Looking for a change? How does a place with pleasant greenery all around, almost nil tourists with water, breeze and birds to give you company sound? Interested ?? OK then, it’s time to pack your bags and head off to Athirapally, the small town in Kerala which boasts of the Chalakudi river flowing between the western ghats with numerous water falls!
We recently went on a weekend trip to this place. The Athirapally falls (also popularly known as ’’Punnagai Mannan falls’’) has been and will continue to be the backdrop for many south Indian movies. Some of our friends had earlier visited this place a few months back. Their travelogue and photos inspired us to visit this place.
We got ourselves booked at The Riverok villas (https://riverokvillas.com) who also organised food, station-hotel transfers and complete sight seeing. The resort was very good. It was scenically located with the Western Ghats and the Chalakudi river as the backdrop. They have individual cottages, beautifully manicured lawns, wonderful gardens and to top it all, a calm and soothing river right in the back-yard!! Hey no, it’s not expensive at all! For all these facilities, the rate they quote sounds very nominal!
Here’re some details about this place:
Closest Railway station: Chalakudi (2 stations away from Trichur. Alleppey Express from Chennai stops here). This is about 30 kms away from Athirapally.
Closest Airport: Cochin (about 80 kms away)
Tourist Spots around (that we visited): Athirapally waterfalls, Charpa waterfalls, Vazhachal, Anakayam, Vachumaram and Thumburmuzhi gardens. All the places relate to water and are different spots on the same river. Anakayam and Vachumaram are spots inside the forest area. All these spots (except Thumburmuzhi gardens) are on the same road (the road to Valparai from Athirapally). Thumburmuzhi Gardens are on the way to Chalakudi from Athirapally
Each spot was beautiful in its own way. The Athirapally waterfalls were breath-taking! Water falls from a height of 80 feet splashing into the rocks below and creating a mist. My husband called it ’’mini Indian Niagara’’!! You can look at it from the top and from the bottom as well. This was the place we spent the longest time! I don’t think words can describe the beauty of this spot! No photo that I have seen on the Internet could represent its real beauty! The Charpa waterfalls was the most photographed spot during the trip. The height wasnt great.. but the flow was layered and presented an awesome sight. The road is so close the falls and the mist from the falls refreshes you as you stand adoring its beauty
Vachumaram is a calm and beautiful lake surrounded by hills. We spotted deers near the lake that had come to quench their thirst but ran away before we could photograph it ! The van driver also told us that wild elephants were close by and he could recognize their odour. There was elephant-dung on the roads and we also felt the strong odour that I remember feeling during visits to the zoo! Although we very much wanted to see them, the van driver warned us it is better not to as they are normally in herds and it is not nice if a group of wild elephants attack us! The only other creature some of us spotted was a snake!
Anakayam is another scenic picnic spot a few kilometers from Vachumaram. One side of the river has the road and the other has some rocks that can be climbed easily. We had our lunch here.
Vazhacal was the location at the entrance to the forest area. There are lot of rocks at this spot and the river flows over them creating a lot of foam. Although this spot is called ’’Vazhachal water falls’’, it is not a waterfalls in the true sense. The river flows down a slope which has lot of rocks, thus creating a waterfall-like impact. Thumburmuzhi gardens is a garden where the water from the river is re-directed to deep tanks, which overflows to create a water-fall impact. The deep tanks are in a form of a semicircle. The view of water flowing out smoothly from a 270 degree semicircle is fantastic. Other than this there are some flowers and trees around.
We also had a long refreshing dip in the river at the back of the resort. The water is shallow and there are rocks too to sit on/lie on! The view was absolutely fantastic, high hills on the side with a calm river flowing in-between!
So, this is the place you have to head to if you are tired of Ooty & Kodai! For all the city-dwellers, the greenery and water soothe your tired eyes. For the shutter bugs, your cameras wouldn’t stop clicking. (We took close to 500 photos in just about 36 hours!!) This is one place that has very little tourists and has not yet become one of the crowded and polluted tourist spots... so please ensure that we leave it clean and green as it was before we reached!