Pykara Falls
The Pykara Falls is one of the splendid waterfalls, which is situated in Ooty in TamilNadu. It is located on the Ooty-Mysore road, at a distance of 2Km from the Pykara Lake.
History
The Pykara lake is one of the beautiful sites in Ooty. The Pykara is the name of the village and the river, which is 19Km from the Ooty in TamilNadu. Here the Toda community considers this river as the sacred one. The formation of the Pykara Falls from the Pykara river took place on the downstream. Many of the cinema shots, have been captured around this beautiful Lake.
Things to see
1) Pykara Boat ride
The Pykara Boat club is in the tourist portion, among the hills. This Boat house has a small cafeteria and contains a number of motorboats starting from the 8-seater to the 15-seater. For a ride of 20-30 minutes, the visitors use the large motorboats. Then the small speedboats are used for 10minutes.
2) Nilgiri Mountain railway
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is the metre gauge railway, which was built by the British in TamilNadu. It is the only rack railway in India, which depends on the steam locomotives. In 2005, the UNESCO added this Nilgiri Mountain Railway, in the World Heritage Site. This place is called the Mountain Railways of India.
3) M & N chocolate Museum
The Chocolate museum describes the preparation of chocolates. There is also a shop near that, which sells the home made chocolates.
4) Pykara Lake
The Lake is perennial throughout the year, but the level of the water is low in the summer season. To visit this Lake, the best time is October to March month. The weather is always pleasant here, suitable for the tourists.
Here, the other places to visit are the Pykara Dam and the Shooting Point
Climatic conditions
The Pykara features climate of subtropical highland climate, which comes below the Koppen climate category. Both the monsoons, sheds the rainfall in this Pykara region. Here wet season is from April month to December month. While the period from the January month to March month is the dry season.
Other nearby tourist places
The Ooty Botanical garden, Government Museum, Ooty Tea factory, Avalanche lake and the Ooty Lake are the other nearby tourist places, where most of the tourists come every year.
Best time to visit
The best time to visit the Pykara Falls is in the July month. By a walk of 5 to 10 minutes, you can reach the Falls from the parking place.
Entrance fees
The tourist Department charges Rs.5 as an entrance fee to visit the Pykara Falls.
Transport facilities
The Pykara Falls is situated at a distance of 20Km from the Ooty bus stand. The buses are available from a few parts of TamilNadu to Ooty. If you travel through the train, then reach the Mettupalayam Station near Coimbatore. From there, you can reach Ooty through the Metre gauge train. From Ooty, you can reach easily this place. If you are a flight traveler, then the nearest Airport is the Coimbatore Airport. From there, you must pick a road transport to reach this site.
Location: Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
Timings: 8.30 A.M to 5.30 P.M – Open in all the days in the season
(But timings may occur in different occasions)
Best time for Visit: July month
Total height – The total height of the Pykara Falls is 61m .