Kollimalai Falls - near Salem

[John Immanual]

Hi Chennai Trekkers.

 

I went to a place called Kollimalai during July 2000, and what i heard from the local people is that, This falls is the tallest falls next to the Jog falls.

 

When i went the water flow was not to it max, But still I enjoyed visiting this place. From Salem we took a bus to a place from where we had to change another bus to Kolli falls. We started from Salem at 8 o clock and took the public transport to reach there by 2 in the afternoon. I had to climb down 300-400 steep steps to reach the falls.

 

I have never visited to much falls, But still, i have never seen a falls so high and Vigorous. I found this photo in the internet and saw that it was clicked in the month of September.

 

Not to scare you but to make yourself aware of the cause and the effect.

 

Cause: From the bus stop, we need to climbing down 400 steep steps and have to climb back 400 steps to take the bus back to Salem. I had stiff muscles in my thighs and calf muscles. So it is not advisable for first timers. Effect: You would be able to climb up any number of stairs , but would find it difficult to climb down even one. This effect would be there for atleast 1 week. Those days I was not a part of CTC, might be that is the reason i had these effects. :-)

 

If there is any member whos native is Salem, can tell us the bus timings, It would be very very helpful for the planning.

 

 

Click with your eyes.

John Immanual.

[Vikram J]

Hi John/Peter,

My native is Salem only. I have visited Kolli hills many times as it comes around 100kms from Salem and most of the time I went there in bike only. But I can give the bus timings from Chennai to Salem and Chennai to Namakal. The mountains are about 1000 to 1300 m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 km.

National Highway 45 from Chennai is the road to take till Ulundurpettai, from where you will have to branch off on the road leading to Salem. A further southward diversion at the main town of Attur, will lead to Malliakarai, Namagiripettai and Belukkuruchi, at the foot of the Kolli Hills.

If approaching from Salem, you can take the Rasipuram-Namakkal road via Kalappanayakanpatti, and reach Nadukombai from where the ghat road begins. The nearest railway station is Salem, 100kms from Kolli Hills. The nearest Airport is at Tiruchirapalli, 90kms from here.

The falls have 750steps and getting down will take 30 to 45 mins and coming back will take hours depending upon the physical condition of each person. (the steps are atleast a feet high, so it takes much energy in stepping up each of them)

As John told, I suffered severe leg pain for the first time and now I get used to it. My last trip to Kolli was 2 years before. It has excellent forest (mysterious) and I remember that we travelled through a water stream also. Climate is excellent one. One famous temple is there (Arapalishwar temple- nearly 8 to 10 Kms from the Cholakkadu village) and adjacent to that we have the steps which lead to the falls.

The falls is excellent one with great height and view from low angle will be thrilling.I have attached the google earth view of the location. Please find the attachment.

If we organize for this trip, it will be an excellent one! The below links can give more specifications of this area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolli_Hills

http://visheshunni.wordpress.com/2007/10/06/kolli-hills/

Thanks
Viki

[Vikram J]

Hi Guys,

 

This map gives you the exact location of the water falls and kolli hills. Just hover your mouse over it and you will know the name of the place.

 

For water falls and kolli hills, hover your mouse in the edge of the mountain view (green). Find the attachement for the screenshot.

 

http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=11.2185636&lon=78.3424759&z=12&l=0&m=a&search=namakkal

 

Thanks

Viki

 

[John Immanual]

Sample Itenary

* Start from Chennai on Friday night by Yercaud express and reach Salem by Saturday morning ( 6.00 am )
* Have a quick snacks+coffee at Salem and take the Namakkal bus at 7 am.
* Reach Namakkal at 8.30 am and have a quick breakfast. Catch the kollimalai bus.
* Reach kollimalai and get down from the bus at 1.00 pm max. Reach the falls at 2.30 max.
* Spend 2 hours there taking bath and relaxing ourselves. Have packed lunch. and start upclimb at 4.30 and take the kollimalai to Namakkal bus by 6 pm.
* Reach Namakkal at 9 pm and reach salem at 10 pm. and have quick dinner. and take the late night train to Chennai and reach chennai at Sunday morning.

