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Bolivia Bolivia Waterfall UNESCO World Heritage

Federico Ahlfeld Falls

One of the waterfalls of Bolivia.

When to go

Catarata Federico Ahlfeld
Javierhurtadovaca · CC BY-SA 4.0

In numbers.

13m³/s

Average flow

estimate

Dec–Mar

Best months

211m

Elevation

The water at Federico Ahlfeld Falls, month by month

It roars from January to March.

The fullest months: from January to March. The thinnest: from June to October.

  1. 26 m³/sJan
  2. 29 m³/sFeb
  3. 28 m³/sMar
  4. 18 m³/sApr
  5. 10.0 m³/sMay
  6. 5.0 m³/sJun
  7. 3.6 m³/sJul
  8. 3.5 m³/sAug
  9. 4.5 m³/sSep
  10. 9.4 m³/sOct
  11. 15 m³/sNov
  12. 22 m³/sDec
high water best months to go

From about 3.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 29 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 Bolivia

Federico Ahlfeld Falls is a waterfall in Bolivia. It lies within Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Getting there.

Plan your visit

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Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Federico Ahlfeld Falls seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 2 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The river through the falls
180 m200 m220 mFederico Ahlfeld Falls-1.5 km-1 km-0.5 km0+0.5 km+1 km+1.5 km← upstreamdownstream →

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.

The valley below the falls
−690 m+690 m

Around the falls the river drops 47 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 114 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
  • 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmCatarata Arcoiris
  • —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).

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C292828292931343636353229
Night °C222222222019192123232323
Rain & snow (mm)233253228109561182248127172226
Wet days2725251793249162126
Sun h/day5.14.75.76.86.98.08.78.06.26.25.65.1

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide. 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
202084%148%15%51%41%45%36%217%35%90%65%76%
202188%54%108%96%23%168%541%50%63%26%188%183%
2022139%108%77%28%105%1,118%2,226%184%182%122%94%163%
202389%54%88%43%62%116%0%12%43%64%50%58%
202488%58%38%74%19%5%0%0%90%24%83%72%
2025103%76%50%54%59%182%0%26%68%23%50%60%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Federico Ahlfeld Falls

Bolivia

  • —Height
  • 13 m³/sAverage flow
  • Dec–MarBest months

Arco Iris Falls

Bolivia

  • 88 mHeight
  • 12 m³/sAverage flow
  • Dec–MarBest months

See the guide

Cachoeira do Jatobá

Brazil

  • —Height
  • 0.29 m³/sAverage flow
  • Dec–MarBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q8342789) · CC0
River flow and catchmentHydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX 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.

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