Canopy Hill

The closest town to the base camp ( Kumbakarai Waterfalls ) of the hike is Theni. The distance between Theni and Bangalore is around 450 kms one way which takes around 8.5 hours drive.

There are buses from Bangalore to Theni that leave from the electronic city (Bangalore). The buses can be booked on the Redbus website

1. Personal medication (if any)
2. Strong backpack (Preferably waterproof)
3. Fresh pairs of clothes for two days
4. Toiletries
5. Mosquito Repellent Cream
6. Water bottles (at least 2 liters of water)
7. A torch with new batteries (must in case of emergency)
8. You can carry Energy Food (Chocolate bars, flavored milk, Electrolyte drinks - Glucose etc.)
9. Sunglasses, Sunscreen
10. Camera (Optional)
11. Shoes with good grip (Must)

The Kumbakarrai waterfall is a major tourist attraction, right at the entrance of the forest. However, it gets completely dry during spring as there is excruciating heat and dryness. We crossed the waterfalls to enter the forest. Another important thing to keep in mind is to ensure carrying 3 litres of water with you, as water sources may have dried up during off-monsoon seasons. The trail was fairly flat initially with huge trees to give you shade at moments, offering clear views of the hills on the other side. But most of the forest shed their leaves during spring season, giving the entire landscape a fairly brownish-yellow color. The forest is so dry that it just needs a small spark to light up the entire valley into a ball of fire. And mind you forest fires are quite normal during this time here in this part of the region. All around it made for a riot of colors, as you walk on rusty brown leaves. The ascent gradually increases. Echo Point marks the end of the trek and your adventure, perhaps. Echo point offers some amazing landscape views, albeit one has to be extremely careful while posing for that one photo. One wrong step and you will fall down to thousands of feet. 

Just across the Echo point is yet another tourist attraction; Dolphin's nose. It is a huge slab of stone, protruding out, giving an impression of the nose of a Dolphin. You will also find a lot of monkeys while walking till the forest entry point of Vattakanal. Be careful, anything suspicious that you may hold to them will invite their attention. There's also this small waterfall near the entry point which draws a lot of crowd. DO NOT drink or put that water on your face, it is dirty!

This trek is one that can be described as an ideal trek and it is good that not many know or visit it. Spring is the wrong season to be here, because of the heat. The valley wakes up during the monsoon, and is a treat to your trekking senses.