South Africa 
In numbers.
94m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.16m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Dec–Mar
Best months
146kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Lisbon Falls, month by month
It roars from December to February.
The fullest months: from December to February. The thinnest: from May to October.
- 0.7 m³/sJan
- 0.6 m³/sFeb
- 0.5 m³/sMar
- 0.3 m³/sApr
- 0.1 m³/sMay
- 0.0 m³/sJun
- 0.0 m³/sJul
- 0.0 m³/sAug
- 0.0 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.3 m³/sNov
- 0.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.01 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.66 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 Mpumalanga, South Africa
Lisbon Falls is a waterfall in South Africa. The water falls 94 m.
Getting there.
- Graskopnearest town · 7.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 140 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Eastgate Airport / Air Force Base Hoedspruit (HDS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 60 km in a straight lineCar hire at HDS airport (Hoedspruit)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From December to Marchbest 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
146 kW
About 0.16 m³/s falling 94 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 36 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 156 m in 3.6 km.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsBerlin Falls
- —waymarked walking routes
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmBerlin Falls
- —caves
- —campsites
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmThaba Tsweni Lodge
- 1restaurants 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
- Graskop7.9 km in a straight line
- Pilgrim’s Rest9.6 km in a straight line
- Tswafeng17 km in a straight line
- Morolaneng18 km in a straight line
- Thabakgolo21 km in a straight line
- Mphenyatsatsi21 km in a straight line
- Madyembeni22 km in a straight line
- Shatale23 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 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 22 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| Night °C | 15 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 160 | 116 | 100 | 58 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 23 | 63 | 110 | 142 |
| Wet days | 21 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 22 |
| Sun h/day | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.5 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 7.6 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,334 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 | 117% | 225% | 127% | 173% | 18% | 111% | 142% | 69% | 69% | 132% | 59% | 130% |
| 2021 | 152% | 245% | 60% | 30% | 91% | 204% | 77% | 97% | 64% | 101% | 109% | 134% |
| 2022 | 160% | 92% | 146% | 219% | 584% | 400% | 188% | 38% | 45% | 43% | 134% | 110% |
| 2023 | 68% | 400% | 48% | 53% | 892% | 78% | 299% | 56% | 197% | 102% | 81% | 213% |
| 2024 | 105% | 65% | 150% | 198% | 40% | 174% | 0% | 124% | 84% | 92% | 89% | 96% |
| 2025 | 173% | 141% | 116% | 155% | 40% | 81% | 84% | 34% | 158% | 135% | 215% | 162% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Lisbon Falls
South Africa
- 94 mHeight
- 0.16 m³/sAverage flow
- Dec–MarBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q14468586) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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