Kalhatti Falls – A Sad Trickle this Monsoon
Kalhatti Falls used to be a stunning 120 foot waterfall with tonnes of water, but when I saw it a couple of weeks back it was nothing but a sad trickle. And all this as we are nearing the end of the monsoons.
The Kalhatti falls is located about 13 kms from Ooty on the Sigur Ghat road. This is the road that connects Ooty with Masinagudi and has the famous 36 hair pin bends. The popular hill town of Bellikal is also situated close by.
One can park their vehicles at any shoulder on this winding highway and hike for a short distance to reach the view point. This view point, which is a large open space, also doubles up as a popular picnic spot.
If you feel more adventurous, you can take the flight of steps down from the view point to the bottom of the waterfall. It should take you about 10 minutes to reach right up to the waterfall.
It is during this short way down that you get to do some bird watching. A lot of the terrestrial birds can be spotted here especially during the early morning and late evening hours. A lot of terraced paddy fields also come in view at some stretches.
A final walk through dense thicket and a jump onto a large boulder takes you right up to 20 feet from the waterfall. I wouldn’t recommend getting any further as it can get risky. When you are at this spot and the waterfall is in full flow, you can enjoy getting drenched in the water spray, but unfortunately for me, this time around, I hardly got any such reception.
