DR Congo 
In numbers.
39,535m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–Jun
Best months
17m
Elevation
The water at Yellala Falls, month by month
It roars from December to May.
The fullest months: from December to May. The thinnest: from August to October.
- 49,006 m³/sJan
- 49,401 m³/sFeb
- 50,221 m³/sMar
- 51,356 m³/sApr
- 51,020 m³/sMay
- 45,699 m³/sJun
- 38,845 m³/sJul
- 33,309 m³/sAug
- 30,426 m³/sSep
- 33,711 m³/sOct
- 40,694 m³/sNov
- 46,434 m³/sDec
From about 30,426 m³/s in the lowest month to 51,356 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to June.
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.
- Kengenearest town · 13 km in a straight line
- Mbanza Congo Airport (SSY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 99 km in a straight line
- From March to Junebest months to go (estimate)
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 8 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 113 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
- Kenge13 km in a straight line
- Matadi15 km in a straight line
- Nóqui21 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 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 31 | 31 |
| Night °C | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 125 | 129 | 181 | 170 | 126 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 25 | 108 | 173 | 162 |
| Wet days | 23 | 22 | 26 | 26 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 28 | 26 |
| Sun h/day | 4.5 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (17 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 | 154% | 107% | 97% | 74% | 138% | 382% | — | 42% | 126% | 89% | 131% | 76% |
| 2021 | 78% | 79% | 92% | 99% | 57% | 32% | — | 30% | 91% | 50% | 108% | 93% |
| 2022 | 113% | 61% | 99% | 172% | 125% | 146% | — | 42% | 52% | 109% | 161% | 91% |
| 2023 | 104% | 70% | 109% | 129% | 103% | 111% | — | 17% | 99% | 122% | 116% | 143% |
| 2024 | 41% | 102% | 72% | 63% | 56% | 157% | — | 17% | 71% | 63% | 98% | 107% |
| 2025 | 63% | 93% | 82% | 130% | 184% | 257% | — | 11% | 90% | 58% | 83% | 81% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Yellala Falls
DR Congo
- —Height
- 39,535 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–JunBest months
Livingstone Falls
Republic of the Congo
- —Height
- 42,000 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr, Nov–JanBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37505) · 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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