Adapting to the climate in Botswana

As a Brit in Botswana, the weather is different and different in a nice way. I suppose there's only two seasons here - Summer and Winter. Summer temperatures in the south can reach 40 degrees centigrade, the average is mid 30s. Temperatures can exceed 40 in the north. In the winter the temperatures drop to low/mid 20s during the day. The evenings, nights and early mornings are akin to Winterfell (in my opinion). It gets really cold. I wear a scarf indoors!

The summer period brings with it the rainy season. These can be quite spectacular storms with very loud thunder and lightning... they've made me jump a few times. The down side to the storms is that it can result in loss of electricity. The power can normally be restored from anything between an hour to several hours.

Personally, I love the sun and the warmth, so the weather here makes me happy. I do get cold related issues during winter (mainly my sinuses) and this year I got a BAD cold - although the locals refer to a simple cold as "the flu". The downside to summer is the return of insects and mosquitos - lots of mosquitos.

Another downside to a hot summer is the water reserves can dry up. Last year there was an indefinite period of water rationing. Some built up areas could go the best part of a week without water, some of the villages could go as long as weeks/months. Most houses now have reserve water tanks, that can last a few days depending on its size.

If you're coming to Botswana, bring a brolly and sun lotion... ladies here use brollies to block the sun ;-)