{"id":113518,"date":"2026-07-16T17:55:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=113518"},"modified":"2026-07-16T17:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:25:40","slug":"kunchikal-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/kunchikal-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"Kunchikal Falls, Location, Formation, Geographical Features"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Kunchikal Falls<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is widely regarded as the <\/span><b>highest waterfall in India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with a total cascading height of about <\/span><b>455 metres (1,493 feet).<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is formed by the <\/span><b>Varahi River<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the <\/span><b>Western Ghats of Karnataka.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Unlike plunge waterfalls such as Jog Falls, Kunchikal is a <\/span><b>tiered (cascade) waterfall<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where water descends over a series of rocky ledges. The waterfall is also associated with the <\/span><b>Varahi Hydro-Electric Project<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, making it an important geographical feature of the Western Ghats.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Kunchikal Falls Location<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kunchikal Falls is located in Hosanagara taluk of Shivamogga district, Karnataka.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It lies in the <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/western-ghats\/\" target=\"_blank\">Western Ghats<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, near the Shivamogga-Udupi district boundary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The waterfall is formed by the <\/span><b>Varahi River<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a west-flowing river of Peninsular India that drains into the Arabian Sea.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is situated downstream of the <\/span><b>Mani Dam<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and access to the waterfall is restricted because it lies within the Varahi Hydro-Electric Project area.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Kunchikal Falls Formation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kunchikal Falls was formed due to the combined effects of tectonic uplift and fluvial erosion in the Western Ghats. The uplift of the Western Ghats created a steep western escarpment. As the Varahi River flows westwards towards the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/arabian-sea\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Arabian Sea<\/strong><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it encounters this abrupt change in elevation and descends over a series of resistant rocky ledges, forming a tiered (cascade) waterfall. Over geological time, continuous river erosion has deepened the channel and shaped the stepped profile of the waterfall.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Kunchikal Falls Geographical Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The waterfall descends about 455 metres over a series of rocky ledges, making it widely regarded as the highest waterfall in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a tiered (cascade) waterfall, where water flows over successive rock steps instead of falling in a single vertical plunge.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The waterfall flows through steep valleys, rugged rocky terrain and dense evergreen forests of the Western Ghats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its stepped profile reflects the combined action of tectonic uplift and long-term river erosion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water discharge is highly seasonal and reaches its maximum during the southwest monsoon (June-September).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kunchikal Falls, India&#8217;s highest waterfall, is located in Karnataka. Know its location, formation, geographical features, and the Varahi Hydro-Electric Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":113513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[8727],"class_list":["post-113518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general-studies","tag-kunchikal-falls","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113522,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113518\/revisions\/113522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}