May to October is the classic dry, cooler window. Etosha waterholes are at their most magnetic, and dune climbing is kinder in the morning.
Summer heat is intense inland. Coastal Swakopmund stays milder. Rain, when it comes, can transform the desert briefly and beautifully.
A round at Rossmund, near the dunes, is a rare desert-golf footnote for travellers who want the fairway as well as the wilderness.
