Etosha is in the CDC's malaria regions all year. In the dry season you may barely see a mosquito.

A few, and a June–September trip brings the fewest. Etosha lies in northern regions where the CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine in every month, and northern Namibia's malaria transmission peaks from January to May, before the dry-season safari months. Our Namibia briefing covers Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and the rest of the loop.

Malaria advice for every month

Malaria in northern Namibia is "highly seasonal, coinciding with agricultural periods and peaking from January to May," and most infectious bites happen outdoors, according to a 2025 study in the Zambezi and Ohangwena regions (BMJ Global Health). Cases surged in 2026. WHO's Africa office counted 23,640 confirmed cases and 34 deaths in the first nine weeks of the year, 78% of them locally transmitted, after heavier and unusual rainfall, with the Zambezi and Kavango regions hit hardest. By early September, press reports of the health minister's figures put the national total above 120,000 confirmed cases, with malaria present in Oshana, Kunene and Oshikoto among other regions.

Yellow fever vaccine is not recommended, and Namibia asks for proof only from travelers 9 months and older arriving from a country with yellow fever risk, including layovers of more than 12 hours there. Namibia is also on the CDC's Level 2 Global Polio notice, which has nothing to do with insects, so check your polio vaccination with the clinic.

Waterhole evenings and bush walks

In the dry season, visitors rarely see a mosquito at Etosha, especially in July and August. Water still stands at the waterholes, and the malaria mosquitoes bite mostly outdoors, so evenings at the floodlit Okaukuejo waterhole and on chalet verandas tend to be the window. Put repellent on at sundown, wear long sleeves and trousers at the waterhole, and use the chalet's net or screens.

Ticks are the other biter. A 2008–2010 survey of 917 animals in and around Etosha found 981 ticks of 12 species, including Hyalomma ticks on zebras, rhinos, elephants and giraffes, and the CDC lists African tick-bite fever and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever for Namibia. Game drives inside the park keep you in the vehicle, so the exposure comes on guided walks at the private reserves. Tuck trousers into socks and check for ticks afterward.

At the edges of the window, June can follow late rains and September warms up. The rains, roughly December to April, tend to bring the most mosquitoes, and transmission runs highest from January to May, so a trip then calls for the same clinic visit and a stricter evening routine.

Where you're going

Continuing to Botswana? Our Okavango Delta briefing covers the camps across the border.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor forum threads and linked so you can read them in full. Neither carries a year, and the month and the rains change the picture.

• Etosha National Park · early July

  A traveler asked whether Malarone was needed for Etosha in early July, the coldest month. Replies were split: one said the regional malaria season runs November to June and the risk becomes quite low for Etosha in July, a Windhoek resident said they would not take pills for Etosha in July, and a third leaned toward taking them to be safe. TripAdvisor ↗

• Etosha National Park · July-August

  In a thread from a pregnant traveler weighing Etosha against Erindi for October, a poster said that when it is very dry in Etosha, around July and August, you are lucky to see a mosquito, but that Etosha being generally low risk does not mean there is no risk at all. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during the trip or in the year after it means a doctor visit, and you tell the doctor you were in northern Namibia.

Traveler questions