A weekend in Mahabaleshwar

Since it was a long weekend, we decided to head to Mahabaleshwar. Located at an altitude of 1,348 meters above sea level in Satara district, in the Indian state of Maharashtra,  Mahabaleshwar can be reached  an approximately six hours from Mumbai.  It was a much awaited trip and everything right from private vehicle arrangement, Dormitory booking, food, guide and  places to visit was well planned.

Our route as:
Mumbai - Kalamboli-Panvel (take NH17)-Pen-Mahad-Pholadpur (off NH17)-Mahabaleshwar.

We started from Mumbai at around 3 am in a private bus.  After settled in their seats, each person opened their backpack and extracted mobile phone, snacks etc etc. En route, we had a pit stop, knowing this was the only bath room and stretch break. Once the journey had resumed, some of us opened snack packets and enjoyed a mid-route snack. When we passed through ghat road, the surroundings was scenic with mountain ranges on one side and dense valley forest on the other side. By 9 am, we reached our hotel. We settled our luggage, took shower and headed out for breakfast. By 10 am, everyone was ready to explore Mahabaleshwar.

From cool breeze to vantage points and, of course, boating in Vennala lake, here is how to make the most of a weekend in Mahabaleshwar.

BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN RANGES

Make your way into the vastly untouched terrain of Mahabaleshwar. You can enjoy the chilly weather and beautiful mountain ranges covered by clouds and lush greenery.

VARIOUS VIEW POINTS

Number of "points" from where you can have the view of the hills.  There are close to 25 'points' in Mahabaleshwar. Hunting Point, Needless Hole View Point, Echo Point, Tiger Spring Point, Arthur seat Point, Malcolm Point and Kate's Point are few Points to visit.

The best thing to do is to take long walks along properly laid path to various view points, and become part of the romance that Mahabaleshwar exudes. The valley was covered in clouds and the mountains had disappeared behind a curtain of mist. 

Arthur's Point and Kates Point  offers a fantastic view of the valley below. A short walk from Elephant's Head Point brought us to Chinamen point. There is a big waterfall.

Chinaman's Falls, Mahabaleshwar Hill Station, Maharashtra, India

Balakwadi dam and Needle hole rock are major attractions. From Kate's point, you will get fantastic view of Balakwadi dam and Dhom dam.

Elephant's Head point or Needle hole rock, Mahabaleshwar Hill Station, Maharashtra, India

Balakwadi dam - View from Kates Point, Mahabaleshwar Hill Station, Maharashtra, India

We headed to the market. We saw many traders trying to sell us their plastic flower straw, inflatable hammers, bamboo flutes etc etc. We bought  Kurkure and  nuts.

ENJOY BOATING AT VENNALA LAKE

This Lake is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Mahabaleshwar and is known for boating and other fun filled activities. It is 2 km away from the ST bus stand. There are several options small boats , large boats, peddle boats and rowing. There are various food stalls along the bank of the lake.  After grabbing snack and ginger tea here we headed to the next spot.

Boating at Vennala Lake, Mahabaleshwar Hill Station, Maharashtra, India

MAPRO GARDEN

Mapro Garden is a shopping complex cum restaurant with chocolate products from their own factory, small nursery, restaurant, children’s play area and a retail outlet selling Mapro products. Do not miss the first hand taste of delicious & mouth watering delicacies, strawberry-based desserts, cakes and other goodies.  There are tasting stations where the various juice mixes can be sampled and then bought.  This is a must visit place for all the travelers visiting Mahabaleshwar.
 

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Dudhsagar Falls

Dudhsagar Falls (literally meaning The Sea of Milk in Marathi and Konkani) is one of the world's most exquisite falls. Located on the Mandovi River in the Indian state of Goa, on Goa’s border with the state of Karnataka, it is 60 km from Panaji. It is located inside Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary.  Dudhsagar Falls is listed as India’s 5th tallest waterfall and is 227th in the world at 310 m.

Day 1:

We arrived at Pune by  train at around 11:40 AM and after a quick lunch we set off to explore the streets  nearby till 3:30 PM. We had a small round of introduction and after that we boarded the Pune- Goa train by 16:20 PM

Day2:

At around 3 AM we reached Dudhsagar station. There is no halt for the train in this station, but railways take a  one minute halt before getting go ahead to cross the bridge right below DudhSagar Falls  and  all of us managed to get down within a minute . We waited there for some more time because it was too early to see anything. 

