Chartered Accountant by profession, foodie at heart, traveler by passion, amateur photographer by love for nature and decently good rider/driver to travel with.
It was the
eve of Makar Sankranti 2011 & the city was busy with kite flying activities
all around. We had fun time flying kites during our office hours on office
terrace with friends. In the meantime we were working up with a plan for
overnight bike trip somewhere nearby & I remembered my cousin Tarun mentioning
to me about a fantastic natural getaway called Karnala Bird Sanctuary just
closeby to Panvel. I suggested the place to Shailesh/Anand & they were ok
with the destination. The trip was actually a send-off trip for our good friend
cum ex-colleague Ankit Maheshwari who now resides in Indore, Madhya Pradesh
& had come to Mumbai just a week ago for our Annual office Trip. However
the bugger was busy kite flying with our other friends & confused was
himself if he could join for his farewell trip or not since they were having a
gala time kite flying at borivali. The other friends (Tirath & Pratik) were
supposed to join us too but they backed out & even asked us to cancel the
trip & instead enjoy kite flying the entire next day at their place in
borivali. But we denied & Finally Ankit agreed to join us & trip was
all set.
We left for
home after office & decided to meet at panvel station by 12.00 am. I came
home, got some info about Karnala Bird Sanctuary off the internet, packed my
bag with basic stuff, had dinner & left home at about 10.00 pm on my bike.
Shailesh had already left by then & reached Panvel before all of us. The
others i.e Anand, Tushar & Ankit came to panvel via local train after 12.30
am & we all were grouped. We just had two bikes & five of us so
Shailesh volunteered to take Tushar & Ankit as triple seat since his
Pulsar’s seat was bigger enough as opposed to my FZ’s seat. We left Panvel station
& stopped by soon at the NH17 & NH4 junction for some refreshments.
Most of us were hungry so we ordered a lot of food at an overnight dhaba type
hotel there & ate to our hearts content over stupid jokes & fun filled laughter’s
pulling each other’s legs. Finally we were done eating by 2.00 am, the bill was
settled by & we moved out of the hotel just to notice that the place was
buzzing with activity all around. Many shops were open adjacently to the hotel
& herds of people pouring in even at this lonely hour surprised us. It
looked like this was an all night open restaurant & travelers took refuge
here before moving ahead.
Dinner at the restaurant - Anand is shying away as he was asked to pay the bill
Tummies full & we were feeling lazy/sleepy to ride further especially since the climate got way to cooler by then as mercury level dropped. Shailesh suggested we settle down there itself in the verandah of a small closed shop & get some rest before moving ahead to Karnala bird sanctuary which was just 15 odd kms away & shall not take us more than 20 minutes to reach there. His suggestion seemed viable taking into consideration none of us had an idea what to anticipate at the start point of Karnala sanctuary at this hour. Further, this place where we were standing at the moment looked absolutely safe and sound as lots of civilized people around poured in every few minutes in their vehicles. So we settled in.
Ready for an experience which thousands of mumbaikars go through daily night. SLEEPING ON FOOTPATHS/CLOSED SHOPS
Now it was time to get some rest, but who can take a respite when we have a wonderful day ahead of us. I tried to close the eyes for a while but just couldn’t sleep & so was the case with others too except Shailesh who I guess managed to steal a few minutes for him to rest in tranquility. So it was time for rest of us to start fooling around with camera, pass jokes & torture Tushar by pulling his leg with some of our fundamental non sense bits and pieces which cannot be mentioned here J
Deep Asleep - Shailesh
Half Asleep - Ankit, Mitesh & Anand
It was well past 4.00 am & we decided to start up a bon-fire as it was getting colder by the minute as anticipated by us & hence before the trip, I was specifically asked to get some kerosene from home for bonfire & luckily I didn’t forget to get it before leaving home. So the firewood was collected effortlessly from neighboring places after some wandering around, kerosene was poured in & fire was lit.. Voila!! My first bonfire since childhood. J The fire lasted well for a minute & then began to phase out. We suspected the issue is with firewood which isn’t burning well so poured in some more kerosene from the bottle & bonfire was healthy again just for a minute, before phasing out again. Shailesh checked out the bottle of kerosene, smelled it & finally concluded with following sentence
“ Saale, tu Phenyl laya hai kerosene nahi” (Dude, you’ve brought Phenyl, not kerosene)
Shailesh - Trying hard to fuel the bonfire :)
I do it my way
& its working
The last few drops of phenyl used
Everyone started laughing at my stupidity but we had a fun time using up all that phenyl to maintain the bon fire for few more minutes before it went out completely. We covered up the remains of bonfire with sand for safety & decided to leave the place as it was already close to 5.00 am by then.
