Cameroon: When to Go

The best time to visit Cameroon is during the cooler, drier months of November to February. The caveat is the harmattan - the winds that blow sand south from the Sahara and turn skies sandy grey from December to February. On bad days, visibility can be reduced to 1km or even less, delaying or cancelling flights and spoiling views. As bad as this sounds, the May to November rainy season turns Cameroon into a sea of mud and makes travel even more difficult than the harmattan .

Weather

The north has a single wet season from April/May to September/October. The hottest months here are March to May, when temperatures can soar to 40°C (104°F), although it's a dry (and therefore generally bearable) heat. The south has a humid, equatorial climate, with rain scattered throughout the year and almost continual high humidity.

The main wet season here is June to October, when secondary roads often become impassable. From March to June are the light rains.

Throughout Cameroon, November to February are the driest months, though dust from harmattan winds greatly restricts visibility. These are the best months to visit, although you'll have harmattan haze during much of this time (which is not good for photography). The worst months are between July and October, when it's raining almost everywhere and many roads are impassable.