Treks and travels: Kolli hills

Kolli hills is a mountain range in Eastern ghat. Located in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, it is about 280 km from Bengaluru. Compared to other hill stations, this is relatively known and less visited by tourists. Best time to visit this place is during the months of November and December when North East monsoon bring much awaited respite from hot weather.

Our travel, highways and 70 hairpin bends

The road from Bengaluru to Namkkal was superb thanks to four lane highway. The only painful part is Hosur Krishnagiri stretch which is being widened to six lanes. More painful is that we need to pay toll for the road in construction.

We took diversion just before Namakkal to Senthamangalam. The climb to Kolli hills start at a place Karavalli. The best part of the trip is the drive to Kolli hills. There are about 70 hairpin bends and it is a sheer fun for the person driving on this stretch.

Our stay was at “Nallathambi resort”, a decent place for a good price.

This is located about 15km from the hotel. Reaching this place was bit difficult as there were numerous diversions with no sign boards. One practical difficulty for outsiders is that every board is in Tamil. Even tourism department boards do not provide information in English. Thankfully, locals help a lot and that practically solves the problem!

Masila falls is a there stage falls. Tourists are allowed till second stage where they can get into water. Steps are being created to enter into the falls. We were there in the evening and the last tourist batch had left. That allowed us to enjoy the falls in solitude. My daughter loved this place as she could get into water and also enjoy in a kids playground area nearby.

A small lake created for tourists. Nothing great but kids like it. It would have an uneventful but for the pedal boat which we took broke down in the middle of the ride!! It was only I, my wife and daughter. My daughter looked scared but there was nothing to worry as we had worn life jackets. It took quite an effort for us to bring back the boat to the starting point. We were offered a free ride but my daughter was not ready for another round in water.

Sekuparai view point

Panoramic views of the plains and hills can be seen from this view point.

Arapaleshwar Temple and falls

This is a religious important Temple. Akash Ganga falls is also nearby but one need to walk a km or more to see this falls. We could not visit this falls due to circumstances where we had to return to Bengaluru. For people who do not want to walk can spend some time in a mini falls next to the Temple.

Note: Forest department closes the gate to Akash Ganga falls at 3PM. It is necessary that you reach before that.

Overall, Kolli hills is a nice place to spend a weekend. The 70 hairpin bends and waterfalls do not disappoint you!!