A localite - Happy to click with us.. & Anand was amused, dont know why
Shailesh - Ready 2 leave
How cold it was.. The helmet visors were condensed
The hotel was still open so we had a cup of nice hot tea, relieved ourselves off the early morning nature’s call in the filthy little toilet of hotel & left the place.
Last pics before leaving
I took the lead & got on NH17 with shailesh following me. The early morning cold temperature was bone chilling & Anand was sitting pillion with me on the smooth single lane NH17. The roads were inviting me to rip my bike & feel the chill down the spine but Anand was not used to travelling on bikes back then, infact he was frightened with high speeds on bike so he asked me to stay below 50’s but I could barely stay below double that speed J With constant ripping at speeds of 90-100 kmph for few minutes, I knew I left Shailesh way too far behind so I pulled over to the side of the road & called him up. The place where we stopped was utterly amazing, beautiful, lonely & scary as hell with a silent curvy road surrounded by trees & hills all over & infinite stars shining above our head for as long as our eyes could see. We just kept admiring the beauty of the place & acknowledged a fact that we should have had our girlfriends here as it was a perfect romantic setup on a bloody cold night. Meanwhile, I kept calling Shailesh & after few attempts he answered & informed me that they’ve reached the gate of Karnala Bird Sanctuary & they never overtook me, which means I’m far ahead from the destination & I require to return back to them. So we got back on the bike & made a quick U-turn. Luckily we didn’t overshoot the destination by much distance & I saw the other three waiting for us. They were amused as to how could I miss the big entrance of Karnala Bird sanctuary with so many boards around right on the road, but I wasn’t so surprised since I knew I was busy enjoying the early morning speedy dash on NH17 paying all the due attention just on road.
It was just before 6.00 & the official park entry time was not before 7.00 am so we were forced to wait at the park gate. Meanwhile Shailesh decided to attend his nature’s call right beside the road somewhere in the dark woods & we made a lot of fun out of it teasing him all throughout. Slowly the atmosphere started to brighten up as 7.00 am approached & the lazy gatekeepers arrived after a bit of delay.
Still dark when we reached at the gate
We paid the entry tickets, parked our bikes in the parking lot & we were the first to enter the park followed by a few other bird photographers & a pair of love birds (of which, the girl was absolute cutie)
Clicked a pic of map just in case we get lost :)
After a short 2 minutes walk inside the park, there is a right turn indicating a broken & difficult path through jungle to the fort & as naturally expected, we drifted to right rather than staying on the normal course. Pravin (our other friend-cum-colleague) who was also supposed to join us for the trip had promised me that he’ll meet us directly at panvel early morning but didn’t answer my call when we left the panvel hotel, he finally called me & apologized that he had overslept. I assured him that he can still make it to the trip if he hurries up & he can easily meet us by 10 am & we shall have an entire day ahead of us. He agreed to leave his house in Kalyan ASAP & keep me updated with his location. With the cheerfulness of one more member of our group joining us soon in this beautiful place, we moved ahead into the jungle.
An abandoned structure on the way made of wood..
