Month by month
Matusadona in December
December is the wet season settling in: green bush, storms over the lake, the lowest lodge rates of the year and a busy Kariba town over the holidays.
If you only want the answer
December is cheap and green at the lodges, with scattered game and plenty of rain. Book boats and houseboats early for the festive weeks, when Kariba fills up.
Weather
Rain returns in earnest on the model normals, with warm nights and hot, humid days.
On the thirty-year model normals December averages 27.3°C by day and 20.3°C at night, with 261 mm of rain over 22 wet days.
Game
Animals spread away from the shore; boats remain the most reliable way to see hippo, crocodile and birds.
Rates
Bumi Hills' lowest 2026 rate is $630 per person sharing in December. Changa is on its green-season $440. Kariba town is busy with holiday visitors, so arrange transfers and houseboats early.
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.