Nohkalikai Falls
Interesting facts
- In Khasi, Ka is the prefix for feminine names, so the waterfall's name points directly to the woman Likai of the legend.
- Sohra, the town above the falls, received 26,461 millimetres of rain between August 1860 and July 1861, a world record for a single year.
- Sohra also holds the record for the wettest month: 9,300 millimetres of rain fell there in July 1861.
- Sohra averages about 11,800 millimetres of rain a year, only slightly less than nearby Mawsynram, which now carries the title of wettest place.
- The lip of the falls lies at about 1,240 metres above sea level, and the stream carries an average of around 2.8 cubic metres of water per second.
- In the valleys near Sohra, Khasi villagers grow bridges from living fig roots, a process of 10 to 15 years; some bridges are centuries old.
Why it is worth it
Nohkalikai drops about 340 metres in a single unbroken plunge from the rim of the Sohra plateau in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills, making it the tallest plunge waterfall in India. There is no ledge or cascade to interrupt the fall: a narrow ribbon of water, perhaps twenty metres across, leaves the lip of the cliff and hangs in the air until it strikes a round pool far below. That pool is the detail people remember — an odd, milky green that looks almost painted against the dark rock and the dense forest of the gorge.
The fall has no glacier or large river behind it. It is fed by rain collected on the plateau top, and this is one of the wettest corners of the planet: Sohra, the town long known as Cherrapunji, has built its reputation on record rainfall. The result is a waterfall with two faces. In the monsoon months it thunders and throws up so much spray that the gorge fills with cloud; between December and February it thins to a delicate thread, and on a clear day you can follow it all the way down to the green pool.
Its name comes from a grim Khasi story. Tradition holds that a woman called Ka Likai, widowed and remarried, returned from work to a meal her jealous new husband had cooked from her murdered daughter; when she found the child's finger, she ran in grief to the edge of the plateau and threw herself over. "Noh Ka Likai" means the leap of Ka Likai. The legend gives an edge to the view that the scenery alone would not: the green water, the sheer drop and the mist are the same, but they read differently once you know the tale.
A viewpoint on the plateau edge looks across the gorge at the whole drop, from the lip of the cliff to the pool. It is worth lingering: cloud moves through the gorge constantly here, and the fall can vanish and reappear within minutes, which is part of its spell.
Getting there
The falls are about 7 km from Sohra (Cherrapunji), roughly twenty minutes by road; the nearest small town by straight line is Shella, about 12 km away. Shillong, the state capital, is some 55 km by road, a drive of around one and a half to two hours. The closest airport as the crow flies is Osmany International Airport (ZYL) in Sylhet, about 39 km away but across the border in Bangladesh; within India the nearest is Shillong Airport (SHL), about 56 km away. Most visitors come up from Shillong by taxi or hired car.
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Nearby places
- Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge 3.1 km · bridge
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From the encyclopaedia
Nohkalikai Falls, sometimes Ka Likai, is the tallest plunge waterfall in India. The 340 metres (1,115 ft) waterfall is located in the Indian state of Meghalaya, near Cherapunji, one of the wettest places on Earth. Nohkalikai Falls are fed by the rainwater collected on the summit of a comparatively small plateau and decrease in power during the dry season, from December to February. Below the falls is a plunge pool with water of an unusual shade of green.
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