Month by month
Nyika in May
May is the pivot month: the orchid season is over, the dry season's easy roads and shortening grass are starting, and the first frost of the year usually lands this month.
If you only want the answer
May is where the dry season properly opens: rain falls to 68 mm over 14 days, days cool to 20.9°C and nights to 11.3°C, with the plateau's first frost, typically a single night, arriving on schedule.
May weather: the dry season opens
Rain nearly halves from April's 145 mm to 68 mm in May, spread across just 14 days rather than 23, and the grass that hid roan and eland through the wet months starts dropping fast. This is the pivot month on Nyika's calendar: the orchid season is over, and the run of good game-viewing conditions that lasts through October is beginning.
Temperatures follow the rain down. Days average 20.9°C, nights 11.3°C, both cooler than April, and the plateau typically records its first frost of the year in May, usually a single night rather than a pattern yet.
Short grass, easier roads, first frost
Roads up from Thazima Gate firm up noticeably compared to the wet months, and self-driving becomes straightforward rather than an exercise in mud management. Roan, eland and zebra become easier to pick out against the shortening grass, though this is still the edge of the season rather than its middle: expect good, not yet exceptional, game viewing.
Leopard remains a night-drive proposition regardless of month, high density but genuinely elusive, so plan on more than one outing if seeing one matters to you.
One tip for May
CAWS's confirmed Chelinda Lodge pricing does not extend to May either, the nearest published figures sitting in December and from July onward, so treat May as another month to confirm directly.
One concrete tip: pack a proper warm layer for the first time this year. A single frosty night in May catches visitors off guard who packed for what they assume is still Africa's warm season.