I've been getting some questions about why I want to go when I would like to go in October and if it might not be better to push this back a bit. I wanted to explain the rationale a bit in reference to the rainy season and the dry season.
My original thought was to go in September, that has been pushed back into October because it made more sense not to be there in September as it would still be quite rainy. October is as fairly rainy by our standards (about a quarter of the annual rainfall we get in New York). But I am also planning on staying for three months and the most recent ticket that I saw was October 1st till January 24th - well over three months (beggars can't be choosers on dates). When you look at the climate information from month to month, October has high rainfall, November is normal for us (about at our rainiest month), then December is pretty dry (like a San Diego winter month), but then after that, January and February are bone dry.
These months are during the heart of the Harmattan which are western blowing winds that bring dry air and dust/sand from the Sahara. I will be backpacking and drinking ground water as and where I have find it. So to me I have to find the best balance on both ends. For my first trip I do not want to get dumped on, but I also don't want to be struggling to find water and be all sandy. Now obviously, who knows how much of an effect either of these will have on me until I am there. But, it seems safe to me to try to straddle the two. If I was there from October 15th to January 15th it would probably be just fine. Now that may not be the exact case, but I think it is a good start to look for cheap airfares from.
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| A stretch of road during Harmattan |
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