St Clair and Devon falls the A7 drive viewpoints and the dam question

The full picture as promised The stopping geography Devon falls viewpoint comes first from the Hatton side a proper pull off with parking the small viewing deck and the tea stalls the fall plunges 97 meters across the valley framed by terraces the safe photographs happen from the deck not the road shoulder St Clair sits minutes further the falls drop in two cascades the greater and lesser St Clair beside the road with a marked viewpoint area again park fully off the carriageway the A7 buses take the bends with confidence and mirrors have been lost to lesser caution The dam question answered honestly the Upper Kotmale hydropower project diverts water above St Clair and since commissioning the falls run reduced for much of the year the engineering includes scheduled environmental releases so the falls perform closer to their old volume at certain times and gloriously in high monsoon spill which is exactly now June through the southwest rains both falls run full throated and the little Niagara name stops being ironic Dry season visitors meet a thinner St Clair and deserve to know why rather than blaming their timing luck Devon unaffected by the diversion performs year round The complete A7 hour add the Mlesna Tea Castle viewpoint between the falls for the elevated St Clair angle and the railway crossing at Talawakele where the hill train threads the tea for the photographers a clear morning gives you both falls the castle terrace and the train inside ninety unhurried minutes Recent reports welcome below especially spill schedule sightings