Sri Lanka 
In numbers.
0.94m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Oct–Jan
Best months
887m
Elevation
The water at Alakola Ella, month by month
It roars from November to December.
The fullest months: from November to December. The thinnest: from July to September.
- 1.4 m³/sJan
- 0.8 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.9 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.6 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.3 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 1.4 m³/sOct
- 2.2 m³/sNov
- 2.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.33 m³/s in the lowest month to 2.3 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from October to January.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Getting there.
- Matalenearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Bandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 98 km in a straight lineCar hire at CMB airport (Colombo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From October to Januarybest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 231 m in 3.2 km. Here the river runs about 148 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmJodu Ella Water Falls
- —caves
- 2campsitesVenture Camps, Mahoora Tented Safari Camp – Knuckles
- 15hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHunas Falls Hotel, Hatale Tea Estate Bungalow, Knuckles Bungalow and 12 more
- —restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Matale14 km in a straight line
- Kandy18 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 23 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 |
| Night °C | 15 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 16 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 116 | 89 | 96 | 154 | 133 | 73 | 62 | 70 | 101 | 228 | 279 | 243 |
| Wet days | 11 | 8 | 10 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 22 | 23 | 18 |
| Sun h/day | 6.4 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (887 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 44% | 26% | 28% | 75% | 167% | 141% | 159% | 119% | 161% | 31% | 100% | 132% |
| 2021 | 210% | 68% | 111% | 92% | 201% | 172% | 245% | 150% | 128% | 144% | 168% | 59% |
| 2022 | 100% | 250% | 69% | 189% | 99% | 58% | 181% | 269% | 79% | 103% | 101% | 120% |
| 2023 | 94% | 143% | 114% | 103% | 116% | 81% | 76% | 59% | 215% | 184% | 168% | 193% |
| 2024 | 255% | 30% | 35% | 55% | 154% | 84% | 81% | 199% | 44% | 54% | 130% | 60% |
| 2025 | 248% | 70% | 211% | 183% | 148% | 115% | 77% | 86% | 154% | 157% | 267% | 68% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Alakola Ella
Sri Lanka
- —Height
- 0.94 m³/sAverage flow
- Oct–JanBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q85740469) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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