Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra

2500cc · 2nd August 2010, 17:24

Guys,

Isn't Chitrakoot water falls in Chhattisgarh known as Niagara of India ? correct me if am wrong.

Cheers,
Rajesh

kaushik_s · 2nd August 2010, 20:54

Those pictures are from Iguazu falls, Iguazu Falls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I've seen many such mails floating around with the original place name being changed to suit some Indian place. India have some very beautiful places and don't need some place outside to falsely help promoting it.(not aiming at you Ashish, you've just forwarded one such mail, you are not to blame for this). Here is a picture of the Iguazu falls and the mail creator has just cropped the image in half to create the mail. See for yourself ;-)

Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra-foz1.jpg

And about being Niagara of India? I really agree with you guys. Haven't we already have enough of Scotland of the East, Switzerland of the East etc? Why we even need to put some other place's name in front of our nice places and ruin the feel of it? I'm sure someone gonna name Qutub Minnar as Eiffel tower of India someday.

MX6 · 2nd August 2010, 21:35

Kaushik, That's a great find about Iguazu falls.
Nevertheless Athirapally and vazhachal are amazing places.
guys, we need to stop calling these as indian niagara, scotland of the east.
I fully agree with Kaushik.
Someone asked Jackie Chan to fill in as Bruce lee's double on his unfinished movies after his death. Jackie chan refused.
When asked whether he didn't want to be the next bruce lee, he responded, I want to be the first jackie chan!

Every place has it's significance.

Scorpiolover · 4th August 2010, 14:29

Agree with MX6 on both the naming aspect and also about the beauty of Athirapally and Vazhachal. I have been there about 4 or 5 times and twice I crossed over from Athirampally, Vazahachal into Valpaarai into Tamilnadu twice and the hourney was amazing. Especially if you cross the forest check post at Vaazhachal around 5 PM and enter the forest, you are bound to see a lot of animals including elephants on the way to Vaalpaarai.

However as far as my experience with Athirapally is concerned the last 2 times, I went there was with family (ofcourse the last time was about 5 - 6 years ago) and really regretted going there because of the crowd. I saw some of the nastiest crowd in that places with eve teasing being rampant. Not sure how it is now.

The falls is beautiful. The road directly reaches the top of the falls and it is an decent climb down to the bottom of the falls. As always, going down is easy, climbing back up again is the challenge.

All said and done, true to Harishnair's photo in this thread, it is an amazing place.

Judemayne · 10th August 2010, 15:42

May I request you to please give me the route from Pollachi to Athirpalli. You guys may laugh and say that I have not read the thread well. There is a confusion as the route mentioned does not tally with the Google map?
SH 21 -as per you all is pretty bad from Parambikulam athirapalli?? whereas valaparai road ends abruptly??

I plan to go there from Bangalore next weekend 21 Aug.

Regards,

Col J H Mayne

hvkumar · 10th August 2010, 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judemayne

May I request you to please give me the route from Pollachi to Athirpalli. You guys may laugh and say that I have not read the thread well. There is a confusion as the route mentioned does not tally with the Google map?
SH 21 -as per you all is pretty bad from Parambikulam athirapalli?? whereas valaparai road ends abruptly??

I plan to go there from Bangalore next weekend 21 Aug.

Regards,

Col J H Mayne

Col, GM is wrong and there is no such road from Top Slip/Parambikulam to Athirapalli, the only road comes from Valparai via Sholayar.

Judemayne · 11th August 2010, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Col, GM is wrong and there is no such road from Top Slip/Parambikulam to Athirapalli, the only road comes from Valparai via Sholayar.

.

Mr Kumar-thanks a ton-I have read your posts-you are the Sage or "Guru' of the Team-BHP-It will be an honour to meet you.
Regards,

Col J H Mayne

kshivaa · 31st August 2010, 00:09

I am planning to drive from Coimbatore to Athirapally via Pollachi / Valparai this weekend. How long will it take to reach the falls?

Will I be able to do a CBE -> Valparai -> Athirapally -> Angamaly -> Trivandrum in a sinlge day, if I start at 6 am from CBE ?

hvkumar · 31st August 2010, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by kshivaa

I am planning to drive from Coimbatore to Athirapally via Pollachi / Valparai this weekend. How long will it take to reach the falls?

Will I be able to do a CBE -> Valparai -> Athirapally -> Angamaly -> Trivandrum in a sinlge day, if I start at 6 am from CBE ?

