Malawi 
In numbers.
1,268m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jan–Apr
Best months
100m
Elevation
The water at Kapichira Falls, month by month
It roars from February to March.
The fullest months: from February to March. The thinnest: from June to November.
- 1,743 m³/sJan
- 2,191 m³/sFeb
- 2,298 m³/sMar
- 1,804 m³/sApr
- 1,121 m³/sMay
- 686 m³/sJun
- 446 m³/sJul
- 400 m³/sAug
- 389 m³/sSep
- 380 m³/sOct
- 460 m³/sNov
- 969 m³/sDec
From about 380 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,298 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from January to April.
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.
- Chikwawanearest town · 16 km in a straight line
- Parking 340 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Chileka International Airport (BLZ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 34 km in a straight lineCar hire in BlantyreDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From January to Aprilbest 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 54 m in 2.0 km. Here the river runs about 32 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsView Spot, Kapichira Falls View Point, Hall-Martin Hide
- —waymarked walking routes
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 5campsitesMajete Game Reserve, Camp Site, Ng'ona Lodge, Community Camp Site and 2 more
- 4hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmThawale Self Catering Cottage, Sunbird Thawale Lodge, Zua Safari Lodge and 1 more
- 3restaurants 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
- Chikwawa16 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 | 32 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 38 | 38 | 34 |
| Night °C | 24 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 24 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 309 | 224 | 171 | 52 | 20 | 19 | 33 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 84 | 230 |
| Wet days | 27 | 23 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 6.3 | 7.1 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 8.9 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 7.3 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (100 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 | 131% | 217% | 28% | 76% | 20% | 218% | 133% | 107% | 77% | 48% | 26% | 124% |
| 2021 | 129% | 105% | 150% | 106% | 107% | 129% | 81% | 77% | 123% | 92% | 82% | 70% |
| 2022 | 184% | 126% | 84% | 235% | 37% | 674% | 67% | 333% | 11% | 52% | 118% | 236% |
| 2023 | 81% | 259% | 118% | 51% | 2% | 26% | 87% | 279% | 69% | 502% | 115% | 111% |
| 2024 | 106% | 58% | 164% | 145% | 213% | 460% | 0% | 452% | 251% | 436% | 211% | 24% |
| 2025 | 128% | 239% | 74% | 211% | 495% | 95% | 102% | 49% | 31% | 106% | 168% | 179% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1728533) · 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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