Thalaiyar Falls

Thalaiyar Falls, also called Rat Tail Falls or Eli Vaal Aruvi, drops 297 metres on the Manjalar, a tributary of the Vaigai, in Dindigul district. It is the highest waterfall in Tamil Nadu and is ranked eighth in India. Most people see it from Dum Dum Rock, a viewpoint beside the Batlagundu–Kodaikanal ghat road, 3.6 kilometres away across the valley, where on a clear day it shows as a thin white streak down a black cliff.

No road reaches the falls, which are regarded as out of reach for ordinary visitors. Low concrete walls at the lip channel the water into its narrow tail, and from a flat rock beside them the river can be seen far below. The top is a demanding hike, and two foreign tourists died in a fall there in 2006. The stream may be polluted from villages upstream, so its water should not be drunk.