Africa spans 8 time zones, and this guide covers them all: the offset in each city, the daylight saving dates, the best time to call from New York or London, and how to convert any time. The 9 major cities covered here are Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, Casablanca, Accra, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Algiers.

Try the tool: World Clock — see the current time in every city in Africa, with the date and the offset.

Time zones in Africa

City IANA time zone Offset in January 2026 Offset in July 2026 Daylight saving?
Cairo Africa/Cairo UTC+02:00 UTC+03:00 Yes
Johannesburg Africa/Johannesburg UTC+02:00 UTC+02:00 No
Lagos Africa/Lagos UTC+01:00 UTC+01:00 No
Nairobi Africa/Nairobi UTC+03:00 UTC+03:00 No
Casablanca Africa/Casablanca UTC+01:00 UTC+01:00 Yes
Accra Africa/Accra UTC+00:00 UTC+00:00 No
Cape Town Africa/Johannesburg UTC+02:00 UTC+02:00 No
Addis Ababa Africa/Addis_Ababa UTC+03:00 UTC+03:00 No
Algiers Africa/Algiers UTC+01:00 UTC+01:00 No

The spread across Africa is 3 hours in January — the difference between the easternmost and westernmost zones. That matters when you schedule inside the country: a meeting at 9am in the east can be 6am in the west, and a national broadcast or a train timetable has to pick a time that works across the spread. The table above gives the offset for each city, so you can convert between any two of them.

Daylight saving in Africa

Cairo, Casablanca observe daylight saving; Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Algiers do not. The 2026 dates for the zones that change:

Time zone Daylight saving starts 2026 Daylight saving ends 2026
Cairo Friday, 24 April 2026 Thursday, 29 October 2026
Casablanca Sunday, 22 March 2026 Sunday, 20 September 2026

Johannesburg: South Africa has never observed daylight saving in the modern era. Its latitude means winter days are only modestly shorter than summer days, and the government has never seen a case for it. Lagos: Nigeria sits close to the equator, where day length is nearly constant all year, so daylight saving has never been used. Nairobi: Kenya sits on the equator, where day and night are 12 hours long every day of the year, so daylight saving would be meaningless. Accra: Ghana sits just north of the equator, where day and night are close to 12 hours all year, so daylight saving has never been adopted. Cape Town: South Africa has never observed daylight saving in the modern era. Its latitude means winter days are only modestly shorter than summer days, and the government has never seen a case for it. Addis Ababa: Ethiopia sits close to the equator, where day length barely changes through the year, so daylight saving has never been used. Algiers: Algeria has not observed daylight saving in the modern era. Its Mediterranean latitude gives a real summer–winter difference, but the government has never adopted the clock change.

What time is it in Africa when it is 12:00 UTC?

City Local time at 12:00 UTC (15 January 2026)
Cairo 2:00 pm
Johannesburg 2:00 pm
Lagos 1:00 pm
Nairobi 3:00 pm
Casablanca 1:00 pm
Accra 12:00 pm
Cape Town 2:00 pm
Addis Ababa 3:00 pm
Algiers 1:00 pm

How to convert a time to Africa

Take 3pm in London. In January, London is UTC+00:00 and Cairo is UTC+02:00, so 3pm in London is 5:00 pm in Cairo. In July, London is UTC+01:00 and Cairo is UTC+03:00, so 3pm in London is 5:00 pm in Cairo. The answer changes between January and July, because one or both places move their clocks — always check the offset for the date you care about. The time zone converter does this for any two cities and any date, and the UTC converter converts from UTC.

The best time to call Africa

The overlap of a 9am–5pm working day between Cairo and New York is 1 hour in January 2026; between Cairo and London it is 6 hours. The best time to call is mid-morning in the city further east and late morning in the city further west — the overlap of the two best parts of the day. The meeting planner shows the overlap for any set of cities.

The time in Africa through the year

The offset of Cairo month by month in 2026 — the local time when it is 12:00 UTC on the 15th of each month:

Month UTC offset Local time at 12:00 UTC
January UTC+02:00 2:00 pm
February UTC+02:00 2:00 pm
March UTC+02:00 2:00 pm
April UTC+02:00 2:00 pm
May UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
June UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
July UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
August UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
September UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
October UTC+03:00 3:00 pm
November UTC+02:00 2:00 pm
December UTC+02:00 2:00 pm

Cairo changes its offset during the year, because it observes daylight saving: the offset moves by one hour at the spring change and back at the autumn change, and the months in between are on the other offset. The table shows exactly which months are on which offset. The world clock for Cairo shows the live time and the offset in effect today.

Africa and the rest of the world

The time difference from Cairo to six major cities, in January and in July 2026:

City Difference in January Difference in July
New York 7 hours ahead 7 hours ahead
London 2 hours ahead 2 hours ahead
Paris 1 hour ahead 1 hour ahead
Tokyo 7 hours behind 6 hours behind
Sydney 9 hours behind 7 hours behind
Dubai 2 hours behind 1 hour behind

The differences change between January and July wherever one of the two cities observes daylight saving and the other does not — or wherever they change on different dates. The time zone converter gives the difference for any date, so a conversion done for January is not reused for July without checking.

Calling Africa from London

In January, the working hours of Cairo and London overlap between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm London time — that is the window in which a call falls inside both working days. The best time inside the window is usually the middle of it, when both sides are mid-morning or early afternoon rather than at the edge of the working day. Outside the window, one side is either not yet at work or already finished, so the call has to be early morning or late evening for someone.

Neighbouring time zones

Other major cities in Africa, for comparison:

City Country Offset in January 2026

Frequently asked questions

How many time zones does Africa have?

8 — the cities covered here use Africa/Cairo, Africa/Johannesburg, Africa/Lagos, Africa/Nairobi, Africa/Casablanca, Africa/Accra, Africa/Addis_Ababa, Africa/Algiers. The table above gives the offset for each city in January and July.

What is the time zone of Cairo?

Cairo is on Africa/Cairo, UTC+02:00 from UTC in January and UTC+03:00 in July. The world clock for Cairo shows the live time.

Does Africa observe daylight saving?

Partly: Cairo, Casablanca observe it, and Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Algiers do not.

What time is it in Cairo when it is 12:00 UTC?

2:00 pm on 15 January 2026 — Cairo is UTC+02:00 from UTC in winter.

What is the best time to call Africa from London?

The overlap of working hours between Cairo and London is 6 hours in January. Mid-morning in the city further east is usually the kindest time — use the meeting planner to check.

How do I convert a time to Africa?

Find the offset for the city and the date — the table above gives January and July — and add it to the UTC time, or use the time zone converter to convert between any two cities directly.

Related pages

Sources

  • IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (Intl.DateTimeFormat with timeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory.
  • TimeFlow's own time-zone data (data/cities.ts, data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database.
  • Time zone rules and offsets: the IANA Time Zone Database, as applied by this site's tools. Offsets and daylight saving dates on this page are computed from the database for the dates stated.
  • TimeFlow's world clock and time zone converter — the live tools behind the numbers on this page.
  • Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.