The rains

iSimangaliso in the green season

From about November to March the Maputaland coast is hot, humid and green, with rain on nine or ten days a month. It is also turtle season, which makes the wet months the main event on the northern beaches rather than the low season.

If you only want the answer

The rains are the price of the turtles. From November to March expect 85 to 133 mm of rain a month, days of 26 to 28.5°C and nights that stay above 20°C, along with thick bush that makes game harder to see in uMkhuze and on the lake shores. Turtle nesting peaks from November to January and hatchlings run from January to March, but the December holidays are the most crowded and expensive weeks of the year.

What the rains change at iSimangaliso

Less than in an inland park, and more than the brochures say. The estuary cruise runs in all seasons and the hippos and crocodiles stay where they are. What changes is the land: the grass and bush grow thick on the Eastern and Western Shores and in uMkhuze, the animals spread out, and a game drive turns up fewer sightings than in August.

The sea calendar runs the other way. The wet months are turtle months, and the northern beaches between Kosi Mouth and Mabibi are busiest with licensed night tours from November to February. The humpbacks have gone by the end of November, so after that you trade whales for turtles.

The numbers

Month	Rain (average)	Day high	Night low
October	98 mm	25.5°C	19.4°C
November	85 mm	26.3°C	20.4°C
December	115 mm	27.4°C	21.7°C
January	93 mm	28.5°C	22.8°C
February	133 mm	28.4°C	23.0°C
March	92 mm	27.7°C	22.3°C

Open-Meteo climate normals for 1991 to 2020 at a point near Sodwana Bay. iSimangaliso publishes no climate data, and the coast and uMkhuze inland will differ.

Who the rains suit

Turtle watchers: nesting from November to January and hatchlings from January to March, on a licensed tour only.
Birders: summer is the season for waterbirds at the Kubube hide in uMkhuze, and the park list runs past 520 species.
Divers and snorkellers who want warm water; Coral Divers gives 20 to 28°C at Sodwana over the year.
Anyone combining the beach and the estuary cruise, which work in any weather short of a storm.

Who should wait for the dry season

Visitors who mainly want land game: June to September is easier in uMkhuze and on the Eastern Shores.
Anyone worried about malaria: the northern sections are a malaria area, and a travel clinic will ask about November to April in particular.
Self-drivers heading for the sand tracks to Lake Sibaya, Mabibi and Bhanga Nek, where the time a trip takes depends on the state of the sand.
Travellers on a budget during the December holidays, when the camps book out months ahead and state-camp high-season rates apply.

Booking in the rains

Book early for 11 December to 11 January, which is high season at Sugarloaf campsite in 2026/27, and expect Thonga Beach Lodge to ask for three nights between 15 December and 15 January. Kosi Forest Lodge sells turtle tracking only from 15 November to 15 January. February and early March are quieter once the school holidays end, and the hatchlings are still on the beaches. From 1 November to 31 March the main gates open from 05:00 to 19:00.