Nohkalikai Falls in meghayal india

   Nohkalikai Falls is one of the taller waterfalls in India. It makes a dramatic free leap from a fairly well-forested drainage into a rocky base accompanied by a pretty blue pool. While we noticed that most of the waterfalls in the Cherrapunjee area really lost their luster outside of the monsoon season, this one seemed to maintain its perforance as I've seen photos dated in January and later that still have decent flow (I suspect the relatively healthy drainage upstream of the falls helps keeps its stream flowing). In fact, we even saw a pair of light flowing companion waterfalls making similar dramatic leaps off the escarpment which made me suspect that had we seen this falls in wetter times, there could have been many more companion waterfalls flanking the main one. Nohkalikai Falls is said to be named after a story about a woman named Ka Likai who leapt off the cliff. It was certainly the waterfall highlight of our waterfalling excursion in the Meghalaya state in the country's far northeast (just east of Bangladesh), especially considering the subdued nature of its neighboring waterfalls.
Viewing Nohkalikai Falls might be a bit of a roll of the dice given the fickle nature of the weather here. That's because the area is frequently shrouded in clouds. On our visit, we just so happened to enjoy an hour or so of fairly clear (albeit hazy) skies before the fog really rolled in with a vengeance. Our guide mentioned that late morning to midday provides the highest likelihood of satisfactory viewing while the lighting (if sunny) is good at this time as well.
The Cherrapunjee town and vicinity (also spelled Cherrapunji and locally known as Sohra) has a reputation for being the wettest place on earth. But this maybe an outdated reputation from what we could tell because the area dries quickly outside the monsoon months (as evidenced by the presence of lots of brown foliage and lack of vigor in its watercourses) and there's plenty of coal mining, diversion, and deforestation around the area that may have conspired to alter the region's ability to retain the moisture or produce the quantity of precipitation the region that gave it the statistical edge that beat out places like Mt Wai'ale'ale in the Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i. In fact, the drive from Sohra town to Nohkalikai Falls meandered through a large chunk of moorish grasslands on a plateau, which our Assamese guide said was once fully covered in trees. That road is flanked by a handful of coal mounds and mine shafts nearby.
As for the height of the Nohkalikai Falls, we've seen some rather outrageous claims about this falls being the 4th highest in the world (even some Bank of India sponsored sign proclaims this at the sheltered overlook) as well as this falls being the second highest in the country according to our 2007 version of LP. So far the only number I've seen regarding its height is that it's 335m tall, which if true makes this taller than both Jog Falls and Dudhsagar Falls assuming you believe the height numbers claimed for those waterfalls as well. However, it was hard to tell if that 335m number is being generous or not based on our observations since you're looking down at the falls, and I certainly wished I employed the best-in-the-field-method-period of measuring the height of the falls.
In any case, it was pretty clear to us that this waterfall was the pride of Meghalaya tourism and there was a fairly busy car park as well as some basic infrastructure to experience the falls. In addition to the walkways and overlooks hugging the cliff edge peering down at the falls, there were also various fruit and food stands (if you've got a strong stomach) run by the local villagers.
We also noticed a series of stairs (apparently opened back in 2005) that took us to lower viewpoints of the falls (along with some distressingly high amounts of litter alongside it) though the stairs ended well before it got to the bottom. The path looked like it did continue rather steeply and with a fair bit of hazards towards the bottom, but we were hesitant to continue once we saw the stairs end. And given the little bit of graffiti we noticed on one of the big rocks near the plunge pool for the falls, I'm sure it was pretty possible to get down there if you're willing to assume the risk.
In any case, we probably spent around a half-hour total on this side excursion to get closer and lower towards the falls. I'm guessing it would've taken at least an hour or more round-trip to get right down to the base of the falls.
Directions: It's about 53km from Shillong to the town of Cherrapunjee. We were escorted here taking about 1.5 to 2 hours of driving in each direction as we were undoubtedly slowed down by plenty of lorrie (i.e. truck) traffic as well as some local buses; all of which belched out some pretty lethal and visible doses of diesel exhaust.This followed about a roughly 4-hour drive from Guwahati to Shillong.
One thing we saw while taking the road to Nohkalikai Falls was the amount of deforestation and coal mining in the area. We weren't sure if this had anything to do with the apparent lack of lush vegetation for a place that was supposedly the wettest place on earth, but I'm sure it couldn't have helped.

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The overlook area

Another look at the impressive Nohkalikai Falls

Descending some stairs for a different look at the falls