Kaledonia Trail and Waterfall

Verse and I love hiking to waterfalls so naturally that was a must on our list of what to do in Cyprus. We set off towards the Troodos Mountains, which boasts many wonderful trails like the one that was highlighted in my Lonely Planet guidebook. The Kaledonia nature trail is found within the state forest– the Troodos National Forest Park. The main attraction of this trail is the Waterfall that’s found 1 km in. The winding trail that takes you along the Kourris River was spectacular and although the vegetation was not as green and lush, it reminded me of hiking at home in Trinidad and Tobago.

When we got to the waterfall, Verse didn’t miss a beat as he immediately began peeling off clothes to head into the water. I of course had to take photos and I wandered about as he practically ran under the 15m of cascading water. To get under the fall was pretty easy as it wasn’t a deep pool to swim through. Instead you walked through very shallow water and over small jagged rocks. Verse said that the water was very cold and his skin was red after he emerged from the fall but even though I have an aversion for cold water there was no way I was going to come all the way to Cyprus and not experience the fall (and quite frankly if he did it, I couldn’t chicken out now). I slowly undressed and slowly poked my foot into the water. It was freezing! I mean sticking your foot into a bucket filled with ice freezing. I thought “Nah man, there were girls in the fall when we arrived who were frolicking and having a grand time so it cant be that bad”. I walked to another spot to try to enter there and again, I slowly poked my foot in the water. My system was shocked a second time. How in the world had Verse gone in this water! I graciously accepted defeat and realized I would not be getting any closer to experiencing the water than that. Packing up our things we decided not to head back to our starting point but continue to the end of the trail, another 2km (and an elevation of 1650m). I vaguely remembered that the sign at the beginning said that you must have a ride at that end or walk back the full 3 km to the starting point. But our curiosity got the best of us and we decided that there must be some taxis or buses we could take on that side.  Plus the sign also said that “it’s worthwhile” to continue.

At the end of the trail we were tired but excited at how much fun we had hiking through the forest. The excitement quickly vanished as we looked around and saw nothing. No taxis, no buses, no concession stand selling water. (Our water had run out a while back and we were beyond thirsty). We sat wondering what we should do. We were too tired to walk back through the forest plus it was late but the only other option was the winding, pedestrian un-friendly main road. The universe helped us out soon though when we saw a car pull into the small parking area to turn around (the only car we saw so far) and Verse flagged them down to ask for a ride back to the start. Luckily that’s exactly where they were going and the two angels in the form of a French young man and his Greek female friend saved us! We chatted for the entire trip back, which was such a long drive that we would have never been able to walk that distance. Thanking them profusely we pointed them in the direction of the start of the trail, as they were keen on walking to the waterfall. We tiredly jumped into the rental car and gave thanks for such a fun hiking trip and even more thanks for the kindness of strangers for the ride back down. 

On the way we stopped at this lookout. This offering box (right) was a more simple design and not that of a monastery

A quick snack at a very busy tavern

Checking the map to make sure we are on the right track

The Kourris river flowing along the trail

Happy as can be on our hiking adventure

Amazing scenery on our hike

Kaledonia Falls

Throughly enjoying the water

As close as I got

Beauty all along the trail: (L - R) A pine cone, the amazing texture of a tree bark, flowers blooming, a butterfly at rest

Kaledonia Trail

More gorgeous scenes along the way

At the end of the trail!