Yes, you can. I assume you will be driving through.
Broad timings:
Coimbatore-Pollachi, 1.5 hrs
Pollachi-Valparai, 2 hrs
Valparai-Athirapalli, 3 hrs
Athirapalli-Chalakudy, 1 hr
Chalakudy-Ernakulam, 1 hr+ traffic jams
Ernakulam-Trivandrum, 5 hrs+

kshivaa · 31st August 2010, 14:41

Thanks for the timing information. I am thinking of taking MC road from Angamaly, instead of the NH. Think that will help avoid the traffic jams around Ernakulam. Is that a better option?

thanks
Siva

ramkya1 · 5th March 2012, 18:29

Bumping an old thread, planning to spend some time exploring this route around May, hotel options seem limited near the falls:

1. Rainforest: Bad reports and terribly expensive, a Texan family got ripped offf reccently.
2. Riveroak: More or less same reports.
3. Bethania Resort: Again bad reports of lously service and run down amenities.
4. Kandam Kulathy Ayursoukyan Ayurvedic Resort: 15Kms off the falls, but is a branded place. You need to take some treatments along with the stay

expensive place.

My contacts tell me you need to take a permit form the forest department to drive a jeep inside!!

Anyone has done this route recently? Stay options? How's the route? What all can be done on a 3-4 night stay around here?

Objective: To unwind, relax, trek, do nothing, drive etc.,

--Ramky
=====

pypkmsrikanth · 6th March 2012, 16:37

Ramky are you specific in wanting to stay near the falls, why not stay at Valparai and make a day trip to the falls. Take one of the estate bungalows laze around, unwind and relax. You can also make a couple of day trips in and around Valparai.

pranava999 · 9th March 2012, 20:20

Ramky, when I visited the falls in June, 2006 it was on a trip to Munnar with group. We spent a few hours at the waterfall and then moved on further south. So can't really help you with advice on stay options. But here are two photos taken from the base. What an awesome experience at the stat of the monsoon season.

genesis · 9th March 2012, 21:10

Stayed at River Ok villas for a night last year. Not bad. The rooms were quite decent.
Kitchen takes time (cook was on vacation).
So drove back down the road, (away from the waterfall) to a neighborhood bar/restaurant Green something which had pretty good biriyani.
Staff at River Ok were also very helpful and the back part opens to a river.

Rainforest views are spectacular but it is very very very expensive.

ramkya1 · 10th March 2012, 00:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by genesis

Stayed at River Ok villas for a night last year. Not bad. The rooms were quite decent.
Kitchen takes time (cook was on vacation).
So drove back down the road, (away from the waterfall) to a neighborhood bar/restaurant Green something which had pretty good biriyani.
Staff at River Ok were also very helpful and the back part opens to a river.

Rainforest views are spectacular but it is very very very expensive.

Srikanth, Ppranava,Genesis and many others who have PMed me, many many thanks.

Srikanth, I'd be driving in from Palakkad, Chalakudy and so want to stay between Athirapally and Chalakudy, would drive beyond into the forest and TN side only if I can get a jeep, trying to do that through a friend.

Pranava: Long back I have gone in June, the fall was in full bloom, it's a sight to see for sure.

Genesis: Trip Adviser report for River Oak is not the best.

The best option still seems to be Kandamkulathy Resort, about 15 KM from the falls, talking to them.

--Ramky
=====

2nd August 2010, 17:24	#46
2500cc BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 734 Thanked: 349 Times	Guys, Isn't Chitrakoot water falls in Chhattisgarh known as Niagara of India ? correct me if am wrong. Cheers, Rajesh
	() Thanks

2nd August 2010, 20:54	#47
kaushik_s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,088 Thanked: 164 Times View My Garage	Those pictures are from Iguazu falls, Iguazu Falls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I've seen many such mails floating around with the original place name being changed to suit some Indian place. India have some very beautiful places and don't need some place outside to falsely help promoting it.(not aiming at you Ashish, you've just forwarded one such mail, you are not to blame for this). Here is a picture of the Iguazu falls and the mail creator has just cropped the image in half to create the mail. See for yourself ;-) And about being Niagara of India? I really agree with you guys. Haven't we already have enough of Scotland of the East, Switzerland of the East etc? Why we even need to put some other place's name in front of our nice places and ruin the feel of it? I'm sure someone gonna name Qutub Minnar as Eiffel tower of India someday.
	(1) Thanks

2nd August 2010, 21:35	#48
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	Kaushik, That's a great find about Iguazu falls. Nevertheless Athirapally and vazhachal are amazing places. guys, we need to stop calling these as indian niagara, scotland of the east. I fully agree with Kaushik. Someone asked Jackie Chan to fill in as Bruce lee's double on his unfinished movies after his death. Jackie chan refused. When asked whether he didn't want to be the next bruce lee, he responded, I want to be the first jackie chan! Every place has it's significance.
	(1) Thanks

