Sri Lanka 
In numbers.
0.96m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Oct–Jan
Best months
1,459m
Elevation
The water at Galboda Ella, month by month
It roars from November to December.
The fullest months: from November to December.
- 1.0 m³/sJan
- 0.5 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 1.0 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.3 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 1.3 m³/sOct
- 1.9 m³/sNov
- 1.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.32 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.9 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from October to January.
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.
- Hattonnearest town · 17 km in a straight line
- Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 72 km in a straight lineCar hire at CMB airport (Colombo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From October to Januarybest 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.
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 120 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 70 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 1waymarked walking routesPekoe Trail - Stage 09 - Bogawantalawa To Dayagama
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 4campsitesGreen Mount Campsite and 3 more
- 6hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmLoinorn North Cove Cabana, Faleela Reception Hall, Loinorn Bungalow 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).
Towns nearby
- Hatton17 km in a straight line
- Talawakele18 km in a straight line
- Nuwara Eliya22 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 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| Night °C | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 108 | 86 | 104 | 175 | 164 | 101 | 82 | 92 | 129 | 234 | 274 | 212 |
| Wet days | 11 | 9 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 23 | 23 | 18 |
| Sun h/day | 6.4 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,459 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 | 57% | 31% | 32% | 69% | 165% | 115% | 151% | 133% | 147% | 42% | 106% | 113% |
| 2021 | 178% | 67% | 152% | 87% | 184% | 166% | 201% | 182% | 134% | 145% | 148% | 71% |
| 2022 | 99% | 195% | 80% | 228% | 123% | 78% | 158% | 235% | 62% | 123% | 102% | 116% |
| 2023 | 87% | 145% | 120% | 99% | 115% | 118% | 102% | 87% | 264% | 224% | 161% | 202% |
| 2024 | 247% | 32% | 40% | 60% | 123% | 94% | 95% | 147% | 51% | 58% | 121% | 68% |
| 2025 | 224% | 95% | 241% | 178% | 121% | 92% | 79% | 82% | 122% | 151% | 250% | 82% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Galboda Ella
Sri Lanka
- —Height
- 0.96 m³/sAverage flow
- Oct–JanBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37959) · 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.
The family
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