A round podium - we made it Sumo wrestling ring
Guess the pose :)
Few random clicks on the way
The stroll through the jungle path was pleasant with early morning ambiance & chirping of few intermittent birds on the way. After a reasonably extended hike into the trail, we realized we hadn’t gained any height & we were just walking on flat paths. The pinnacle of the fort was visible every now & then amidst the trees. Shailesh finally gave in & declared we were wide of the mark & need to return back but I was adamant not to do so. I wanted to trek a few minutes more into the jungle before finally calling off the trek as everyone seemed tired already & the pinnacle looked far from reach now. So I asked them to rest where they stood while I ventured a bit ahead. Anand decided to accompany me but he was exhausted as well so I asked him to slow down his pace for a while as I sped off ahead. After a few more minutes, I gave up too as it was undoubtedly evident that I was walking on a horizontal trail & not gaining any elevation & this is without a doubt not how an ascending uphill trek is supposed to be. So I turned back, met Anand mid way & regrouped with the remaining three of us resting at the original spot. We halted there a while too & then decided to depart back via the same trail that we had taken to come here. I was dissatisfied for not being able to conclude the trek & hence I was craving to trek uphill from the normal route once we reach to the main gate but reaching there would take us additional hour or even more & no idea how much longer it would take from normal route to trek to the fort. Everyone seemed exhausted already due to a sleepless night & a more than 2 hour trek already so we were skeptical about further trek from normal route & decided to leave the decision for later. Meanwhile, Shailesh kept insisting he knew exactly where we missed the turn for uphill trek & I secretly kept hoping he was right. Luckily, as it turned out he was right indeed. We reached that turn which we had missed earlier & went straight ahead so we took that turn & decided to give it a go.
The final trek from correct path started at approximately 9.45 am & as expected, this was indeed a difficult trail with steep difficult climbs amidst dense trees, age old strong rock walls, loose soil at places & sharp ascend throughout. We were gaining altitude rapidly & loosing stamina at twice over the speed.
A small break on steep ascend
How happy i was since we were on the right track
Ant house
Raw seeds/scrubs on my track pants while trekking
We all were tired but the sense of finally rambling through the right path kept us motivated & after a swift uphill trek of just over half an hour, with few petite breaks in between, we made it. Nope, we didn’t reach the top yet, we just reached a spot where the difficult trail bisected the easier trail & from there onwards it was just one trail all the way uphill to the fort which was additionally a kilometer ahead
Pravin had reached the base of Karnala by then on his bike & I directed him to take the normal route uphill & we shall meet him right midway. We rested right there for a while & could see a lot of groups of trekkers, including children trekking uphill via the normal route. We inquired with a few of them & were surprised to know that it took them just under an hour to reach that point from the gate, while it took us just under 3 hours because of our unnecessary adventure filled wandering. Tushar had to leave as he had some urgent office work & no matter how hard we tried to convince him, he didn’t budge & finally we had to see him off @ approx. 11.00 am.
We were sitting right on the trail over few small rocks watching the passer by trekkers zoom ahead in full glory until one particular guy from a group of trekker commented watching me resting peacefully on a rock & his comments shook me a bit. He said to his fellow trek mate
“ Hey bagh, hyachya Tshirt var kay challay” ( See what’s going on this guy’s Tshirt) & as he said that, I took the necessary pain to turn back by neck to have a view over my shoulder on the right side & I was surprised to see my entire white tshirt was randomly black & white with distinguishably more black than white. The surprising thing was that the black part was constantly moving all over my tshirt & it took just a few milliseconds to understand that these black parts were nothing but actually a group of big black carpenter ants. I was instantly in somewhat panic mode as I felt the tickle of some of those adamant ants somehow making it through my tshirt & crawling on the bare skin beneath. As an immediate reaction, I removed my tshirt is a record time, got rid of my vest too & shailesh/anand/Ankit helped to dust off the ants from my tshirt. Suddenly I was stung badly on my lower back as I realized the ants were all over my black track pants too. I managed to wipe a few ants off my track pants but didn’t want to risk any more of those bad stings below my waist so I immediately got the towel from my bag to cover up myself & got rid of the track pants too. Suddenly it felt like I was stripped off most of my clothes by a group of bad a** angry carpenter ants, who decided to take a march as a form of mass protest against me, since it appeared that I was resting my silly a** too close to their restricted area & no trespassing was allowed. Luckily I had a pair of extra clothes, so I put them on & dumped the Ant infected clothes in my bag. The entire episode just took a few minutes & I bet the trekkers passing by were amused as to what this half naked idiot was upto. After the entire episode was over, we all shared a hefty laughter while still awaiting for Pravin to reach us.