4th August 2010, 14:29	#49
Scorpiolover Newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 15 Thanked: Once	Agree with MX6 on both the naming aspect and also about the beauty of Athirapally and Vazhachal. I have been there about 4 or 5 times and twice I crossed over from Athirampally, Vazahachal into Valpaarai into Tamilnadu twice and the hourney was amazing. Especially if you cross the forest check post at Vaazhachal around 5 PM and enter the forest, you are bound to see a lot of animals including elephants on the way to Vaalpaarai. However as far as my experience with Athirapally is concerned the last 2 times, I went there was with family (ofcourse the last time was about 5 - 6 years ago) and really regretted going there because of the crowd. I saw some of the nastiest crowd in that places with eve teasing being rampant. Not sure how it is now. The falls is beautiful. The road directly reaches the top of the falls and it is an decent climb down to the bottom of the falls. As always, going down is easy, climbing back up again is the challenge. All said and done, true to Harishnair's photo in this thread, it is an amazing place.
	() Thanks

10th August 2010, 15:42	#50
Judemayne BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 316 Thanked: 108 Times	Athirapalli. May I request you to please give me the route from Pollachi to Athirpalli. You guys may laugh and say that I have not read the thread well. There is a confusion as the route mentioned does not tally with the Google map? SH 21 -as per you all is pretty bad from Parambikulam athirapalli?? whereas valaparai road ends abruptly?? I plan to go there from Bangalore next weekend 21 Aug. Regards, Col J H Mayne Last edited by Judemayne : 10th August 2010 at 15:44.
	() Thanks

31st August 2010, 00:09	#53
kshivaa BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 97 Thanked: 34 Times	I am planning to drive from Coimbatore to Athirapally via Pollachi / Valparai this weekend. How long will it take to reach the falls? Will I be able to do a CBE -> Valparai -> Athirapally -> Angamaly -> Trivandrum in a sinlge day, if I start at 6 am from CBE ?
	() Thanks

31st August 2010, 14:41	#55
kshivaa BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 97 Thanked: 34 Times	Thanks for the timing information. I am thinking of taking MC road from Angamaly, instead of the NH. Think that will help avoid the traffic jams around Ernakulam. Is that a better option? thanks Siva
	() Thanks

5th March 2012, 18:29	#56
ramkya1 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Palakkad, Keral Posts: 1,826 Thanked: 431 Times View My Garage	Re: Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra Bumping an old thread, planning to spend some time exploring this route around May, hotel options seem limited near the falls: 1. Rainforest: Bad reports and terribly expensive, a Texan family got ripped offf reccently. 2. Riveroak: More or less same reports. 3. Bethania Resort: Again bad reports of lously service and run down amenities. 4. Kandam Kulathy Ayursoukyan Ayurvedic Resort: 15Kms off the falls, but is a branded place. You need to take some treatments along with the stay expensive place. My contacts tell me you need to take a permit form the forest department to drive a jeep inside!! Anyone has done this route recently? Stay options? How's the route? What all can be done on a 3-4 night stay around here? Objective: To unwind, relax, trek, do nothing, drive etc., --Ramky ===== Last edited by ramkya1 : 5th March 2012 at 18:31.
	() Thanks

6th March 2012, 16:37	#57
pypkmsrikanth Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,124 Thanked: 283 Times View My Garage	Re: Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra Ramky are you specific in wanting to stay near the falls, why not stay at Valparai and make a day trip to the falls. Take one of the estate bungalows laze around, unwind and relax. You can also make a couple of day trips in and around Valparai.
	() Thanks

9th March 2012, 20:20	#58
pranava999 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: BANGALORE Posts: 845 Thanked: 23 Times View My Garage	Re: Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra Ramky, when I visited the falls in June, 2006 it was on a trip to Munnar with group. We spent a few hours at the waterfall and then moved on further south. So can't really help you with advice on stay options. But here are two photos taken from the base. What an awesome experience at the stat of the monsoon season. Attached Thumbnails
	() Thanks

9th March 2012, 21:10	#59
genesis BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 773 Thanked: 339 Times	Re: Athirapilly Waterfalls - Indian Niagra Stayed at River Ok villas for a night last year. Not bad. The rooms were quite decent. Kitchen takes time (cook was on vacation). So drove back down the road, (away from the waterfall) to a neighborhood bar/restaurant Green something which had pretty good biriyani. Staff at River Ok were also very helpful and the back part opens to a river. Rainforest views are spectacular but it is very very very expensive.
	() Thanks