The beautiful Vathalmalai waterfalls and trek

Sarathy PB December 30, 2021

Vathalmalai is such a dream and unknown destination for many reasons... This small hill comes around the series of Hills between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri and offers everything a nature lover wants especially in Monsoon such as Hill trek, Peak temples, waterfalls birdwatching etc.

Fortunately one of my very close friend who is a forester in TN forest department who works in that beat informed this place is such a dream in monsoon and he knows the fact I love waterfalls and asked me to plan a trip in November as the waterfalls will be full and nice. He informed we can either do a day trip from Bangalore and cover most of the places here or stay for 2 days and trek to a huge peak temple next day and he can arrange stay somewhere in the village but as we had a long trip coming the further weekend we planned to do this a day trip..

We started around 5am from Bangalore and as usual had an amazing Naati breakfast at my friends Hotel in Hosur ( Modern Muniyandi Vilas) and then drove in the Dharmapuri road with Mist sprinkling everywhere...We reached the base of Vathalmalai around 9.30 and being a rainy season it was foggy and misty to the full level. We checked with the locals about the waterfalls and then took the hairpen bends kind of curvy roads to reach the top of the hill and took about 20 mins base to the peak and the roads are good. Ours was the only car that day for that beautiful sleepy village

We first trekked to the waterfalls and actually this waterfalls forms in to 4 to 5 cascading layers in its journey of about 4km deep inside the valley and we can actually access two of them. After a short hike of 20 mins reached the initial base and enjoyed the silence and calmness..

Post that trekked down for another 30 mins crossing few streams and enjoyed the main falls which falls about 30 to 40 feet and was such a beautiful sight.. We also enjoyed some birdwatching there..After spending about 2 hrs we checked with the locals if there is any treks that can be done and they told there are 2 hill temples one medium and one very far and high takes about half day so we planned for the second one..

We reached the base of a beautiful hill temple parked our car and started to hike to the temple and among the mist and greenery we reached the peak Murugan temple in about 30 mins.. The views from the Peak are so so mesmerising with the clouds touching us and the valleys so green and dense..We reached back to the car park about 2pm and then started back to Dharmapuri town to a Chettinad mess for some amazing lunch scenes... Do try Vathalmalai in monsoon for a day trip...