South Africa 
In numbers.
56m
Height
3,368m³/s
Average flow
Mar–Jun
Best months
1.9GW
Water power
estimate
The water at Augrabies Falls, month by month
It roars from March to May.
The fullest months: from March to May. The thinnest: from August to December.
- 3,836 m³/sJan
- 5,403 m³/sFeb
- 7,267 m³/sMar
- 8,023 m³/sApr
- 6,673 m³/sMay
- 4,905 m³/sJun
- 2,850 m³/sJul
- 1,559 m³/sAug
- 1,163 m³/sSep
- 1,250 m³/sOct
- 1,594 m³/sNov
- 2,127 m³/sDec
From about 1,163 m³/s in the lowest month to 8,023 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to June.
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.
Waterfall on the Orange River in North Cape, South Africa
Augrabies Falls is a waterfall in South Africa. The water falls 56 m. It lies within Augrabies Falls National Park.
Getting there.
- Augrabiesnearest town · 4.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 340 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Upington Airport (UTN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 93 km in a straight lineCar hire at UTN airport (Upington)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to Junebest 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
1.9 GW
About 3,368 m³/s falling 56 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 617 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 462,600 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 78 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 33 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 10viewpointsMain Falls, Twin Falls and 8 more
- 2waymarked walking routesDassie Interpretive Trail, Klipspringer Hiking Trail
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- 4toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmTwin Falls
- —caves
- 1campsitesAugrabies Falls National Park Campsite
- 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmThe Falls Guest House, Dundi Lodge, Visarend Trail Hut
- 1restaurants 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
- Augrabies4.7 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 | 39 | 38 | 35 | 30 | 26 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 29 | 33 | 36 | 38 |
| Night °C | 21 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 28 | 27 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 15 |
| Wet days | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Sun h/day | 12.7 | 11.6 | 11.0 | 9.9 | 9.3 | 9.0 | 9.5 | 10.3 | 11.2 | 12.0 | 13.1 | 13.3 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (595 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
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 | 10% | 154% | 64% | 31% | 3% | — | — | — | — | 31% | 232% | 165% |
| 2021 | 297% | 32% | 96% | 9% | 9% | — | — | — | — | 834% | 3% | 118% |
| 2022 | 172% | 268% | 191% | 26% | 151% | — | — | — | — | 110% | 241% | 220% |
| 2023 | 71% | 17% | 54% | 4% | 54% | — | — | — | — | 31% | 92% | 173% |
| 2024 | 73% | 11% | 74% | 21% | 6% | — | — | — | — | 17% | 3% | 22% |
| 2025 | 109% | 83% | 155% | 182% | 37% | — | — | — | — | 301% | 200% | 463% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q39544) · 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.
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