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Wildfires in Botswana
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 05:23 UTC
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Regions
- Central18 fires
- Francistownno fires now
- Gaboroneno fires now
- Ghanzi2 fires
- Kgalagadi1 fire
- Kgatleng1 fire
- Kwenengno fires now
- Lobatseno fires now
- North-East2 fires
- North-West22 fires
- South-Eastno fires now
- Southern2 fires
5 fires
Nothing matches.
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-21
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 247,880 km² of Botswana at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 30,240 km², ranking 50th of 200 countries.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2023, with 74,530 km² detected; the quietest was 2019, with 11,790 km². The 2021–2025 average is 126% higher than the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
August, September and October together hold 76% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 25 August 2023, with detections in 2,272 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 247,880 km² with at least one detection, 16% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 149,330 | 60% |
| 2 years | 58,520 | 24% |
| 3 to 5 years | 35,100 | 14% |
| 6 to 10 years | 4,890 | 2.0% |
| 11 years or more | 42 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -18.75, 21.25 and holds 2.6% of the country's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 29,760 | 30,351 |
| 2013 | 26,250 | 27,121 |
| 2014 | 16,460 | 16,122 |
| 2015 | 16,770 | 18,577 |
| 2016 | 12,300 | 13,699 |
| 2017 | 35,550 | 36,804 |
| 2018 | 24,190 | 25,907 |
| 2019 | 11,790 | 16,270 |
| 2020 | 21,150 | 21,027 |
| 2021 | 69,300 | 72,113 |
| 2022 | 51,780 | 53,932 |
| 2023 | 74,530 | 78,588 |
| 2024 | 16,510 | 18,105 |
| 2025 | 17,080 | 17,169 |
Nearby countries
- Democratic Republic of the Congo898,730 km² in an average year
- Angola616,940 km² in an average year
- Zambia445,810 km² in an average year
- Mozambique404,050 km² in an average year
- Central African Republic340,550 km² in an average year
- South Sudan321,060 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby countries
- Namibia105 km
- Zambia932 km
- Angola937 km
- Zimbabwe1,018 km
- South Africa1,170 km
- Kingdom of eSwatini1,322 km
What sits behind each of these fires
Attached to every fire in the list above, and redrawn hourly.
