The combined total drop of its five distinct free-leaping falls is officially . In 2016, however, a Czech scientific expedition took new measurements, making the falls 983 m tall. The data were sent to the World Waterfall Database for confirmation. The source of the Tugela River (Zulu for 'sudden') is the Mont-Aux-Sources plateau which extends several kilometers beyond The Amphitheatre escarpment from which the falls drop.