Climate
The climate is semi-arid and the rains are concentrated in the summer season (October to April), following the typical Botswana rainfall pattern. . The average rainfall is about 350mm/yr and has a variability of about 38%. The rains tend to fall as intense short spells e.g. for a few hours and occasionally a few days. The interludes are normally sunny spells. The rate of evapotranspiration for the area is taken to fall within the Botswana average of 2000mm/yr. The temperatures range between 25-30°C, but higher temperatures up to 40°C have been experienced, especially in summer months of the drought years. The cool winter temperatures are 15-20°C, during the day, but at night occasional frost does occur as temperatures may drop much lower.
The drought cycle in the area is estimated at 10-18 years recurrence interval. It is this cyclical drought, which leads to a decline in biomass production, with consequent overgrazing as the stocking rate would exceed the range capacity. This is the poverty trap for most inhabitants.