 

Take some rest on Sunday and would post the photos on monday to make attract more people to join for the next trip.

 

I would suggest that a max of Peter + 9 ( experienced +pysically fit ) trekkers go there first time and rate the difficulty.

 

Reason
 

Smaller the group, the quicker the on-instance decisions would be. And the reflex would be faster to reach the new-place and explore. So that it would be easy for us plan and take more crowd during the next trip to kollimalai and also can plan an over night stay as well.  :-)

cost factor
Travel :
              Chennai > Salem  - 200 Rs (max)
              Salem > Namakkal - 30 Rs (max)
              Namakkal > Kolimalai - 50 Rs (max)

              Kollimalai > Namakkal - 50 Rs (max)
              Namakkal > Salem - 30 Rs (max)
              Salem > Chennai  - 200 Rs (max)

Food:      All Food expenses: 200 max.

So the All total would not cross more than 800 Rs. ( which is Similar and acceptable as compared with Tada expenses )

As we are not sure of the bus timings from Namakkal -  Kollimalai and back. We cannot comeup with the exact iternary. Once we get the correct bus timings, we can plan out correctly.

John

[partha sarathy]

Hi friends,

 

            Last week we six friends went to kolli hills , i was representing CTC , Kolli hills is located  in central Tamil Nadu . The mountains are about 1000 to 1300 m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 km². The Kolli Hills are part of the Eastern Ghats .This mountain is famous for all kinds of herbals and black magic .The mountains are relatively untouched by tourism and still retain their natural beauty .we started on Friday afternoon around 01.00 pm from Chennai , reached the base of the hill place called Puliancholai, it was around 08.30 pm we stayed in the temple mandapam which is located near the banks of the river ,one of my friend who is native of Kolli hills arranged for one driver and one guide .From Puliancholai there is no road ways to hill top so Driver (dhayalan) took my car on the road which is around 85 km from the base to top in different route, Morning around 08.00 am we started our trekking with our guide (swami), he is one of expert in finding the herbals inside the deep forest . There are four different ways to reach top , we opted the 14 KM walk which is all through the river and forest mixed , hence there is less  rain for last week we managed to walk in the middle of the river rocks which is little bit slippery. we saw around 3 caves in different location , middle of the way we saw many snakes , Hedgehogs and one bear from long view. water is really cool and taste of herbal mixed , water is not available on certain few km on the forest way although we managed with bottle . Path is really steep and narrow , at last the trek ended near to the water falls of kolli hills , this place is called Agaya Gangai waterfalls the gorgeous 300 feet water falls , which is really freezing and nice view . We had our lunch there spend more time in water . once we come out we were to stunned to see the 1000 steps to climb up to which is steep and small. once we came out our car is waiting for us  , we were searching for hotel to have our dinner it was raining at that time , finally our guide took us to one house where we prepared our dinner like rice , sambar and appalam it was really nice stuff.we reached our guest house around 09.30 pm ,all my friends are first time trekkers who were really tired and sharing their pains to each other and cursing me .

next day morning 08.00 am , we went to my friends resort and had bath in the lake , started exploring the places , went to many temples and sight seeing located in diff location , we went to visited one siadhder (Monk) his age is around 120 spend some time with him , we ordered our lunch in a small hotel it was like home made food .creasing areas of forests are cleared for farming. Important farm products of the mountain ranges include coffee, tea, Jackfruit, Pineapple, Black pepper and other spices. Rice and other minor millets form the staple food of the tribal people who inhabit these mountains. The Jack fruit grown on these mountains is well known for its delicious taste and fragrance , all the fruits are grown naturally without fertilizers .we went to weekend market to purchase fruits . Our guide arranged for one soup it is called ( muravan attu kal kazangu soup ),this soup is available only one house in kolli hills , forest officials asked locals not to sale this soup hence it is huge demand, the key factor of this soup is 100% veg taste like mutton soup ,it is very good for people who suffering from joint pain , cholesterol, diabetes etc.., it is also used in herbal medicines..

