Seasons in Harare

The seasons here are a bit unusual when compared to the States. Instead of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall, the Zimbabwean flora decided to (unsurprisingly) do their own thing.

Because we are on the other side of the equator, the seasons are reversed here when compared to the States. Because the climates are relatively mild, the year is mainly divided into wet season and dry season. The wet season, Summer, begins when the rains come in November/December through March, and the dry season, Winter, from April till August. What is different lies in the fact that there are two disparate plant populations….

Think about it- there are two groups of plants that are here: the indigenous vegetation, and the foreign vegetation. The foreign vegetation is the kind of plants that are cultivated and consumed by most of the world (Corn, Potatoes, Fruit trees, etc etc- in addition to imported trees) and the indigenous vegetation are the types of plants that dominate most of the scenery. Undoubtedly, these two groups of plants are still arguing about what order things should be in.

For the foreign plants, they follow the same patterns that their northern relatives do- Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. How else could important foods like fruit and corn produce? But for the indigenous plants, instead of having Fall and Spring separated by Winter and Summer, someone decided to put the two best seasons of the year together so that Fall follows Winter and Spring happens right after Fall. The best example of this can be found in the Msasa trees (pronounced Ma-SAH-sa) because they are green during Summer and Winter, turn brilliant colors and fall in the indigenous Autumn, but then immediately sprout flowers and new leaves in the Spring. In the meantime, the foreign plants have their Spring has usual and follow their regular cycle.

The other great thing about Harare’s weather lies in the geography. We are at the same elevation as Provo, UT (5,000 something feet) but are much closer to the equator. This results in an extremely wide range of year-round temperatures: 50-90 degrees Farenheit. That’s it. Plus, the humidity is at a constant level of perfect.

Thus Zimbabwe has two Falls, an incredibly mild Winter, a fantastic elongated Spring, and a warm Summer. Think about that the next time you freeze at Christmas!

The best part about this is- we get to be here to watch the Msasas and Jacarandas explode with colors in the next few weeks.