River
Tugela River
520 km from source to mouth · South Africa.
South AfricaFlows into Indian Ocean7th longest in South Africa
In numbers
Length
520km
Average flow
170m³/s
Basin
29,100km²
Drop
1,310m
from 1,310 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
520 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,310 m
- 43 kmWoodstock Dam Reservoir28 km²
- 44 kmWoodstock Dam
- 53 kmDriel Barrage
- 89 kmSpioenkop Reservoir14 km²
- 90 kmSpioenkop Dam
- 151 kmColenso7,653 people
- 160 kmHart's Hill Falls
- 179 kmBushman's Rivertributary
- 260 kmBuffalo Rivertributary
- 283 kmMooi Rivertributary
- 487 kmSundumbili12,455 people
- 488 kmMandeni37,533 people
- 497 kmTugela3,572 people
- 520 kmIndian Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in South Africa
At the mouth it carries 170 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 15 seconds. It drops from 1,310 m to 0 m, 2.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 29,100 km², about the size of AL. 1.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from January to March; lowest: from June to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (44% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- MandeniLargest city on its banks · 37,533 people
- King Shaka International Airport (DUR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 59 km from the cityCar hire at DUR airport (Durban)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May and from July to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Tugela River, month by month
Highest water: from January to March
Lowest water: from June to September. Best months to visit: from April to May and from July to September.
From about 19 m³/s in the lowest month to 170 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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.
The basin
Tugela River: the basin in numbers
29,195 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 64/km²people per km²
- 1,239maverage altitude of the basin
- 822mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 16.5°Caverage air temperature
- 5%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 1.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 44% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 54% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Tugela River: what you find on the way
- 13WeirsClifford Chambers Weir, Putterill Weir, Lower Thukela Abstraction Weir and 10 more
- 4WaterfallsFairy Glen Falls, Sunday Falls and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Tugela River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
35mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Hart's Hill Fallskm 148
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Woodstock Dam Reservoirkm 4028km²
- Spioenkop Reservoirkm 8214km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Tugela Beachkm 47225.6°C
- Stanger Beach21 km away25.4°C
- Zinkwazi Beach8.5 km away25.4°C
Mountains at the source (35)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mont-Aux-Sources1.0 km away3,282m
- Namahadi Peak5.3 km away3,274m
- Phofung1.0 km away3,215m
- Ifidi Pinacles7.4 km away3,070m
- Eastern Buttress5.5 km away
- Sentinel3.1 km away
- Mole Hill11 km away
- Mbudini Buttress12 km away
27 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Tugela River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Buffalo River, Bushman's River, Bloukrans River, Mooi River, Boesmansrivier
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Lesotho140 km36 m³/s273 km awayMaputo River
Mozambique300 km110 m³/s340 km awayMzimene River
Eswatini191 km51 m³/s287 km awayMbabane RiverEswatini73 km7.4 m³/s307 km awaySenqunyane RiverLesotho200 km15 m³/s334 km awayKomati RiverMozambique480 km110 m³/s403 km awayLimpopo RiverMozambique1,750 km170 m³/s493 km awayMakhaleng RiverLesotho113 km5.9 m³/s402 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q476317) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit