River Flows

Real-time flows across the Zambezi.

The hydrometric network used for the control and day to day operations of the Kariba reservoir comprise of thirteen stations where water levels are monitored daily. Flow measurements are carried out at eight of these stations which include the Victoria Falls, one of the key stations on the Zambezi River. Coincidentally, the maximum flow recorded at Victoria Falls was during the early construction phase of Kariba Dam in March 1958 at 10,000 cubic metres per second. The lowest flows recorded to date at Victoria Falls were during the 1995/96 season which had an annual mean flow of 390 cubic metres per second, whereas the Long Term Mean Annual flow at Victoria Falls is 1,100 cubic metres per second.

Water Monitoring

Monitoring Stations

Explore current and historical water flow readings from ZRA monitoring stations.

Southern Africa’s longest trans-boundary river, the Zambezi, rises at 1,585 metres above sea level in north-western Zambia. The River flows for some 2,700km through plains, gorges, rapids and cataracts before spreading out in deltoid form as it enters the Indian Ocean in the East Coast of Mozambique. The river carries more than 75% of the mean annual runoff of the region’s interior, and drains more than 40% of the landmass.

The Zambezi River Basin is the fourth largest riven basin of Africa, after the Congo, the Nile and the Niger basins. The basin covers some 1.3 million square kilometres spread over eight countries, name Zambia (40.7%), Angola (18.2%), Zimbabwe (18.0%), Mozambique (11.4%), Malawi (7.7%), Botswana (2.8%), Tanzania (2.0%) and Namibia (1.2%). Almost 33% of the total population of the riparian countries lives in the basin.

The Zambezi Catchment lies in a tropical region with three distinct seasons. The normal hot and wet season starts in November and ends in April. After April, dwindling amounts of rainfall soon translates into a cool and dry season, which persists until July. The third season is the dry and hot period between August and October.

Monitoring Station

Chavuma

The Zambezi River flows at Chavuma are in recession, closing the period under review at 114m3/s as of 16th September 2026, whilst last year on the same date it was at 102m3/s.

Monitoring period

03 Sep 2026 16 Sep 2026

Flow Monitoring

Flow Data

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Date	Flow (m3/s)(2025/26)	Flow (m3/s)(2024/25)
3-Sept	129	125
4-Sept	126	122
5-Sept	123	119
6-Sept	126	118
7-Sept	126	116
8-Sept	124	115
9-Sept	121	113
10-Sept	120	112
11-Sept	120	110
12-Sept	119	108
13-Sept	117	107
14-Sept	121	105
15-Sept	115	104
16-Sept	114	102

Monitoring Station

Ngonye

Flows at Ngonye are steadily decreasing, closing the period under review at 377m3/s as of 16th September 2026. The flow recorded last year on the same date was at 322m3/s.

Monitoring period

03 Sep 2026 16 Sep 2026

Flow Monitoring

Flow Data

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Date	Flow (m3/s)(2025/26)	Flow (m3/s)(2024/25)
3-Sept	433	378
4-Sept	427	370
5-Sept	425	365
6-Sept	418	363
7-Sept	413	356
8-Sept	413	354
9-Sept	402	353
10-Sept	399	348
11-Sept	395	344
12-Sept	390	339
13-Sept	388	334
14-Sept	385	328
15-Sept	378	326
16-Sept	377	322

Monitoring Station

Victoria Falls

The Zambezi River flows at Victoria Falls – Nana’s Farm Station are steadily decreasing, closing the period under review at 397m3/s as of 16th September 2026. The flow observed on the same date last year was at 343m3/s.

Monitoring period

03 Sep 2026 16 Sep 2026

Flow Monitoring

Flow Data

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Date	Flow (m3/s)(2025/26)	Flow (m3/s)(2024/25)
3-Sept	453	402
4-Sept	451	394
5-Sept	447	385
6-Sept	444	383
7-Sept	438	379
8-Sept	433	377
9-Sept	427	369
10-Sept	424	364
11-Sept	419	361
12-Sept	415	357
13-Sept	410	353
14-Sept	407	351
15-Sept	403	347
16-Sept	397	343

Monitoring Station

Lake

The Kariba Lake is designed to operate between levels 475.50m and 488.50m (with 0.70m freeboard) for hydropower generation.

The Kariba Lake level is in recession, steadily dropping to 481.21m (40.89% usable storage) as of 16th September 2026, compared to 477.98m (17.26% usable storage) recorded on the same date last year.