Bored to death, I & Anand decided to trek downhill & see if Pravin was on right path or not although he assured us on phone that he was trekking on correct path. After a few minutes trek downhill, I casually shouted Pravin’s name as no one was around & a mild reply in form of my name came back immediately. It was Pravin, who was just a few 100 meters away. We ran downhill & finally grouped with him. It took us a few more minutes to climb uphill again where Shailesh/Ankit were waiting for us & thereon, it was a simple trek ahead for half an hour right till the bottom of the fort by 12.15 pm.
First view of the thumb like Pinnacle mountain
What a view - wish i had a better camera. All the pics are clicked from my Nokia E71 camera since the only digital camera had dead batteries by start of the trek in morning
1 final break
Fort structure
@ the entrance stairs 2 the fort
View from the fort stairs
The fort was more or less in ruins as predictable for most of the forts in Maharashtra but nevertheless the 360 degrees adjoining view of lush green forest & strong gushing winds in afternoon sun were blissful. We somehow made it through many trekking groups to the edge of a cave & there was no possible way to go further. We decided to rest a while on this small patch of rocks of about 2-3 feet wide with a sheer drop of approximately 20 feet on one side & a cave full of water on the other side. Anand even managed to sleep sitting right there without any fear of falling down.The Kumbhkaran was actually sleeping so peacefully that his loud irritating snoring could be heard from a mile away.Unfortunately I couldn't click any pics as my cell was dead too by then.
After a brief 15-20 minutes break, we decided to leave as it was already past noon & all of us were quite hungry & nothing is available to eat out there. We ate whatever snacks we had, drank the fresh cool water from the cave reservoirs & decided to trek downhill after spending few additional minutes to survey the remaining part of the thumb like pinnacle of the mountain with numerous carved in caves.
The trek downhill was simple & fun filled via the easy route & we made it to the gate of karnala bird sanctuary in just over an hour. It was a quick ride from there to panvel station where we had a few snacks, drinks before finally seeing off Anand & Ankit who took local train. Pravin, myself & Shailesh resumed back on our respective bikes & sped off to our respective homes soon after exchanging goodbyes. I reached home just about 5.00 pm & went straight to bed. It was a short & sweet memorable bike ride-cum-trek filled up with lots of amazing memories.
INFORMATION FOR FELLOW TRAVELLERS
Place:
Karnala Bird Sanctuary & Fort
General Description:
The sanctuary covers an area of around 4.27sq.kms and is also reckoned as a paradise for trekkers due to the presence of various hills in the area. It is home to over 150 resident bird species and about 37 types of avian migrants.
The sanctuary is also famous for the Karnala fort, which is situated within the sanctuary. The fort is situated at an altitude of 475metres and was constructed in 12th century. The fort has a very rich historical past and thus is turning out to be a favorite place of tourists. The sanctuary is an ideal place for bird watching as well as for trekking.
Trekking can be dangerous in the rainy season so it can be done in the rest of the year. While climbing the fort you come across many species of birds in nature. River Patalganga is towards the east of the fort. Greenery covers and surrounds the fort of Karnala.
Park Area:
About 4.27 square.kilometers.
Best Period to visit:
September to March.
How to reach:
Karnala Bird Sanctuary is 50 kms from Mumbai, on the Mumbai-Goa Highway, NH-17. It is recommended to go there in own vehicle as it is just a short drive via Panvel. Once you take the Mumbai-goa highway NH17 from panvel, keep looking on the left side after few kms & the sanctuary entrance gate shall be hard to miss.
Harbour Railway trains from VT Station to Panvel are regularly run within few minutes. Panvel station is just 15 km from the sanctuary; from here you can catch autorickshaws, taxis and buses. State Transport buses run from Mumbai Central to Karnala.
Entry Fees:
Adults - Rs.20/- per person
Children - Rs.15/- per child
Parking Two Wheelers - Rs.15/-
Small Four Wheelers - Rs50/-
Some Important Notes:
Please do not litter the beautiful wildlife sanctuary with wastes (especially plastic waste).
Please do not harm the wildlife inside the sanctuary
Be careful with monkeys/langoors as they can snatch away the bags with foodstuffs
Carry enough food/water/energy bars as there are no shops once you enter the park.
