Vattaparai Falls

Vattaparai Falls are located at: coord|8|15.919|N|77|27.062|E, elevation 40 M, in the Keeriparai reserve forest near Bhoothapandi village (Pin:629852) (Met Sta #10145) on the Pazhayar River in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu state, South India. [CISL Research Data Archive, Data for Atmospheric and Geosciences Research,"INVENTORY OF INDIAN RAINFALL DATA FILE K0212K/Bhoothapandi", retrieved Mar 15, 2007 [http://dss.ucar.edu/datasets/ds480.0/inventories/K0212K] ] It is 13 km N of Nagercoil) and 32 km NW of Kanyakumari. This 20 km² area is proposed to be a Wildlife Sanctuary. [National Wildlife Data Center (2006) Wildlife Institute of India, "List of Proposed Wildlife Sanctuaries in India", retrieved 3/31/2007 [http://www.wii.gov.in/nwdc/list_proposedwls.pdf List of Proposed Wildlife Sanctuaries in India] ] There are a few small waterfalls in this area - the nicer ones being Vattaparai Falls and Kalikesam falls. There is a small Kali temple, next to the falls. This is a very serene and undeveloped place with only one small tea stall. One can enjoy water rushing through small mountain streams, ferns and pebbles in the rainforests. The falls are surrounded by forest on all sides and forms part of an active animal corridor. The long stream is pollution-free. People are allowed to take a "natural bath" here and it is believed that the water from the stream has some medicinal effects. This is a serene and peacefull place. It is unlike the most popular falls in this district, the Tirparappu Water Falls on the Kodayar River, which has become a typical crowded tourist spot. [ M Sumith (3/27/2006) blogspot.com, retrieved 3/31/2007 [http://mkulabjournal.blogspot.com/ "The Inscrutable Kalikesam"] ]

References

*District Collector, Collectorate, Nagercoil 629001. "Official website of Kanyakumari District." [http://www.kanyakumari.tn.nic.in/ Places of Tourist Interest]