Video of Karnataka’s Jog Falls wrongly shared as visuals from Kerala

By: Soham Shah
July 13 2023

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Context

A video of a huge waterfall is being shared online with the claim that it shows a waterbody in Kerala that swelled up after receiving rainfall. Several users claim that the video is of Athirapilly Falls, the largest waterfall in Kerala. One post shared the video with the caption, “Athirapilly waterfalls at Chalakudy, #Kerala. After the rains looks like Niagra falls. #IncredibleIndia #nature pc: not shot by me, received from a friend,” and had garnered over 200,000 views at the time of publishing. Another such tweet read, “This is NOT Niagara falls. This is Athirapilly waterfalls at Chalakudy, Kerala.@tourismgoi and @KeralaTourism are shit and don’t know how to market their assets. #IncredibleIndia #nature.”

This video is circulating on social media as Kerala grapples with monsoon fury. Till July 9, at least 19 people were reported dead because of the rains in the southern state, according to India Today. The Times of India reported that a yellow alert has been issued for six districts on Thursday. 

In Fact

After performing a reverse image search on one of the video’ keyframes, we found that the same video had been shared by Eric Solheim, the president of the Green Belt and Road Institute, on Twitter on July 10, 2022. The accompanying caption read, “This is not Niagara Falls… This is Jog Falls, located in Shimoga district of Karnataka.” Hindustan Times had also included his tweet and a screengrab from the video in an article on July 11, 2022. The article shared other visuals of Karnataka’s Jog Falls as well.

We came across a very similar video on the official YouTube channel of Incredible India, an international tourism campaign by the Indian Ministry of Tourism with the title “Jog Falls | Karnataka”. The formation of the waterfall in this video matches that of the waterbody in the viral video. Both show a ridge-like structure splitting the waterfall into two. Further, other videos by vloggers on Youtube showing the same waterfall confirm that the video was shot in Jog Falls. 

Visuals of Athirapilly Falls available on the Kerala Tourism website and various travel websites are distinctly different from those captured in the viral clip. This waterfall appears smaller in height. The infrastructure around the waterfall in the viral clip is also different from what is available around Athirapilly Falls. For instance, staircases and metal railings around the visitor’s area seen in the viral clip are missing here. Instead, Athirapilly appears to have wooden bars.

Located in Karnataka’s Shimoga district, Jog Falls is one of the highest waterfalls in the country, falling from a height of 253 meters. In comparison, Athirapilly Falls in Chalakudy, Kerala are smaller and fall from a height of 80 meters.

We also found that the viral clip has been available on the internet since at least October 2019, when it was posted on a Facebook page called Tourist Places. This video has also gone viral in the past as well and was wrongly attributed to different waterfalls across the country.

The Verdict

The video is not from the Athirapilly Falls in Kerala but captures Karnataka's Jog Falls. It has been online since at least October 2019. Therefore, we mark the claim false.