Camping overnight without permissions is illegal & punishable offence. Wildlife can be dangerous with wildcats like leopards around. (While entering the sanctuary in morning, We had encountered a group of four people being fined Rs 500 per person who trekked overnight at the sanctuary)
Be careful with honeycombs which can be encountered at intervals throughout the trail especially at the pinnacle.
Always trek in group to avoid any possibility of loot, dacoits.
Carry a swiss/army/all purpose knife.
Plan early morning trek & early return preferably before 6 pm in evening especially if you are using public transport since it becomes difficult to find transport to return back to panvel in evening.
The month of November 2010 wasn’t the most exciting month of the year for me as I had just appeared for the biggest exam of my life & I was more than sure that I’m gonna fail in those exams. Further, My sweet little 1 yr old niece had some serious issue & required an urgent heart surgery in a specialist hospital in Bangalore so I left for Bangalore along with my sister, nephew & brother in law as soon as my exams ended. Before the surgery could be done, I had to revert back to Mumbai alone for urgent office work & then I left for Gujarat (Ankleshwar) within a couple of days after I came back from Bangalore.
So I started my audit work in ankleshwar & after a couple of days, I got a good news call from my sister that the operation was successful & my niece was very fine now. However there was also a bad news attached. My sister, brother in law & Niece were gonna return to Mumbai in a few days & then leave for Bahrain (UAE) after 3-4 days in mumbai. That means I wouldn’t get to meet my angel. So after a few thoughts, I decided to leave for Mumbai to meet my niece before she departs to Bahrain for more than a year. My niece & her parents were returning from Bangalore on 12th December 2010 (Sunday) & leaving for Bahrain on 15th December. It was a weekend so I booked tickets for Mumbai on 11th December & got back to Mumbai by late night.
My mom & I went early morning to receive my niece & that was the first & only time so far when my mom sat behind me as a pillion on my bike. Finally met my Angel, she was perfectly fine. Spent that evening with her & finally bid her goodbye as I wouldn’t see her for more than a year now.
Now the issue was to get back to Ankleshwar & join office on Monday itself as I had a junior colleague with me who was alone there & I had asked for leave permissions just for the weekend with a promise to resume audit on Monday.
I had planned to ride early morning to Ankleshwar & join office. Thereafter I had plans to comeback to Mumbai via few tourist destinations next week after completing my work. It was my first interstate ride to the state of Gujarat so I was excited but not so nervous since the ride was of approximately 350 kms only & I had covered more distance in a day. I met my buddies Karan, Najju, Percy on 12th night & discussed my ride plan. They all wished me luck for the ride & then I got back home after midnight.
Got up at 4.00 am, packed my few basic stuff only as most of my luggage was already out there in Gujarat. It was the month of December so obviously it was gonna be a freezing early morning ride & hence I covered myself with enough clothes to keep me warm. Left home at 5.00 am & geared up with my elbow/knee guards, denim jacket, newly bought probiker knuckled gloves (courtesy: my good frnd Percy) & my AGV helmet. After a brief halt at a small temple just outside my building & praying for a safe ride, I left for the first solo interstate ride of my life at 5.15 am.
My ODOmeter at the beginning of the trip.
The One!! All set to be in another STATE within next few fours
NOTE: I wasn't carrying any digital camera for the trip so all pics are clicked by my reasonably good Nokia E71 cellphone camera throughout the trip.
Music on & my Mp3 favourite playlist in use as I reached Siddhivinayak temple (Dadar) in few minutes. A brief halt for prayers right from the road while sitting on my bike & then I left. It was damn cold out there on lonely roads. However I was enjoying the ride since it wasn’t exactly the coldest of atmosphere that I’ve ridden so far.
Soon I was cruising at a decent speed of 70-80 kmph on National Highway 8 (NH8) & crossed Borivali before 6.00 am. As I crossed Dahisar toll naka, I was officially out of Mumbai & the temperature started dropping as I rode away from city limits. The roads were in good condition upto Mira bhayander but then it was a mixed quality of good/bad roads for next few kms. I had decided not to overspeed & carry out the entire ride at cruising speeds to save myself from extreme cold temperature at high speeds, save petrol & most importantly, for my safety. I was in a desperate need of a Pee break but it was still dark & unsafe to stop on these roads so I continued riding. I was lucky to spot an SUV who was doing the same speeds as me & I followed the SUV’s tail lights for a good 20-30 kms as my headlights were of little use on those completely dark foggy roads full of twists & turns. Slowly I could feel the darkness in the sky fading & the sky turning brighter gradually. It is always an awesome feeling to ride at such times to see the sunrise while on the move. The SUV pulled into a petrol pump while I continued ahead on my own. Soon my bladders were unwilling to control anymore so I had to pull over by 6.45 am at a side of the road to relieve myself.
