South Africa 
In numbers.
948m
Height
15m
Width
Dec–Mar
Best months
2,925m
Elevation
The water at Tugela Falls, month by month
It roars from December to February.
The fullest months: from December to February. The thinnest: from May to September.
- 100%Jan
- 95%Feb
- 74%Mar
- 46%Apr
- 18%May
- 6%Jun
- 3%Jul
- 6%Aug
- 12%Sep
- 30%Oct
- 50%Nov
- 77%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from December to March.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in South Africa and the second tallest waterfall in the world
Tugela Falls is a waterfall in South Africa. The water falls 948 m over a front 15 m wide. It lies within Royal Natal National Park.
Getting there.
- Moshoeshoe I International Airport (MSU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 152 km in a straight lineCar hire at MSU airport (Maseru)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.
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.
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 1,060 m in 3.6 km.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsThukela Falls, Tunnel and 4 more
- 2waymarked walking routesMont-aux-Sources Challenge, Drakensberg Sentinel - Cathedral
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmBilanjil Falls
- 2caves
- 2campsites
- 4hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmTendele Hutted Camp and 3 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).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 18 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Night °C | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | -4 | -6 | -7 | -5 | -2 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 193 | 155 | 115 | 64 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 23 | 32 | 82 | 115 | 163 |
| Wet days | 26 | 22 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 18 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 9.1 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 10.2 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,925 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 | 85% | 133% | 88% | 141% | 8% | 16% | 2% | 13% | 63% | 122% | 107% | 115% |
| 2021 | 132% | 134% | 71% | 47% | 26% | 38% | 236% | 231% | 236% | 69% | 85% | 93% |
| 2022 | 147% | 159% | 155% | 238% | 224% | 56% | 82% | 44% | 53% | 140% | 165% | 158% |
| 2023 | 105% | 169% | 99% | 25% | 434% | 42% | 54% | 147% | 31% | 142% | 46% | 157% |
| 2024 | 109% | 54% | 88% | 193% | 26% | 356% | 0% | 17% | 195% | 89% | 82% | 91% |
| 2025 | 110% | 113% | 708% | 309% | 24% | 253% | 233% | 104% | 233% | 88% | 204% | 172% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Tugela Falls
South Africa
- 948 mHeight
- —Average flow
- Dec–MarBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q223649) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| 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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