Monitoring period

03 Sep 2026 16 Sep 2026

Reservoir Monitoring

Lake Data

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Date	This Year	% Full	Last Year	% Full
3-Sept	481.45	42.70%	478.27	19.31%
4-Sept	481.43	42.55%	478.25	19.17%
5-Sept	481.42	42.47%	478.23	19.03%
6-Sept	481.41	42.40%	478.21	18.89%
7-Sept	481.39	42.25%	478.19	18.74%
8-Sept	481.38	42.17%	478.16	18.53%
9-Sept	481.36	42.02%	478.13	18.32%
10-Sept	481.33	41.79%	478.11	18.18%
11-Sept	481.32	41.72%	478.08	17.97%
12-Sept	481.3	41.57%	478.06	17.83%
13-Sept	481.28	41.42%	478.04	17.69%
14-Sept	481.25	41.19%	478.01	17.47%
15-Sept	481.22	40.97%	478	17.40%
16-Sept	481.21	40.89%	477.98	17.26%

Reservoir Information

Kariba Reservoir Data

Day	September 2024		September 2025		September 2026
	Lake	Percent	Lake	Percent	Lake	Live Storage	Percent	Turbine		Total
	Level (m)	Full	Level (m)	Full	Level (m)	x 109 m3	Full	Discharge (m3/s)	Spillage (m3/s)	Outflow (m3/s)
1	476.71	8.36%	478.29	19.45%	481.47	27.76	42.85%	1,155	0	1,155
2	476.70	8.30%	478.28	19.38%	481.46	27.72	42.77%	1,113	0	1,113
3	476.69	8.23%	478.27	19.31%	481.45	27.67	42.70%	1,197	0	1,197
4	476.68	8.16%	478.25	19.17%	481.43	27.57	42.55%	1,227	0	1,227
5	476.67	8.09%	478.23	19.03%	481.42	27.52	42.47%	1,169	0	1,169
6	476.66	8.02%	478.21	18.89%	481.41	27.47	42.40%	974	0	974
7	476.65	7.95%	478.19	18.74%	481.39	27.38	42.25%	1,229	0	1,229
8	476.63	7.82%	478.16	18.53%	481.38	27.33	42.17%	1,134	0	1,134
9	476.62	7.75%	478.13	18.32%	481.36	27.23	42.02%	1,274	0	1,274
10	476.61	7.68%	478.11	18.18%	481.33	27.08	41.79%	1,229	0	1,229
11	476.60	7.61%	478.08	17.97%	481.32	27.03	41.72%	1,268	0	1,268
12	476.58	7.48%	478.06	17.83%	481.30	26.94	41.57%	1,371	0	1,371
13	476.58	7.48%	478.04	17.69%	481.28	26.84	41.42%	1,052	0	1,052
14	476.58	7.48%	478.01	17.47%	481.25	26.69	41.19%	1,321	0	1,321
15	476.58	7.48%	478.00	17.40%	481.22	26.55	40.97%	1,297	0	1,297
16	476.57	7.41%	477.98	17.26%	481.21	26.50	40.89%		0
17	476.57	7.41%	477.96	17.12%
18	476.56	7.34%	477.95	17.05%
19	476.55	7.27%	477.93	16.91%
20	476.54	7.20%	477.90	16.70%
21	476.53	7.13%	477.87	16.49%
22	476.52	7.07%	477.84	16.28%
23	476.51	7.00%	477.82	16.13%
24	476.50	6.93%	477.80	15.99%
25	476.50	6.93%	477.78	15.85%
26	476.48	6.79%	477.75	15.64%
27	476.48	6.79%	477.73	15.50%
28	476.48	6.79%	477.70	15.29%
29	476.47	6.72%	477.68	15.15%
30	467.47	6.72%	477.65	14.93%

Flow Monitoring

Flow Data

Flow data unavailable

Upload a valid Flow data CSV for this monitoring station.

Expected columns: Date, Flow (m3/s)(2026/27), Flow (m3/s)(2025/26)

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Your Next Opportunity

Real-time flows across the Zambezi.

Monitoring Stations

Geography

Chavuma

Flow Data

Ngonye

Flow Data

Victoria Falls

Flow Data

Lake

Lake Data

Kariba Reservoir Data

Kariba Reservoir Data

Spillage

Flow Data