The Okavango Delta is a CDC malaria area in every month. Its tsetse flies are gone.
- Travel clinic CDC recommends medicine or vaccines for some areas · which ones
- No CDC travel notice for mosquito-borne disease
The CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for the districts that take in the Delta camps, Moremi and Maun, and the area was the center of Botswana's 2025 outbreak. A June–September safari falls in the dry season, when visitors report few mosquitoes, and tsetse were sprayed out of the Delta in 2001–2002.
Yes, though a dry-season safari brings few of them. The Okavango Delta, Moremi and Maun lie in districts where the CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine in every month, and the area was the center of Botswana's 2025 outbreak. Tsetse flies are the good news. They were sprayed out of the Delta in 2001–2002, and surveys haven't found one since.
Malaria advice that holds in every month
What CDC says: "CDC recommends that travelers going to certain areas of Botswana take prescription medicine to prevent malaria." The areas are the "Districts/subdistricts of Bobirwa, Boteti, Chobe (including Chobe National Park), Ghanzi, Mahalapye, Ngamiland (Ngami), North-East (including its capital, Francistown), Okavango, Serowe/Palapye, and Tutume," and for them it lists "Atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine, tafenoquine." Ngamiland and Okavango take in the Delta camps, Moremi and Maun. What we suggest you do with this: book a travel-medicine appointment 4–6 weeks before departure and bring every camp, your dates and any Chobe or Victoria Falls leg. Our malaria-zone checklist covers the rest.
Recent seasons show how fast cases can climb. In 2025, cases surged from March after unusually heavy rain. By the end of May, WHO's Africa office reported more than 2,300 confirmed cases nationwide and 8 deaths, with what it called "Okavango Ngami, Chobe, Tutume, and Boteti" hardest hit. Cases returned with the 2025–26 rains, Botswana's Daily News reported, with wards of Maun among the hardest hit. WHO's Africa bulletin for October 5–11, 2026 lists no malaria event for Botswana.
Yellow fever vaccine is not recommended, and Botswana asks for proof only from travelers 1 year or older arriving from a country with yellow fever risk, including layovers of more than 12 hours there.
No tsetse in the Delta
Tsetse flies, the painful daytime biters of Tanzania's Northern Circuit, are gone from the Okavango Delta. Botswana's Tsetse Control Division sprayed about 6,200 square miles (16,000 km²) of the Delta from the air with deltamethrin, the northern half in 2001 and the southern half in 2002. Traps and fly-rounds from September 2002 to November 2005 caught none, and the researchers concluded the flies had been eliminated (Kgori and colleagues, Acta Tropica, 2006). A 2026 modeling paper says none have been caught in the Delta since the second year of spraying, and a 2025 review lists the Delta among successful tsetse eradications.
Dry season, green season
June to September is the dry winter and peak safari season. Visitors tend to report few mosquitoes in Moremi and the Delta, with more at dusk around Maun's riverside lodges. Mokoro trips run mostly in daylight, so sunset outings, sundowners and the walk back to camp are the likely bite times.
Malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk to dawn. Put repellent on before the afternoon activity, wear long sleeves and trousers from sunset, and sleep under the net or in the zipped tent. Check for ticks after walking safaris, since the CDC lists African tick-bite fever, and don't swim in the channels, where the CDC's fresh-water warning applies.
October heat tends to bring more insects before the rains. The green season, roughly December to March, tends to bring the most bugs and carries the most malaria, so a trip then calls for the same clinic visit and a stricter evening routine.
Where you're going
Fly-in camps of the inner Delta
Reached by light aircraft from Maun or Kasane, inside the CDC's malaria-medicine area. Tented rooms tend to come with netted beds, so the exposure is the hour around sunset and the walk back to your tent.
Moremi (Xakanaxa, Third Bridge, Khwai)
Dry-season visitors tend to report few mosquitoes here. Self-drive campers in the public campsites tend to sit outdoors through dusk and dark, so repellent, long sleeves and a zipped tent matter more than at a lodge.
