Burundi 
In numbers.
80m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.13m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Dec–Mar
Best months
102kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Chutes de la Kagera, month by month
It roars from November to April.
The fullest months: from November to April. The thinnest: from June to October.
- 0.3 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.2 m³/sApr
- 0.1 m³/sMay
- 0.1 m³/sJun
- 0.0 m³/sJul
- 0.0 m³/sAug
- 0.0 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.04 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.29 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from December to March.
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.
Series of waterfalls in Burundi
Chutes de la Kagera is a waterfall in Burundi. The water falls 80 m.
Getting there.
- Rutananearest town · 15 km in a straight line
- Gitega Airport (GID)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 50 km in a straight line
- From December to Marchbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
102 kW
About 0.13 m³/s falling 80 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 26 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 138 m in 1.8 km. Here the river runs about 35 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
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHOTEL PEROQUET DE MWISHANGA
- —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
- Rutana15 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 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 29 | 28 | 25 | 25 |
| Night °C | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 178 | 137 | 169 | 150 | 59 | 9 | 6 | 13 | 26 | 76 | 209 | 177 |
| Wet days | 24 | 20 | 24 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 25 |
| Sun h/day | 5.6 | 6.2 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 7.4 | 6.4 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,546 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 | 115% | 155% | 197% | 123% | 132% | 161% | 366% | 22% | 83% | 116% | 388% | 133% |
| 2021 | 171% | 192% | 60% | 129% | 115% | 45% | 21% | 71% | 153% | 97% | 77% | 218% |
| 2022 | 117% | 245% | 122% | 64% | 98% | 152% | 166% | 446% | 147% | 21% | 84% | 88% |
| 2023 | 46% | 140% | 119% | 110% | 109% | 26% | 5% | 210% | 169% | 89% | 183% | 160% |
| 2024 | 157% | 130% | 76% | 98% | 18% | 16% | 0% | 5% | 28% | 181% | 139% | 130% |
| 2025 | 133% | 87% | 83% | 84% | 146% | 142% | 145% | 227% | 34% | 52% | 36% | 113% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Chutes de la Kagera
Burundi
- 80 mHeight
- 0.13 m³/sAverage flow
- Dec–MarBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q5118378) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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