South Africa 
In numbers.
0.36m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Dec–Mar
Best months
1,328m
Elevation
The water at Ncandu Falls, month by month
It roars from December to February.
The fullest months: from December to February. The thinnest: from May to September.
- 0.9 m³/sJan
- 0.8 m³/sFeb
- 0.7 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.2 m³/sMay
- 0.1 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.4 m³/sOct
- 0.6 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.06 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.90 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.
Waterfall in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Ncandu Falls is a waterfall in South Africa.
Getting there.
- Newcastlenearest town · 13 km in a straight line
- Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 207 km in a straight lineCar hire at PZB airport (Pietermaritzburg)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From December to Marchbest 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 99 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 39 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).
Towns nearby
- Newcastle13 km in a straight line
- Ngagane15 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 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 29 |
| Night °C | 15 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 14 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 128 | 98 | 86 | 45 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 18 | 34 | 79 | 105 | 121 |
| Wet days | 22 | 18 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 19 | 22 |
| Sun h/day | 7.7 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 8.6 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.7 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,328 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 | 58% | 69% | 48% | 170% | 11% | 269% | 36% | 28% | 49% | 106% | 85% | 98% |
| 2021 | 132% | 114% | 37% | 56% | 53% | 86% | 188% | 173% | 175% | 48% | 59% | 110% |
| 2022 | 139% | 73% | 120% | 274% | 288% | 109% | 33% | 51% | 61% | 75% | 109% | 129% |
| 2023 | 62% | 175% | 46% | 28% | 318% | 40% | 108% | 207% | 92% | 152% | 54% | 169% |
| 2024 | 69% | 40% | 66% | 97% | 22% | 63% | 5% | 30% | 235% | 88% | 89% | 85% |
| 2025 | 139% | 157% | 148% | 212% | 22% | 63% | 186% | 140% | 256% | 53% | 143% | 95% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Ncandu Falls
South Africa
- —Height
- 0.36 m³/sAverage flow
- Dec–MarBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q11146249) · 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves or dark skies?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit