
In numbers.
Dec–Mar
Best months
1,419m
Elevation
The water at Bandeira Waterfall, month by month
It roars from January to February.
The fullest months: from January to February. The thinnest: from May to November.
- 93%Jan
- 100%Feb
- 70%Mar
- 33%Apr
- 14%May
- 6%Jun
- 2%Jul
- 1%Aug
- 0%Sep
- 1%Oct
- 9%Nov
- 48%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.
Getting there.
- Atsabenearest town · 3.4 km in a straight line
- Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport (DIL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight line
- From December to Marchbest 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 504 m in 1.2 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmMota Bandeira
- —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
- Atsabe3.4 km in a straight line
- Ainaro12 km in a straight line
- Bobonaro17 km in a straight line
- Gleno22 km in a straight line
- Maliana24 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 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 26 | 24 |
| Night °C | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 17 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 242 | 205 | 126 | 55 | 37 | 23 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 57 | 173 |
| Wet days | 22 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 6.0 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 9.3 | 9.7 | 9.5 | 8.8 | 6.6 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,419 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 | 77% | 73% | 81% | 123% | 283% | 62% | 91% | — | — | 201% | 83% | 166% |
| 2021 | 127% | 145% | 90% | 451% | 50% | 100% | 67% | — | — | 221% | 172% | 110% |
| 2022 | 102% | 106% | 95% | 75% | 88% | 436% | 103% | — | — | 525% | 249% | 136% |
| 2023 | 42% | 178% | 125% | 171% | 37% | 112% | 547% | — | — | 2% | 158% | 69% |
| 2024 | 88% | 112% | 169% | 253% | 90% | 145% | 146% | — | — | 333% | 59% | 110% |
| 2025 | 115% | 117% | 164% | 272% | 242% | 161% | 94% | — | — | 252% | 252% | 172% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q15107354) · 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.
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.