We started our walking journey on the railway track surrounded by rainy forest all around.

We were already listening to the sound made by the waterfalls as we were getting closer. After a 30 minute walk, the board "DudhSagar Waterfalls" greeted us. 

The Dudhsagar Waterfalls Station Board

While crossing the board, I saw the majestic view of the mighty Mandovi river cascading down the hills in layers after layers. That was the first sight of the fall and it was very thrilling.

First glimpse

Soon, we reached in front of the Falls.  Words are not enough to express the feeling while standing in front of Dudhsagar Waterfalls.  Thousands of gallons of water falling from 310 meters (1017 feet) proving true to its name Dudhsagar , ”Sea of Milk”.  It was really mesmerizing. 

There is also a legend associated with this waterfall. It is believed that a beautiful princess lived in the forest  (near present day Dudhsagar Falls) in a palace. She loved and enjoyed bathing in a lake nearby and used to drink "sweetened milk" from her "golden jug" after finishing with her bath. One day while enjoying her jug of milk she found herself being watched by a prince, who was standing amongst the trees. She poured the jug of milk in front of him to form an improvised curtain to hide her body while the maids rushed to cover her with her dress. It is said that it is that sweetened milk that cascades down the mountain slope as Dudhsagar Falls to this day as a tribute to the virtue and modesty of the princess.

We captured many photos and decided to go further to view the entire waterfall.  To reach to the waterfall viewpoint, you need to walk 2km from Dudhsagar Waterfall Bridge towards Kulem. On the way to this view point we came across two back to back tunnels.  After a 2 km walk, we reach the waterfall viewpoint.  Dudhsagar waterfall view from this point is simply amazing .

We bid goodbye to the glorious fall and started trekking towards KULEM station. The 12 kms trek through the jungle and the railway track was thrilling. Enroute there was a stream to cross .

Soon we reached Kulem station by about  3 pm and had lunch. At 4.30 pm, we boarded the train. The train passes through Dudhsagar falls. Your camera should be ready to take the photo of this beautiful waterfalls.

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DANG - Experience the real flavor of Rural India

Dang also known as The Dangs, is a district in the Indian state of Gujarat.  In ancient Indian Scriptures Dang is known as Dand Aranyaka, meaning Bamboo Forest. Dangs is the most backward district in India and is a Gold mine for nature lovers – sight seeing of breath taking local and not so popular destinations like the Gigantic Girmal Waterfall, Pampa sarovar, Gira Waterfall  and many more – the destinations less heard of.

ENROUTE TO DANG

15th August:
Started off at around 11.30 PM from Mumbai by reserved bus towards Dang.  Dang is approx 300 Kms from Mumbai. It took approx 6 hours from Mumbai to reach Dang.

Day 1: 16th August:
Reached Dang by early morning.  The climate was very pleasant and chilling . Temperature was around 25 - 26 Degree.  It's like Gujarat's Switzerland we could say. Our stay was arranged in a farm house.  The farmhouse was in Subir and the traditional Village was around 5 minutes from the farmhouse. Upon reaching, we were allotted rooms.

GIGANTIC GIRMAL WATER FALL

After refreshment and breakfast we  proceeded to  the Girmal Water fall (the highest waterfall of Gujarat with 300 feet height). It is situated  in Girmal village, near Ahwa.  The view was truly breath taking - chocolaty water plunging down the rocks and the clouds covering on the mouth of waterfall.

Girmal Waterfall

We had a photographic session at the beginning of the waterfall.

After spending few hours around waterfall, we returned to farm house by afternon. On our way back to farm house, I looked outside through the bus windows. The surrounding area looks beautiful at par with a golf ground.

WITH TRIBALS

Had lunch and took rest for sometime. In the evening we went to meet the tribal's. When we reached there, our guide Mr.Chirag introduced us to the owner of one of the houses. We were greeted wonderfully with a rural pleasure hat, which was provided by the hosts of our camp – ‘The Rural Pleasure’. Fortunately, I had few Cadbury chocolates with me which I distributed to the children's gathered there. Soon we became friends.