The atmosphere out there was amazing. Bright enough to see fog all around me & only huge trucks passing by every few seconds who left me unbothered. It was a good opportunity for some clicks & a small video.
The cold foggy road at the dawn
Just loved the fog all around
See how cold it was, my rear view mirrors had frozen & I in-scripted my first letter on them :)
My Trip meter.. 96 kms out of 350 kms already done :)
Getting brighter
Me - All covered up
A short video to get an idea of the beautiful foggy surrounding i was in.
I had covered a good 96 kms as per my trip meter in 1.5 hours so I wasn’t in any sort of rush. Got back on my bike & continued riding north to my destination.
Loved the roads as i was alone on them most of the times. Stopped for a brief moment to click this pic,
I rode another 108 kms continuously & it was past 8.30 am with more then 200 kms on my trip meter so I decided to have a breakfast halt before continuing with last 100 kms of my trip. I stopped at a nice dhabha near valsad & had a light breakfast.
South Indian food is great everywhere :)
& a hot cup of tea..
My beast at rest. Half job done, half to be done.
My trip meter so far.
Thats the dhabha ;)
Left dhabha soon at 9.15 am & continued towards surat which was approximately 80 more kms away. As time passed, it began to get hotter with all my extra layers of clothing but I decided to continue riding instead of wasting time changing clothes in the middle of the highway. I reached Surat toll booth in an hour by 10.00 am & I had another 60 odd kms to cover to reach my final destination so I decided to speed up as the roads were awesome & I had ridden on these stretch of Surat-Bharuch earlier in the year so I knew the roads were good enough to ride at 100+ speeds.
At Surat Toll naka
I kept the speedometer above 100-110 kmph most of the time for the next 50-60 kms & reached ankleshwar exit before 10.45 am. I had just fueled up worth Rs 500 in Mumbai so I was worried when the bike started jerking indicating that I was out of fuel but fortunately the petrol pump was in sight so I fuelled up & sped away for my company guest house.
Final count of KMS on my onwards journey..
It was a grand total of 333.0 kms on my trip meter when I reached my guesthouse & the watchman refused to let me enter the premises as I was in an alien like condition with all my safety gears. Finally I took off my helmet & he recognized me & let me in. I covered up my bike nicely with my parking cover & then got fresh in no time & reached office by official car before 12.00 pm. I didn’t ride my bike to the factory office as I didn’t wanna create much of a topic for locals out there. Got back to guest house after a tiring day at work & got to bed soon.
I was scheduled to finish my work within a week so whenever I got time, I started making rough pans for a return trip to Mumbai via few destinations on the way. I inquired with a few friends & finalized a plan to ride back to Mumbai via Silvassa-Dudhani-Jawahar-Kasara ghat. The plan seemed doable & quiet fine. I & my colleague Sandeep often used to go for a chilling night ride on ankleshwar roads on my bike after dinner but the weather out there was too cold to ride so we avoided long rides on bike. Slowly people out there realized I rode all the way from Mumbai & most of them found it a stupid thing to do in this cold weather especially when I was provided other much more comfortable means of travelling by the company. Nevertheless, there were a few people like one Mr Ramaanuj Pandey who appreciated my ride as he himself was a tourer although he toured by his car. The week passed by soon & our work was almost done. So we planned our last Sunday in Gujarat for a trip to local tourist spot, Sardar Sarovar dam project. I wanted to ride there but I didn’t know the roads & Sandip was a heavy pillion to ride with over these unfamiliar village roads for a trip in excess of 100 kms & I had no safety gears, not even a helmet for Sandeep so I gave up the idea of riding & instead a company car was arranged for our trip with my friendly driver/guide Ramkishan ji.
