Meghalaya – A story of dry waterfalls.

 

Meghalaya – A story of dry waterfalls.

Close on the heels of my Gujarat trip that I completed on 17 Feb 2021, I embarked upon another one starting 27 Feb, this time to the northeast. The places on the bucket list were Guwahati, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh. However, after doing Meghalaya; mainly the eastern (Khasi) part of it; I had to cut short in the wake of some urgency back home. Arunachal and many other parts of the northeast remain on a priority though, as they say, there always is a next time.

 Cherrapunji waterfalls

The state has many things to its credit. Beautiful hills and valleys, clean environment, the cleanest village in Asia - Mawlynnong, the clean and crystal clear river Dawki, and the wettest place on the earth – Cherrapunji; all make the state numero uno in the shining feats of Nature.

 Cherrapunji, also called Sohra, records lots of rainfall around the year as a result the waterfalls are always brimming with water. However, not this year. As I witnessed one after the other, each one had either dried up or there was very little water falling from the spot. Such a sight appeared very unpleasant to the eye, I was told that Sohra hadn’t seen a rainfall since August 2020. Obviously, the climate is changing fast and erratically.

Here’s is the list and description of the waterfalls I visited.

1.      Nohkalikai falls

2.    Nohsngithiang falls

3.    Dain Thlen falls

4.    Wah Kaba falls

5.     Wei Sawdong falls

6.    Tlai falls

7.     Bophill / Borhill falls

8.    Rainbow falls

9.    Elephant falls (Shillong)

Elephant falls is in the heart of Shillong city. It is a 3-tier cascading falls. The quantity of water in these falls is a pointer to the things to come when you go visiting other such sites.

Noh Ka Likai is the second highest free leaping waterfalls in India. At 340m (1115 feet). The legend has it that a woman Ka Likai jumped to her death in the falls as she was fed her own daughter’s flesh by deception. ‘Noh’ in the local dialect means jump and the place where Ka Likai jumped into the waterfalls took her name Noh-Ka-Likai. The waterfalls as seen from the viewing point appears not like a giant but only a small stream of water sticking to the rock and flowing down rather than having a free fall.

Nohsngithiang falls, also called the Seven Sisters, alas, had no water in the first week of March 2021. My biggest disappointment was this terrible sight. This one, at 315 metres (1033 feet) is only second to the Nohkalikai Falls.

See the photo of the waterfall spot though.

Bophill / Borhill falls

Another dry spot on the way to Dawki from Mawlynnong. The road runs parallel to the Indo-Bangladesh border. I must add that during the rainy season Borhill waterfalls would be a majestic view to behold. However, all I saw was a wet rock with just a little water.

 Wah Kaba falls. Another falls that has only a streak of water visible. The topography and shape are like the seven sisters falls.

Dain Thlen falls once again present a lean look, maybe with about 25% of the water from its peak during the monsoons. The riverbed is a solid plateau with a firm rocky bed.

Then there are two falls, each one a three-tiered cascade, which involved some steep trekking to reach the respective spots. One is the Wei Sawdong falls, about three kilometers downstream of the Dainthlen falls, and the other is the Tlai falls, about 2 kilometres upstream of the Nohkalikai Falls. The tiered water falling in these two falls is very thin nevertheless the visit was worth it.

The Wei Sawdong trek has steps covering half the slope and there is a well laid out trek with bamboo supports in the remaining distance to the river bed. The trek to the Tlai falls has no such facility and is a very steep trek (maybe a kilometer or so) to do. One ought to be extra careful while negotiating the sloppy track.

Rainbow falls

This is the fall that is worth the visit. It is in Nongriat village area and at a hiking distance of about three and a half kilometers or about an hour and a half from the Double Decker root bridge. The water flow is considerably reduced and the rainbow effect can’t happen because the water drops about 2 metres short of the rock edge where it would normally fall and turn into misty vapours that reflected the rainbow colours in direct sunlight. Rainbow effect is also visible when there is a huge waterfall with rising mist. Both the conditions were missing when I went there.

The Pelangi waterfalls (Air Terjun Coban Pelangi) in Indonesia is one such spectacular sight where one can catch the rainbow, provided one is there at the right time and the sun is not obstructed.

The Best Time to Visit

Though Meghalaya can be visited throughout the year, yet it would be better to be there either during the monsoons or latest by the end of October. I found the waterfalls dry in the first week of March 2021.

SOME PHOTOS

(I was there in the first week of March 2021)