Traditional Village Welcome by Tribes

EVENING FOREST TREK

Later, we all had a short snack and left the tribal house for a forest trek.

We walked for approximately two hours. There was a small dam and it was interesting to cross the dam by walking on the edge of it.  There were a small water fall and we enjoyed more and more until it was time for return.

LEISURE TIME

Soon we returned back to the tribal's house. After a refreshing cup of tea, we had a leisure time. Villagers showed us how to catch crabs .

Our next activity was an ice breaking session with tribal's – discussion about the culture, custom and traditions of tribal's. Cap-fire was ready in front of the house and we all sat around it to hear the stories explained by Mr.Chirag.  

playing the local music instrument pavri

Since we  have to wait some more time for dinner, few of us decided to visit  Shabri Dham temple which is situated on the top of  Chamak Dungar hill. Nestled in Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, the temple is a walkable distance from the village house.  Legend says that Shabari Dham temple is the spot where Lord Rama met a Bhil woman, Shabari. It is said that Lord Rama and Lakshman ate the berries offered by Shabari mata at this spot. The stones where they sat while eating the berries are still worshiped.

Soon we returned back to the house for dinner. They served the food in plantain leaves.

After dinner, we decided to walk till the farm house. We walked in the dark listening to the croaking of the frogs and amazing view of  fireflies.

Day 2: 17th August:

We woke up early and moved to the days first activity ie Nature Trail.  Enroute we decided to halt for a tea. It was quite interesting to see village life in the morning. The narrow dusty lanes was filled with hundreds of cows and goats competing with usual traffic on the roads .

NATURE TRIAL IN THE FOREST

Nature Trail was really exciting which took  us through some exciting birds, insects, reptiles and bio diversity of the forest district. It was  a guided tour by the tribals where they showed how they use forest resources.

Hanuman Mandir in the forest

After two hour nature trail, we were all very tired and return to the farm house for breakfast.

WARLI PAINTING WORKSHOP

After having the breakfast, we moved onto the next activity that we were going to do. It was Warli painting.  Warli art is a beautiful folk art of Maharashtra. Tribal people express themselves in vivid styles through paintings which they execute on the walls of their house.

Warli Painting

Our guide, Mr Chirag explained the basic art structures such as a man and a woman. Then we were given hand-outs. We could draw anything from it on the cow dung walls as we were given white paint and also brushes. We could make our own changes and add our own techniques too. But the final long painting was awesome.

Workshop on Warli Painting

Then, we finally went to the tribal's place to have another yummy lunch. After lunch we decided to depart and proceed for Mumbai.  Enroute we had to visit few more places.

PAMPA SAROVAR

Our next destination was Pampa Sarovar (An exciting waterfall followed by a lake) on the banks of river Poorna. Matang Rishi, the Guru of Shabari Mata had constructed his Ashram near Pampa Sarovar. 

Pampa sarovar,Gujarat

GIRA WATERFALLS

Then we proceeded to visit Gira Waterfalls . The Gira falls, a beautiful seasonal waterfall lies in the vicinity. Exceptionally beautiful during the monsoons, this falls is one of the favourite tourist destination in the region. The waterfall is 30 m in height and falls directly into the Ambika river.

Gira Waterfall,Saputara, Gujarat

A BEAUTIFUL BOTANICAL GARDEN

Our final destination was  Botanical Garden– Waghai.

Waghai Botanical Garden,Waghai,Gujarat

Waghai botanical garden is one of the largest gardens in Gujarat. It is spread over 24 hectares and has over about 1400 plant species. Several varieties of bamboos can be seen here, among them the most popular are Chinese bamboo and beer bottle bamboo. Every avenue in the garden is named after plants. Some of them are Medicine plot, Green house, Arctic House, Bamboo Plot, Museum, Cactus etc.

We reached Mumbai by late evening with countless unforgettable memories.

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Lohagad Fort Trek

  

A beautiful fort with its unique structure and an easy climb make Lohagad fort- also known as the Iron Fort, as one of the more popular destinations to visit near Lonavala.

