A trip to Raigarh Fort - Conquering the Unconquered

1st May was a holiday here and that was a Friday. So we got a long weekend. However we were not able to plan for a trip. We could easily go to any place far from here. But we missed the chance to capitalize on that. On the Friday afternoon we came out of a plan of having a short trip, a short one day trip. In this midsummer one should always be selective about the place, where to go. Last weekend we went to waterpark so this time we kept that idea aside. We planned for going to any fort. There were lot many names came to our thought but finally we decided to go to Raigarh fort. It is around 150 KM from Pune. On a hill top the fort is situated and to reach there we don’t need to trek, a ropeway service is there. There is an alternate route also to reach the hill top. It is by stairs. Just 1475 steps. Isn’t it interesting? Even we felt that. All these information we got before going to that place.
We started our journey at around 5:30 in the morning (actually we planned for 5). We took a white Indica, we means Manish, Maloy, Arindam and Myself. We took sufficient drinking water with us, just to avoid any dependency. The blunder we did is relying on the driver about the route. That guy did not know where exactly Raigarh is. He just drove to another trekking point Rajgarh. This mistake caused us more than an hour. After rectifying our mistake, we went to Bhor, and yes we got ourselves back onto the track. We had a small breakfast at Bhor and took some chips, biscuits from there itself. Then finally we started towards Raigarh. It was 100 KM more to go as per the localities. After two more hours our morale really got down as there was no sign of any fort. For that moment we were really confused, if there is anything waiting for us at all.
Finally we reached there at 10 o clock. We parked the car and rushed to the ropeway ticket counter. I had a small desire to go at the top by stairs, basically for this reason I made the plan to start early, but unfortunately we reached there late and no one of us was ready to take the risk of using the steps in that scorching heat. We bought the ropeway ticket and put ourselves in the queue. The ropeway didn’t look great to me. There were only four cable cars, two joined together. When our turn came we got into one of it and it took hardly 5-6 minutes to take us at the hill top. One thing I must say, from any angle the fort was not at all visible from the foot of the hill. I don’t know if it is intentionally made in this manner for security reason or not. Anyway when we reached at the top, our photo shoot started. Maloy and Manish was giving all sorts of poses, and even Arindam and I started that. We took a small boy with us as a guide, not to know all the historical values of the place, I thought being a local boy he could take us to the good places in the fort.
The Maratha king Shivaji made the fort his capital in 1674 when he was crowned King of a Maratha Kingdom. The total area of the port was big, we did not miss any single place. The “Pillkhana”, “Bazar Area”, “Nagarkhana Darwaja”, “Durbar”, “Palkhi Darwaja”, “Maha Darwaja” etc. At around 1:30 we felt very hungry and started our journey back to the Ropeway area. On the hilltop there are some cotteages also from MTDC where you can stay back. Surely it will be a thrilling experiacne staying there and having a night walk into the fort. Not this time, may be next time we can plan that. There they have one canteen also run by the Ropeway authority. But to have lunch there one must give the order before, and then only they will be able to get food. As we were not knowing that and did not give any order, the canteen boy told us that it will take some time to prepare the food. Then we decided to get down and find some other restaurant. Ticket was already with us, so it was just matter of some 10 minutes to come down.
After coming down we entered into a restaurant and had our lunch. Veg food was served, but it was really tasty and we were hungry too. We wrapped up all the stuffs within 2:45 and started our journey back to Pune at 3:00. This time no wrong route no unplanned move. It took just 3.5 hours to take us back to home sweet home. Though the weather was not best for travelling and we enjoyed the day a lot.

Here are some important information for you all about the Fort:
How to go: It is 160 Km from Pune. Through Bangalore Highway go to Bhor and from there go straight, you will get NH17. Take a right turn go 3 km more. You will reach Mahad. From Mahar you will be able to see on the right side one Big gate welcoming you to Raigarh. Take the right turn. Its 23 Km more to reach at the foot of the Raigarh fort.
Entry fee: If you go by ropeway it will charge you 150 for up-down. And to enter into the fort there is one more entry fee of Rs 5. I don’t think if there is any trekking route or not, but there are 1475 steps using which you can reach to the fort.
Food: On the hilltop there is one hotel run by the Ropeway authority. And there are some more restaurants at the bottom of the hill too. We did not looked for non veg food, so not sure if non veg food is at all available there or not.
Hotel: At the hill top there is MTDC gust house. The charge is 900 per day for a double bed room.