Best time to go Marocco-Cape Town?
 

Can anyone give me some recommendations when the best time is to cross Africa from Marocco to Cape Town regarding rainseasons and heat and so on. I am thinking of going around april/may next year. Might that be a good time to do this trip?

Thanks!

Assuming you're heading south to Senegal then then east through Mali, Niger etc. I'd say April/May isn't a good time to depart. Mali at least and just about anywhere in West Africa away from the coast is, IMHO, unbearable at this time of year. Even most of the Africans I know who live in the region find it extremely unpleasant.

Dec/Jan is probably the best time to go south. This will leave enough time to travel through Western Africa without the hot temperaturs and avoid the rainy season in equatorial africa around May/June... Have a look at the weather chart in LonelyPlanets, It will give you some indication for best travel periods...

Check the current temperature in mali

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/Mali.htm

between 38 and 47C !

Thanks! This helpes me a lot. Hmm, dec or januari you say. It will be cold to go from Sweden through europe then.

There is now an African weather chart for the popular route south that may help - click the Trip Planning menu on the left, and then Routes.

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

In 2000 I left London end-October, and arrived in Cape Town on New Year's Eve. Found it bearable through Mauritanian Sahara, O.K. in Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and passable through Congo and Angola. This timetable would allow you to ride south from Sweden without freezing your crown jewels. It would also allow you to return north via the East Coast of Africa, to arrive in Sweden in April. Go for it!

Hi Ryberg, if you plan to start in februari 2006, maybe we can cross Europe together. Let us know something, we depart on 12/02 to the south with 2 xt600bikes freezing our balls of!!! Yeah! Jelle