IANA tz database · zone identifier

Africa/Gaborone

The IANA tz database identifier for Central Africa Time in Botswana. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+02:00Abbreviation CATNo daylight saving
Time in Africa/Gaborone☾ Night
01:03:39
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Offset
UTC+02:00
Abbreviation
CAT
DST
No DST

Current offset

UTC+02:00

same year-round

Abbreviation

CAT

used year-round

DST behaviour

None

one offset all year

Country

🇧🇼 Botswana

ISO 3166: BW · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Africa/Gaborone is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing CAT or +02:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Africa/Gaborone',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

One offset,
82 years.

Africa/Gaborone has kept UTC+02:00 year-round since 19 March 1944 — no daylight saving and no offset changes on record since. It is among the most stable identifiers in the database.

Every offset this zone has kept

+01:43:40UTC+02:00 · UNCHANGED 19 March 1944 NOW

Keeping this offset since

19 March 1944

Next transition

None scheduled

no DST rules exist for this zone

Safe to assume

Local = UTC + 2h, always

…but store the identifier anyway

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database · release 2026d

IdentifierAfrica/Gaborone
ISO country codeBW🇧🇼 Botswana
Reference coordinates24.65°S, 25.92°Etz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+02:00abbreviation CAT
Daylight offset—no daylight saving time
tzdb release2026ddata current as of this IANA release

Where it applies

All of Botswana, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Gaborone or Central Africa Time.

🇧🇼
Botswana

2.5M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Africa/Gaborone.

Country page →
🇧🇼 Gaborone
01:03
01:03:39 · CAT
pop. 236KCAT

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · Central Africa Time

other identifiers keeping CAT

Same offset · UTC+02:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Africa/Gaborone?
Africa/Gaborone is UTC+02:00, year-round. The offset never changes because the zone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Africa/Gaborone observe daylight saving time?
No. Africa/Gaborone stays on UTC+02:00 all year, as it has since 19 March 1944.
Which country uses Africa/Gaborone?
Botswana. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Africa/Gaborone the same as CAT?
Africa/Gaborone is one of the IANA zones that keeps Central Africa Time (CAT). Use Africa/Gaborone in software — CAT is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Its live offset, abbreviation and DST status, plus its coordinates and country, from one endpoint.

GET /v1/timezones Live

Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.

Get your free API key → All endpoints Plans and pricing

Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.

// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones/Africa/Gaborone
{
"data": {
"iana": "Africa/Gaborone",
"observes_dst": false,
"country": { "code": "BW", "name": "Botswana" },
"current": {
"utc_offset": "+02:00",
"abbreviation": "CAT",
…
},
…
}
}