Colombia 
In numbers.
400m
Height
5.5m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–May
Nov–Dec
Best months
22MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Salto de Bordones, month by month
It roars from April to May and from November to December.
The fullest months: from April to May and from November to December. The thinnest: from August to September.
- 5.2 m³/sJan
- 4.7 m³/sFeb
- 5.5 m³/sMar
- 6.6 m³/sApr
- 6.4 m³/sMay
- 5.1 m³/sJun
- 3.9 m³/sJul
- 3.2 m³/sAug
- 3.3 m³/sSep
- 5.3 m³/sOct
- 7.5 m³/sNov
- 6.8 m³/sDec
From about 3.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.5 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.
Salto de Bordones is a waterfall in Colombia. The water falls 400 m.
Getting there.
- Isnosnearest town · 10 km in a straight line
- Parking 470 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Guillermo León Valencia Airport (PPN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 69 km in a straight lineCar hire at CLO airport (Cali)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.
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.
22 MW
About 5.5 m³/s falling 400 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 7.2 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 5,400 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 417 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 328 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 2viewpointsSalto de Bordones
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHotel Bordones, Ecohotel Bordones
- —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
- Isnos10 km in a straight line
- Isnos12 km in a straight line
- Saladoblanco14 km in a straight line
- San Agustín18 km in a straight line
- Oporapa19 km in a straight line
- Pitalito22 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 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 |
| Night °C | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 72 | 81 | 117 | 138 | 113 | 72 | 48 | 34 | 52 | 126 | 166 | 114 |
| Wet days | 15 | 16 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 4.5 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,553 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 | 71% | 131% | 45% | 25% | 51% | 79% | 284% | 42% | 57% | 70% | 103% | 189% |
| 2021 | 242% | 151% | 163% | 187% | 149% | 312% | 114% | 166% | 185% | 88% | 73% | 122% |
| 2022 | 106% | 181% | 177% | 145% | 124% | 169% | 114% | 78% | 198% | 192% | 73% | 65% |
| 2023 | 215% | 62% | 188% | 138% | 115% | 35% | 128% | 161% | 69% | 78% | 75% | 160% |
| 2024 | 66% | 125% | 102% | 117% | 121% | 199% | 133% | 58% | 55% | 79% | 78% | 180% |
| 2025 | 118% | 289% | 262% | 158% | 119% | 339% | 118% | 175% | 111% | 95% | 99% | 73% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Salto de Bordones
Colombia
- 400 mHeight
- 5.5 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–May, Nov–DecBest months
Cascada del Fin del Mundo
Colombia
- —Height
- 0.89 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–May, Nov–DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q3470251) · 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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