DR Congo 
In numbers.
80,150m³/s
Average flow
4,232m
Elevation
The water at Chutes Kayo, month by month
It roars from December to March.
The fullest months: from December to March. The thinnest: from May to October.
- 190,694 m³/sJan
- 163,002 m³/sFeb
- 159,850 m³/sMar
- 103,114 m³/sApr
- 43,452 m³/sMay
- 17,111 m³/sJun
- 11,482 m³/sJul
- 11,482 m³/sAug
- 13,734 m³/sSep
- 39,174 m³/sOct
- 112,345 m³/sNov
- 174,934 m³/sDec
From about 11,482 m³/s in the lowest month to 190,694 m³/s in the highest.
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 in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Chutes Kayo is a waterfall in DR Congo.
Getting there.
- Kolwezi Airport (KWZ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 115 km in a straight line
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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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 116 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 20 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
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 6 |
| Night °C | -2 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -6 | -8 | -9 | -6 | -2 | -1 | -1 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 214 | 162 | 185 | 77 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 71 | 180 | 229 |
| Wet days | 29 | 26 | 27 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 24 | 29 |
| Sun h/day | 4.6 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 8.2 | 9.7 | 9.8 | 9.6 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 6.8 | 5.6 | 4.9 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (4,232 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 | 89% | 190% | 218% | 47% | — | — | — | — | 93% | 132% | 134% | 91% |
| 2021 | 134% | 148% | 154% | 92% | — | — | — | — | 37% | 138% | 149% | 122% |
| 2022 | 180% | 190% | 142% | 110% | — | — | — | — | 541% | 39% | 220% | 144% |
| 2023 | 162% | 64% | 143% | 148% | — | — | — | — | 313% | 127% | 173% | 90% |
| 2024 | 116% | 93% | 90% | 165% | — | — | — | — | 52% | 115% | 84% | 61% |
| 2025 | 70% | 105% | 77% | 141% | — | — | — | — | 30% | 43% | 80% | 107% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Chutes Kayo
DR Congo
- —Height
- 80,150 m³/sAverage flow
- —Best months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q22502188) · 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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