89% of usable storage, far higher than a year earlier, and the level shapes the lakeshore grassland where most of the game is. We have no sourced month-by-month lake cycle, so we do not predict one.