A trip to the state of Maharashtra during the monsoon was long due in the bucket list. Of course, a trek to any one of the innumerable forts of the state was the ideal way to relish the true beauty of the place. But gradual research had revealed that many of them were quite demanding in terms of physical strength and stamina. And we were definitely not in the mind set for a trek this time. After lot of contemplation about several forts and ghats, the list was brought down to two places: Lohagad fort (that was considered ‘easy’ in terms of difficulty level) and Malshej ghat (to enjoy the scenic view of uncountable number of waterfalls).
A separate blogpost
will follow for more details on Lohagad fort. I am sticking to Malshej ghat for
this one.
Since it was third in
our list of itinerary, the drive to Malshej had started at the base of Lohagad
fort and had passed through Lonavala and Khandala. The winding roads of the
ghat and the backdrop against which the buildings stood during the drive had
made us stop several times. The building complexes looked like tiny, packed
boxes against the background of lush green mountains with crevices made exclusively
for waterfalls. I envied the people who had a chance to live those buildings
with such a view to behold each day of the monsoon.
A 3-hour drive of 130
kms in drizzling rain along the way and a late afternoon snack of vada pav had
brought us to the base of Malshej ghat. The whole stretch of road bore the
colours in shades of green and the hillocks that rose between them added a new
dimension and depth to the landscape. It was the first trip where we (my daughter
and I) shot the most number of videos instead of photos.
Breathtaking view throughout the way...
Malshej is often
referred to as the Rain Traveller's Abode. Its numerous lakes, waterfalls and
mountains make it a favourite spot among trekkers and local tourists. Harishchandragad
fort and Kalu waterfall trek are the most famous treks around this region which
we hope to complete sometime in future. Malshej is one of the numerous mountain
passes in the Sahyadri mountain ranges. In historic times, it was used by
Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to gain access to Deccan plateau.
Though most travellers from Mumbai and Pune make a one-day trip to the place (weekends being an exception), we had decided to stay at the base of the ghat and spend the next day exploring the whole stretch of ghat.
After reaching the
base village, we were definitely tempted to drive towards the ghat for once. We
were sure that the crowd would be very less since it was a weekday. Though
thick fog enveloped the stretch, we drove another 10 kms ahead of our hotel and
stopped at various small waterfalls for a quick play. Eventually, the
visibility grew so low that we had to drive back.
Casa De Recurso, the hotel hidden amidst the lush greens of the place, were very good hosts with compact rooms and delicious food served at night.
The reminder that the following day was a Saturday and we had to avoid the crowd had driven us out of our beds and to be back on road. And as expected the crowd was dense and the fog very similar to previous evening. We drove through various viewpoints that are thoughtfully constructed. The best among them being the Car Wash point (where the water from cliff falls directly onto the roof of the car while driving) and the Tunnel point. The end point of these viewpoints is the place where the MTDC hotel is located further which is the Pimpalgaon Joga backwater, highly popular for camping. It is the location to reach the base village Khubi Phata for the most spectacular Kalu Waterfall trek (which is still in the bucket list).
Pimpalgaon Joga lake and dam
By late afternoon, the fog lifted and revealed us sights unmatched by anything else. There were shades of green as far as our eyes could see which was broken by either the white waterfalls or the brown mountains. After completing the journey by late afternoon, we had devoured on a meal of Bhakri and Thecha (a Maharashtrian specialty chutney) only to end the journey on a bad note with a lost network and maps and losing our way towards Pune. With low fuel and no petrol bunks near our sight, we drove towards Thane instead of Pune. When we thought things were getting under control, we were stuck in a traffic on the expressway due to the long weekend madness!
Village scenes from Malshej ghat
The landscape enveloped in fog
A small video of the foggy drive ...
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