Yelagiri

Yelagiri is a hill station in Tamil Nadu, about 150km from Bangalore. The place is not very well known, however, has started attracting tourists of late. Located at an altitude of 1,140m above Mean Sea Level is a picturesque locale situated on the Vaniyambadi-Tirupattur route, 19km from Jolarpet. 

We heard about Yelagiri from my dad, when he went on a one day trip with his colleagues. Yelagiri can be either reached by private transport or by train to Jolarpet, form where local buses shuttle tourists to the top of the hill.

On getting positive feedback about the place, we did not want to wait long and headed to Yelagiri on a Saturday morning. We took the Hosur Road, NH 7 and reached Krishnagiri. Its an amazing road, we literally flew over the entire stretch. Its worth paying the toll (better to keep the exact change handy and pay two way). Food was not a concern as we came across Kamat Upachar and Adyar Anand Bhavan.  At Krishnagiri, we were asked to take the service road, under the second flyover and then a left towards Chennai, onto NH 46. We were advised by the locals to drive for a few minutes further till we saw the building of a Higher Secondary School, the name of which is off my memory now!! Guess Vani…not sure though. We drove and drove and drove…in circles, finally got help from someone, on his TVS 50 (our Saviour), whom we followed to reach the sign board which read “Yelagiri Hills, Tamil Nadu Tourism Department welcomes You”.Wow! what a releif…

We had to cross 14 hairpin bends to reach the top of the hill and trust me it was lovely weather with a light drizzle, the greyish black clouds hovering the sky and the lovely smell emitted by the action of actinomycetes in soil, created magic…By the time we reached the peak, it was a downpour. We managed to reach a restaurant and feasted on hot rotis with steaming vegetable curry, felt like heaven. What more could we have asked for…

In the meantime, the Rain God showed mercy and cleared the sky for us. We marched straight to the park which harbours  an artificial lake called Punganoor Lake, the most famous tourist spot here. A Boat Club is housed here with pedaling and rowing boats, costing Rs.75 per trip. We took a stroll around the lake as the weather was awesome and captured a few glimpses.  The lake is surrounded by a childerns park, a zoo and a garden. We just settled down on one of the benches bordering the lake, it was so peaceful, how we wished the clock stopped ticking!

   



 

We had heard about the Swami Malai (The highest Peak in Yelagiri) trek, however, as time was not on our side we had to hurry to Jalagamparai Waterfalls and spend some time there before it got dark. On our journey down hill, we visited the Telescope point, our expectations about the place was dashed to see a dilapidated building at a certain elevation. The good thing about this place was the cool breeze…Oh boy! It was awesome…

 

Jalagamparai Waterfalls, formed by the River Attaru, is a 5km downhill trek from Yelagiri. We decided to drive to Jalagamparai and drove through a couple of villages (the country side as it can be put). It was an awe inspiring sight – with the narrow winding roads, sandwiched between the endless lush green ragi fields, served us a bumpy treat. On reaching Jalagamparai, we had to approximately climb 70-100 steps to reach the waterfall. The waterfall looked very subtle at a distance, more like a shower. We felt its force only when we stood beneath it! For sure, took us to a frenzy!! A Muruga Temple (Vel Murugan Temple) is another attraction in the same complex.

 

 

 

 

We had spent close to an hour and half in the waterfall and realised it was time to leave only when hinted by a passerby, that the clock ticked 5pm! As the dark clouds started to gather and we had to bid good. Its a better idea to trek Swami Malai after the rainy season and spend atleast two days in the enchanting Yelagiri…