Mokoro trips
Dugout-canoe trips through the reed channels, mostly in daylight. A sunset trip is the one to cover with repellent and sleeves, and stay out of the water.
Maun's riverside lodges
The gateway town, where even dry-season visitors notice mosquitoes at dusk by the river. Two Maun wards were among the hardest hit in the 2025–26 rains, local press reported, so cover up from sunset.
Adding Chobe or Victoria Falls? See the Botswana and Victoria Falls briefings.
The Okavango kit
- Picaridin 20% travel sprays: odorless and quick to reapply before a sundowner or a sunset mokoro trip. One 3.4 oz bottle covers about a week of daily use for one person. For walking safaris, the CDC suggests DEET at 20% or more, which also works on ticks.
- Permethrin 0.5% for safari clothes: treat a long-sleeved shirt, trousers and socks at home 48 hours before you fly. It goes on clothing, never on skin.
- A warm long-sleeved layer for cold winter drives.
What travelers report
Paraphrased from TripAdvisor forum threads and linked so you can read them in full. None carries a year, and the season and your camp change the picture.
- Chobe, Moremi, Okavango Delta and Maun · September
Posters who had visited in September said they barely noticed mosquitoes in Chobe, Moremi or the Delta, but did at their riverside lodge in Maun at dusk. They called early-September malaria risk very low but not zero, and told the asker, who had an immune concern, to check with their own doctor. TripAdvisor ↗
- Okavango Delta and Linyanti
Asked about tsetse flies, a replier said tsetse have been eradicated from these areas of Botswana and that they had never seen one. TripAdvisor ↗
- Botswana safari areas
Posters said the tsetse eradication effort had worked well and the flies are not an issue, though one was unsure they are completely gone. A long-time visitor said they never had a tsetse problem and had seen the traps set up in parks and concessions. TripAdvisor ↗
- Okavango Delta · mid-March
A traveler who visited in mid-March had few problems beyond some mosquitoes, which long sleeves and trousers handled. Replies said the rainy months, roughly January to March, are when bugs can be at their worst, and that tsetse flies are not a concern. TripAdvisor ↗
One more rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit and a malaria test, and you tell them you were in the Okavango Delta. After time in the malaria districts, that rule holds for a year.
Traveler questions
Do I need malaria pills for the Okavango Delta in winter?
The CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for Ngamiland and Okavango, which take in the Delta camps, Moremi and Maun, and its listing doesn't change by month, cold June and July included. It names atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine and tafenoquine. Whether that means a prescription for your trip is a call for a travel clinic, made with your camps and dates 4–6 weeks before departure. Our malaria-zone checklist covers the rest.
Are there tsetse flies in the Okavango Delta?
No. Aerial spraying in 2001 and 2002 eliminated them, and traps and fly-rounds from September 2002 to November 2005 caught none. A 2026 modeling paper says none have been caught in the Delta since, while noting that standard sampling could miss very low numbers, and the CDC's Botswana page doesn't list sleeping sickness.
When is malaria risk highest in the Delta?
In the green season, roughly December to March, and in the months after heavy rain. Botswana's 2025 outbreak surged from March after unusually heavy rainfall and centered on the Okavango. A June–September safari falls in the low-transmission dry season, and the CDC's advice applies in every month.
Can I swim in the Delta's channels?
The CDC says schistosomiasis and leptospirosis "are found in Botswana" and advises, "Avoid swimming in fresh, unchlorinated water, such as lakes, ponds, or rivers." That includes the Delta's channels and lagoons, so stay in the boat on a mokoro trip.
Sources
Health authorities, surveillance reports and news coverage of official bulletins used for this briefing, last checked October 2026. Traveler reports are linked where they appear. This page summarizes public-health guidance and is not medical advice.
- CDC destination page for travelers
- CDC Travel Health Notice
- World Health Organization
- allafrica.com
- allafrica.com
- allafrica.com
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization
- Peer-reviewed study (PubMed Central)
- Peer-reviewed study (PubMed Central)
- Peer-reviewed study (PubMed Central)
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- CDC Travelers' Health
- Government source (dailynews.gov.bw)