Now let me tell u the wired part of kolli hills , when we were talking to couple of locals they said about black magic , they refered some people we enquired to our guide (swami) , he completed refused the information after the huge discussion he agreed to take us to that place , first we went to one asharamam to meet one person he is out of station , we spoke to his assistance he said he can tell everything about us by doing meditation , first my friend stood in front of him say about 5 minutes ,at last he said some information which is 50% correct , next i stood for 3 minutes information which he said is 100% wrong , we visited many person in and around of the villages for black magic, some asked to come on particular day some refused to see.when we had tea in a shop again discussion went on this topic with some local mates , they revealed the information that there is old man who is around 75 years , who can transform into many forms , first i didn't believe that , we left that place travelled to diff location and enquired that information to other local people , first they refused then they accepted asked how we know , then i enquired to my guide he was totally shocked and refused completely , then he accepted we asked him to take us to that place , he was giving silly reason to take us , we stood in our way then he accepted to take us ,we travelled around 15 km remote village on the middle the road was too bad not able to proceed further , then we took one local help travelled in a  tractor which was parked near the field , at last we went to his house to find him , we got big disappointment that he had went to some other remote location for some personal work .There are many places to explore in kolli hills , time matters we were forced to leave the place .we stared our journey to Chennai reached around Monday 04.00 am . I request our CTC members to explore once to have nice experience.

   Points to remember
   ------------------------------

    Route from chennai ..

 1. Chennai to Ulundurpettai to Malagaikarai to Pulaincholai

note : pulancholai is the trekking point to kolli hills , nearest railway station is Trichy, there is no  road way from puliancholai to hill top , i suggest to have a driver if u are planning to go on own  car , he can bring the vechile to the nearest end point of the trekking, it is not possible to trekk  up and down on the same day, there are lot of sight seeing on the top which has difference of 5 to 10km away which has no public transport.

2.  Mobile networks

 note : only BSNL has a strong signal,other networks we can get signal not sufficient to make or receive a call.

3.  Petrol Station

 note : One petrol station is available beginning of the village .

4. Accommodation

 note : government guest house is available , youth hostel is also available and couple of Private lodge
          and resorts . cost for government accommodation is around 550 to 890 max of 06 to 10 people can stay
          unofficially.
          i suggest if any of our club members want to stay there , they can stay in my friends resort on their
          own tents , i can make an arrangement.

 

 I am attaching the Photo link of Kolli Hills  :     http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmsarathy/KolliMalli110708?authkey=n13Y0Z1qiHE

 

 

 Regards

 Partha
 

[partha sarathy]

 small corection , it is not last week friday , last month first week friday...

 

 Partha.
 

[Vikram J]

Kamal,

 

Its a new train from via virudachalam. It starts from Egmore by 11:20 P.M and reaches Salem around 4 or 5 in the morning.I went home last week in this train only. Its Super Fast Express.
 

John,

 

We have bus frequency more from Salem to Kolli hills. I will let you know the exact timings by tomorrow. So we can plan according to it.

Thanks

Vikram J

 

On 8/21/08, Kamal <hikamal.in@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi John,

 

Southern Railway is operating another   train to Salem thru' the newly formed railway track

 

It reaches Salem Via.  Aatur ( @ 4 am).

 

Thanks & Regards,

 

kamal

 

On 8/21/08, John Immanual <johnim...@gmail.com> wrote:

Kamal

[Vikram J]

If we are going via Salem and car is must, I can arrange travels car (well known to me) to pik us from Salem for a drop in trekking point. Any more suggestions?

[John Immanual]

Wow.. nice photos Partha. thats a good news..

 

How many of you joined this trip from CTC. I didnt know about this trip. Am sure i really missed joining you guys.

 

It would be great if you could ask the local guide on which month of the year will the flow of water in the falls be at its maximum.

 

Thanks,

John
 

[partha sarathy]

 can we make a bike trip to kolli hills.i had visited the place twice i have good idea about 

 route and the places. whats ur idea guys

 

 Partha.
 

[K.Shyam]

Given the fact that CTC has conquered Khardung-la, places like salem
must be chicked feed. The first gang (9 or so) that goes, can attempt
to bike down from Chennai to Salem.
Shyam
PS: What are the tentative dates ?

On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 5:58 AM, John Immanual <johnim...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wow.. nice photos Partha. thats a good news..
>

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