Kalambo Falls

The Kalambo river drops some 221 metres in a single uninterrupted fall into a gorge that runs down to Lake Tanganyika, a drop usually ranked among the highest unbroken falls in Africa. Excavations at the top of the gorge by Desmond Clark from the 1950s produced a sequence of occupation running back hundreds of thousands of years, including worked wood preserved in waterlogged deposits, which made the site one of the key references for African prehistory. In 2023 archaeologists reported two interlocking worked wooden beams from the site, dated to about 476,000 years ago - the earliest known structure built by hominins.

What you'll find

• The single drop - some 221 metres in one uninterrupted fall.
• The gorge - the cut running down towards Lake Tanganyika below the falls.
• The excavation site - the deposits at the gorge head that dated the occupation.
• The marabou colony - the storks that nest on the gorge walls.

When to go

April to July has the strongest flow after the rains. The river thins considerably by October. The track is difficult in the wet.

What to expect

The track from Mbala is rough and slow and needs four-wheel drive. The rim has no railings and the drop is sheer. There is no interpretation of the archaeology on site.

Nearby

Moto Moto Museum is in Mbala, and Nsumbu is west on the lake.

Key facts