Bhandardara

Wow, Life is so happening. Yesterday I went to Purandar fort and the details I have already shared. Today, 2nd August I went to Bhandardara, a place on Nasik highway around 160 km from Shivajinagar, Pune. As always my team has got changed again, this time again with a new team. We booked a 16 seater tempo traveler. We knew that a lot to travel so started our journey as early as possible. We had our breakfast in the bus again to save time. In between we stopped only once to get the breakfast packed. In the bus as usual we were shouting, singing, dancing and jumping in joy. Now I had so much of small trips these things are quite regular for me.
Bhandardara is a place where one can have everything, trekking, huge waterfall, dam, boating, fort and temple. We knew that covering all the places will not be possible, so we were selective. First we went to Umbrella Water fall. On the way we saw Wilson Dam also. We did not get down from the bus. The Umbrella waterfalls is nothing but a huge round shaped rock and when water comes down from that rock, it takes the shape of umbrella. Unfortunately the day we went there it was not raining at all and for the last entire week there was no such rain. So not much water was there in the dam, as a result the huge rock disappointed us. That area was restricted also, so we were not able to get inside. The guards were saying we should have issued gate pass from Nasik/ Aurangabad/ Akole/ Rajur. We did not know this fact so without gate pass we were unable to see the Dam from close. It was appearing to be interesting for me. After that we took our lunch break in MTDC restaurant. The cost of food was not too much. In Rs 75 they were serving Veg Thali. From there we had a boat riding in the Arthur Lake. It charged Rs 30 per head. Once we returned from the dam, was bit confused where to go. Near to Bhnadardara there is peak Kalsubai which is the hieghest peak of Sahyadri. We planned to go there, but once we reach at the bottom of it, realized we won’t make it in a small trip like this. So we came back from there. Then we headed towards Randha Waterfalls which is around 11 km from the Bhndardara. This water fall was really gorgeous. It’s big in size and full of water. So we spent a lot of time there. Clicked snaps. This was the last point we visited there. After that we started journey back to Pune. We missed the Ratnagadh fort which is by road 22km away from Bhnadardara. So anybody is willing to go there please plan to have enough time on your hand to cover all the things. And one more suggestion at the end, do not go there if there is not enough rain. Otherwise you are gonna find most of the places so boring. This trip was not at all successful. There are few reasons behind, but let’s not discuss that. I know in coming days some more lively trips are waiting for me.

Purandar Fort Trekking on 1st August

My venture continued…. I planned not to waste a single weekend in this monsoon and to cop up with that plan 1st of August I went to Purandar fort, this time with a huge team from my office. Actually this trip was planned by the office HR team. I just nominated my name there.
Purandar fort figures repeatedly in the rising of Shivaji against the Bijapur kingdom and the Mughals. Purandhar fort stands 4,472 ft. above the sea in the Western Ghats, 20 miles southeast of Pune. It actually consists of two forts - Purandar and Vajragad (or Rudramal). The latter is the smaller of the two and is on the eastern side of the main fort. The village Purandar takes its name from this fort.
We started our journey from office at around 7:30 after a handsome delay of 1 hr. we were 40 in count, had our breakfast in the bus itself and after a 1.5 hrs journey we reached the bottom of the fort. There was a formal road also to go up, but we planned to trek all the way to the top. So without wasting our time we started the trekking. Now what is trekking? If you say climbing up through the rocky surface of a hill is trekking then yes we were trekking. We had this kinda trek before also, however this one was different from all of them. This is because normally we were following the path which was marked by the footsteps of others who came here before, but some times we were encountering position where nothing can be decided where to go and how will we climb up. So we were making our own path. It was a real fun. Climbing up with the help of thorny bush and the muddy-slippery rocks made our lives tough, though we enjoyed because that is what we wanted to taste. We formed human chain to climb up helping each other. That day it was not heavily raining, so did not get enough natural water falls. The more high altitude we were reaching the more cloud covering we were getting. When we were about to reach Bini Darwaza, got a tiny water fall. Better late than never, we jumped into it and started enjoying the chilled water coming down from the hill top. It was so refreshing; we overcame all the fatigue we had to reach till here.
Our next venture was Bini Darwaza. This is one of the rarest things in Purandar fort which is still in good shape. Near to Bini Darwaza there was one statue of Murarbaji Deshpande, we clicked a lot of photographs there also. After that again we started trekking for the next destination, which was Delhi Darwaja. We climbed up there in very quick time then took a long break. There we sang songs, thanks to Sidhharth, Rahul and DD. Sidhharth was carrying his guitar and DD his bongo.
From Delhi Darwaja we started for our final destination, Kedhareshvar Temple, which is at the top of the fort. This final part of the trekking I found the most interesting. The weather also was awesome. The rain and cloud was playing hide and seek at its leisure. Walking down the jungle roads covered with fog and the only sound that one could hear was our footsteps…. Oh this was the experience of our lives. It looked as if we were flying through the clouds. The clouds covered us like blankets in the wintry afternoon. The temple was not so gorgeous with its architectural prospect but the surroundings made that temple so special. When the cloud was full on, nothing was visible around and it was like we were sitting in the heaven.
We were so amazed with the scenic beauty did not even notice how time went past. No one was bothered about lunch or anything else of the materialistic world. We were hungry and the only thing we had was biscuits. But no one was having any complain on that. Everyone was busy in posing in front of camera with their innovative ideas.
Finally we started our journey back to the bus. This time we decided to take an easier route however ended up following some weirder narrow path. A healthy competition was going on for finding the shortest path to get down. The more we got closer to the bus the more people started feeling hungry and thirsty. Eventually it became the motivation factor to get down quickly. Once we all reach safely, took a long tea break. While returning back we had our lunch in a road side dhaba on Pune-Bangalore Highway. As soon as the break got over, we started our journey back to Pune, with a good experience in memory.
At the end some important information for all the trek lovers and whoever wants to go there.
The place is very near to Pune, so if you want to go for a trek please start your journey as early as possible. Do not expect much to see in the fort, you won’t find any actually. There is no hotel/restaurant/tea stalls at the top of the fort and anywhere near to that. There is only one tea stall at the bottom of the hill. So be prepared with sufficient water/dry snacks/fast aids. One more important thing is, the rocks there is very loose so be careful while trekking. Do not get over excited. Your safety is in your hand.
What else????? Happy Trekking
P.S. During this trip only we planned tomorrow also. Tomorrow we are going to Bhandardata. So have to take rest. Till then Good Bye.

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.