In the dripping wet Mumbai monsoon, it was hard to travel between places.  On a cold and rainy Sunday morning, we a gang of 15 started from Mumbai in a reserved bus at around 6 am.  After around 140 kms travel, we reached Malavli. Just 3 kms travel from Malavli, we reached Bhaje village by 9 am. This place is located near Lonavala which is near Pune in Maharashtra.  There is a beautiful waterfall, which is used for bathing as well as washing clothes. The greenery coupled with the waterfall makes it a picnic spot.

There was a house offering food. We had Misal-Paav and tea for breakfast.  We ordered for lunch also from there, so that they can keep it ready when we come down.

We started walk from Bhaje village. Soon we reached to Gomukh Khind. From here, you need to take right to go to Lohagad and left to go to Visapur. After walking for 2 hours, we reached the base village named Lohagadwadi.

Rain welcomed us when we reached at base village.  I put my mobile and purse into the plastic cover.

view of Lohagad Fort from bottom

From the base, stone steps are laid till the top. Climb to the top of the fort should take around 45 minutes. Monsoon showers resulted water flows on the steps which makes them a bit slippery.  Climbing on stone steps was quite easy task and we reached at the top soon. The fort is still in a good condition and relatively clean. Many of the structures on the fort are still intact.

The fort has four entrances. Of these, Maha Darwaja has the most exquisite sculptures and carvings on and around it. Other entrances are Ganesh Darwaja,  Narayan Darwaja and Hanuman Darwaja. After crossing those four gates, we reached the vast open space on the top. On top of the fort, there is a Mahadev temple and lots of man made water tanks in various sizes. These were created as reservoirs for storing water accumulated during the monsoon.

Once you entered through the last gate, you can see an old gate on left. It was raining heavily so we didn't get a chance to click any photo. We were walking in clouds and unable to see any natural beauty around fort.

Soon we reached Laxmi caves which has many rooms and can accomodate 50 people at a time.

Then we moved ahead towards Vinchukata. On the way to Vinchukata, you can see newly built Dargah. This is the tomb of Sheikh Umar.

There is a long and narrow wall called Vinchukata (Marathi for Scorpion's tail) because of its shape. It was used to keep a watch on enemies and activities in the nearby region. This structure juts out from the main section of the fort and requires an additional 20 minutes of walking to reach the edge. We waited till cloud got away and gave us a beautiful view of Vinchukata point. Such tremendously beautiful formation of nature is something to cherish.

After taking in the spectacular bird’s-eye view of  the surroundings, it was time to walk down.  Soon we reached at the base village. It took two hours to reach back to the Bhaje village.  When we reached Bhaje village, a delicious lunch of bhakri,  rice, daal and chicken curry was waiting for us.  After lunch, we proceeded to Mumbai.

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Korigad Fort Trek

Korigad Fort

Korigad  Fort,  at a height of 929m above sea level, is situated about 20km away from Lonavala on the way to Aamby valley in the Indian state of Maharashtra. We started by a reserved bus from Mumbai at around  6 am and reached Peth Shahpur, the base village by 9 am. Peth Shahapur village is situated at the foothills of the fort. Locals from Korigad village have built up small eating places for the travelers and you can also give them food order before going for trek.

view of the fort from the base

We started walk from Peth Shahpur village and after walking for 25 minutes through forest, we reached in the middle of a well laid steps of Korigad. From this point, stone steps are laid till the top. Since we are trekking in monsoon, water flows over steps and walk itself was amazing. Enroute, there is a Buddhist Cave on the right side, a Buddhist Cave temple and beautiful view of Amby Valley to your left.

Climb to the top of the fort should take around 20 minutes. Climbing on stone steps was quite an easy task. Soon we reached Maha Darwaja. Rain and clouds welcomed us when we reached the fort.

Fort has six canons situated at different places, one is named as "Lakshmi Toaf".

There were 2 lakes on the top and a small gateway through the two lakes is different thing on its own.  A temple to its patron goddess Koraidevi also exists there.

From the top of the fort , you will get the beautiful view of surrounding of the Amby Valley city, Dam and Plane Runway.

Amby Valley city

Plane Runway

The top is a big plateau with a wall running around its side. A huge waterfall is originated from this plateau.  One could walk on the walls of the fort for the entire summit of around 2 hours.

Most of the constructions at the fort are ruined and the fortification is still intact.

After exploring the fort,  we started our return journey. After a 45 minutes walk, we reached  back to the Shahpur village, then proceeded to Mumbai.

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