A scenic spot that’s worth exploring, close to Chennai!

Embark on a long journey, or take a new road- the one that’s winding and long, if nothing embark on a short vacation, one that is full of fond memories and pictures choc-a-bloc with smiling faces. Isn’t that what living life to the fullest is all about?

And when you’re living in a lively city such as Chennai, there really is no dearth of shortage of places that will satisfy the adventurer, the loner, the wayfarer or the family guy driving along with a bunch of squealing kids on the backseat.

Find a beautiful place and you’ll find yourself

Very often we stumble across a place that we feel we’ve been to before and sometimes we come across a place which we may never have seen before but would love to again and again. And then later, some places identify closely with our personality, that is, they are places that seem custom made just for us, be it with respect to their beauty or the fact that they’re unsullied by the fiendishness of mankind!

One such place is the scenic Kailasakona waterfall.

The Kona falls, as they are fondly called, are a beautiful place to visit when you’re in the mood for a drive out of Chennai and wish to head to some nearby place. Not too far from Chennai, the Kona falls are a relatively unexplored spot, so do watch out for the “Puthur 10″milestone which you will see on the right side of the road. The Kailasakona entrance is just soon after this milestone and you’ll need to watch out for it on the left side of the road. Beware of over speeding vehicles on the highway though, it has been known to take by surprise unsuspecting drivers.

How to get here

When you start driving from Chennai, the Kailasa Kone Temple and Falls is accessible via the Tirupathi road. Note that, the falls are in Andhra Pradesh and since your going to be travelling across the state, it’ll most likely involve a travel time of near about 2 and a half hours, besides which there will be tolls along the way.

Do remember to pick a good location in Chennai as your starting point as that will ensure you reach Kone falls quickly and without getting stuck in an unpleasant jam. Oragadam is a great place to start from as there are multiple options for road travel from here.

As is already well-known, Oragadam is positioned between 2 National Highways i.e. NH4 (Chennai – Bengaluru highway) and NH45 (GST) and is easily accessible to 3 State Highways i.e, SH48 (Tambaram – Walajabad Road), SH57 (Sriperumbudur – Singaperumalkovil Road) and SH120 (Walajabad – Sunguvarchatram Road)

The soothing sound of gurgling water

The Kailasakona waterfalls cascade from a height of 30 meters or so and one can say that the sight of water pooling below into the pond is a sight to behold and worth freezing in a picture. A natural waterfall originating from the valley of Nagari Hills in the Chittoor District, the water emanates from a split in the mass rock above and usually flows perpetually, though there may be a few spells in the summer when the force is a tad bit less. In its prime, the water is pure and clear and is thought to possess rich minerals and healing medicinal abilities that act as a succour for sicknesses.

One can bring their vehicle right till the base of the waterfall and to the immediate side of the waterfall one will find a small temple of Lord Shiva and Parvati. The temple has an interesting bit of folk lore attached to it too! It goes like this- Lord Kailasanatheswara Swami attended the marriage of Lord Venkateshwara Swami and Goddess Padmavathi at Narayanavaram, which is a location about 9 kms from the falls. The beauty and peace pleased him greatly and he decided to meditate for some time and that’s how the name Kailasakona was derived.