Suruli Falls and the Cumbum Valley: Water, Grapes and the Highest Tea

Where the Western Ghats fall away into the plains of Theni district, a single stretch of country holds three quite different pleasures. A monsoon-fed waterfall pours out of the forest near Cumbum; the fertile valley below it grows so many grapes that it likes to call itself the Grape City of South India; and high above the town of Bodinayakanur, a tea estate clings to a ridge that its owners bill as one of the highest in the world. Water, fruit and leaf — it is a good short course in what these hills can do.

The falls at the forest’s edge

Suruli Falls lies a short drive from Cumbum and Uthamapalayam, where a stream drops off the Ghats and cascades in two stages down a rock face before gathering in pools that draw bathers and day-trippers. Like most waterfalls on this side of the hills it is a creature of the monsoon: the flow is at its fullest and most spectacular from roughly June to October and again after the north-east rains, and it can thin to a trickle in the dry heart of summer, so it pays to time a visit for the wetter months. A small cave shrine and a much-photographed cluster of lingams sit near the base, and the forest around the falls is part of the Meghamalai (Highwavys) tract, so monkeys and birds are constant company. You can check access and the practical detail on the Suruli Falls page.

A cascade wrapped in legend

Part of Suruli’s appeal is the weight of story attached to it. Local tradition ties the falls and the surrounding hills to the Ramayana, and some accounts go further and claim that the classical Sanskrit poet Kalidasa had this very cascade in mind when he wrote of falling mountain water. These associations are best treated as tradition and local pride rather than settled fact — there is no firm evidence pinning a named ancient poet to this particular fall — but they are part of how the place has long been imagined, and they add a pleasant layer of romance to what is, first and last, a fine forest waterfall. Pilgrims have bathed here for generations in the belief that the water, running over medicinal herbs on the slopes above, carries a healing quality.

Grape City: the Cumbum Valley

Below the falls stretches the Cumbum Valley, a fertile trough between the Ghats and the lower hills that is watered by the Suruli and the Vaigai systems and by the tanks fed off them. It is best known for its grapes: the valley grows the sweet, musky Panneer (or Muscat) grape in such quantity that it is often nicknamed the Grape City of South India, and the local Cumbum Panneer grape has been recognised with a Geographical Indication tag. Vineyards share the ground with cardamom, coffee and other hill produce, and the drive through the valley in the growing season is a patchwork of trellised vines and green plots. The valley and its produce are described on the Cumbum Valley page.

The high tea slopes of Kolukkumalai

Climb from Bodinayakanur up towards the crest of the Ghats and you reach Kolukkumalai, a tea estate that sits high on a ridge straddling the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border and is often billed as among the highest tea estates in the world, at somewhere near two and a half thousand metres. Its old estate factory still works tea by the slow orthodox method on decades-old machinery, and the ridge is a celebrated place to watch the sun come up over a sea of mist and mountains. Be honest with yourself about the journey, though: the final climb is a rough, jolting jeep track that most visitors tackle in a hired four-wheel-drive rather than an ordinary car, and the weather at the top is fickle. See the Kolukkumalai page for how people usually reach it.

Visiting

This corner of Theni rewards a day or two by car, ideally in or just after the monsoon when the falls run hard and the hills are green. Suruli Falls and the Cumbum Valley sit close together on the plains and can be seen in a single outing, while Kolukkumalai is a separate, early-morning expedition by jeep from Bodinayakanur — set out before dawn if you want the sunrise. Dress for changeable weather on the heights, carry water, and do not swim below a waterfall in heavy flow. To see how Suruli compares with the state’s other cascades, read /india/tamil-nadu/guides/tamil-nadu-waterfalls , and to pick the right season for the whole trip, /india/tamil-nadu/guides/best-time-to-visit-tamil-nadu .