Tanzania 
In numbers.
0.24m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–May
Nov–Dec
Best months
1,607m
Elevation
The water at Materuni Waterfalls, month by month
It roars from April to May.
The fullest months: from April to May. The thinnest: from July to September.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.3 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.5 m³/sNov
- 0.6 m³/sDec
From about 0.05 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.76 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to May and from November to December.
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.
- Moshinearest town · 13 km in a straight line
- Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 41 km in a straight lineCar hire at JRO airport (Arusha)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May and from November to Decemberbest 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 84 m in 0.2 km. Here the river runs about 131 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
- 1campsitesNgumeni Campsite
- 5hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmFukeni Church Guesthouse, Mount Kilimanjaro View Lodge, Key's Hostel & Campsite and 2 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
- Moshi13 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 | 28 | 29 | 28 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Night °C | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 52 | 49 | 85 | 122 | 87 | 19 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 60 | 99 | 85 |
| Wet days | 9 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 16 |
| Sun h/day | 8.5 | 8.6 | 7.8 | 6.4 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.9 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,607 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 | 238% | 287% | 230% | 145% | 48% | 100% | 105% | 49% | 98% | 35% | 318% | 73% |
| 2021 | 106% | 156% | 54% | 106% | 193% | 62% | 121% | 44% | 42% | 16% | 23% | 161% |
| 2022 | 139% | 276% | 40% | 54% | 47% | 109% | 853% | 334% | 1,121% | 9% | 70% | 102% |
| 2023 | 40% | 49% | 39% | 147% | 161% | 1,006% | 199% | 1,043% | 67% | 96% | 407% | 74% |
| 2024 | 281% | 167% | 102% | 112% | 42% | 119% | 113% | 64% | 35% | 17% | 155% | 285% |
| 2025 | 227% | 17% | 87% | 132% | 74% | 311% | 1,110% | 109% | 35% | 58% | 24% | 100% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Materuni Waterfalls
Tanzania
- —Height
- 0.24 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–May, Nov–DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q84076511) · 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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