Kiliyur Falls – Yercaud, Tamil Nadu

Veiw of Yercaud Hill

If you plan to spend vacation in a peaceful and a quite environment, yet in a well known tourist hill station, Yercaud in Shevaroy Hills, Tamil Nadu (on the Eastern Ghats) is a place to consider.

Trek Team (from top left) Jagan, Kadir, Ram and Baskar,
(in the front) Chitanya and Subru

Yercaud is just 33 Km from Salem and takes only 30 to 40 minutes of drive. Salem to Yercaud is well serviced by regular state run buses, private buses and taxis; It is an ideal and less expensive place to spend a weekend away from the busy life.

On 25th July 2008, I along with my trekking group, traveled from Chennai to Salem by Yercaud Express train. Since we have booked our accommodation at Hotel Tamil Nadu, near Lake Yercaud, we took the state run bus to Yercaud as soon as we arrived in Salem and was able to check in to the hotel well before 7 A.M on 26th.

Kiliyur sign board

The first activity of the day was to trek to Kiliyur Falls. We were pleasantly surprised to know from the locals that the narrow road which will lead to the Kiliyur Fall is only a few meters away from the Lake Yercaud. With the sign board confirming that it is only 3 Kilometers, we filled our backpacks with fruits and snacks and set out for a trilling short trek.

Some time you need to crawl too...

After one and half hour, we reached the Kiliyur waterfall, a fabulous place to feel part of the nature. The surplus water from the Yercaud Lake and other points of the Shevaroy Hills fall deep into the Kiliyur Valley, creating a 300 feet waterfall - a real feast for us. The view of the fall is breathtaking. The trek to the bottom of the falls is only for hardcore trekkers as it takes quite an effort and lot of stamina to reach the destination.

As the source of water fall is the surplus water from the nearby lake and not natural spring, we decided against taking bath in the fall, instead we spend the time on chatting, photography and munching snacks – thanks to the locals who informed about the lack of facilities/shops near the fall.

Kiliyur Falls

After spending nearly 2 hours in the fall, it was time to climb up. It hardly took 45 minutes to get back, but I can assure you that it was a tiring trek to undertake. I would strongly advise against the idea of taking kids or elderly for the Kiliyur trek and also against trekking during rainy season as there are few places where, only the roots of trees/plants are the savior from sliding in to the deep valley.

Rest during trek
 Hari VG - organizer (seen second from left)

Park visit on the second day. Group leader -
Hari Kadi (seen on the far right)

To sum up it is a beautiful place, not to be missed during your visit to Yercaud.

With a casual evening walk around the Lake Yercaud and nice dinner at Hotel Tamil Nadu, I can’t think of a better day in life. If you are one of those people who enjoys site seeing than trekking Yercaud offers options like Lady's Seat - panoramic view point, Bear's Cave, Pagoda Point, Servarayan Temple and Anna Park to satisfy your dreams. There are plenty of vans and cars, which one can hire to go around the places (hardly takes 4 hours) in Yercaud.

With a much lighter schedule on the second day, we were back to Chennai on 28th July 2008 by Yercaud Express.  Special thanks to Hariharan VG, the enthusiastic trek organizer and Hariharan Kadi Rangaraj our group leader.

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