We left for Sardar Sarovar Dam on 19th December 2010 & it was a nice trip. Some pics from the trip.
A thoroughly rusted tractor in our Client's factory.
Nice roads
Gayatri mata's temple on the way.
Many sugar factories on the way so lots of such carts carrying raw sugarcane sighted all throughout,
One more beautiful local temple.
Missing my bike at such roads :(
Sandeer, Ramkishan ji & our transportation for the day, a TATA INDICA :)
First view of the Dam across the park
Some clicks in the beautifully maintained park.
It would be a great place for lunch with friends ;)
The dam was with closed gates so no free flowing water for now, but the sight would be different when dam gates are open.
Sandeep with Sardar Sarovarji
Finally its sunset ;) & time for some of the most beautiful clicks of the trip.
An upper view of the dam
Last pic of the day.
It was a good one day trip & back to guest house after a heavy non veg dinner.
Finally my much awaited day was nearing up as our work was almost done. Our senior Bhavana Gujar came to ankleshwar on 20th December 2010 to review our work. I went to pick her up at Bharuch railway station in morning & while returning from station to factory, our driver accidentally told my senior that I rode my bike from Mumbai. Now, Bhavana ji knew about my love for bikes but she clearly wasn’t happy to know that I rode from Mumbai. She did convey to me how stupid my idea was to ride all alone over such a long distance & who shall be responsible if anything goes wrong with me on this official trip. I assured her I’ll be fine & ride back home safely with utmost care. After reviewing our work, Bhavanaji was scheduled to return back to Mumbai same evening. I proposed her jokingly to ride back to Mumbai with me next day & as expected she refused straightaway. However she was sweet enough to lend me her warm woolen sweater for my return trip as she knew it was freezing cold out there. I went to drop off Bhavana ji at railway station but we had some time so visited a beautiful swaminarayan temple which Bhavanaji had never seen earlier.
The beautiful carvings of the temple.
Bhavana Madam.
A nice click
After dropping Madam at Bharuch station, I reached back to factory & finished my remaining work till late evening. Sandeep was scheduled to leave back to Mumbai the same night & he agreed to carry my luggage bag as it wasn’t possible for me to ride all the way to Mumbai with two big bags. After dinner, we went for a drive with Khema maharaj to have some hot chicken tandoori’s before Sandeep leaves. While returning, Khema ji asked if I wanted to drive the car & I wasn’t gonna say NO. I was behind the steering wheel of a car after very long time so I drove carefully & the entire drive of 10-15 kms was a good safe drive.
As we reached our guest house, company car was waiting to drop off sandeep to railway station. I joined them too & the train was supposed to depart at 1.00 am but it was super late & I got back to guest house only past 2.00 am after dropping off Sandeep. I had a lot of destinations to cover so I had planned to leave early morning by 5.00 am which seemed impossible as I just had 3 hours now so I tried sleeping soon.
As expected, I got up late just before 6.00 am even though I had alarms set. It was freezing cold so I skipped bath & just carried on with other routine stuff & got ready in 10 minutes. I was still to pack up my bagpack with my remaining stuff & once everything was stuffed in my bagpack, the bag weighed quiet a lot & I wondered how I would tour whole day with such a heavy bag. Nevertheless, I had no choice. I geared up, got ready, prayed in guesthouse temple & left by 6.45 am.
Last clicks at guest house before leaving ;)
All geared up & READY TO ROLL baby..
This time I had Bhavana ji’s sweater which helped a lot but still the cold weather was unbearable to continue speeds above 70-80 kmph on empty roads. I fueled up my tank with petrol just before joining NH8 & wore my bagpack on my chest instead of back so that I can get some resistance from direct cold winds on the highway. As I got on highway, the clear amazing roads were just too damn unbelievably good to ride on & the weather was absolute killer. Fog everywhere & minimal traffic made my ride a fantastic one. I had a schedule in mind & had to reach Vapi by 9.00 am. I crossed Surat soon enough & my average riding speed gradually started increasing as the sunshine bestowed its warmth & the coldness in air minimized a bit. I stopped straightaway at 8.30 am after 106 kms into the ride when my trip meter showed 469 kms in total.
Look at my bagpack.. it was killing me already but i had no idea how bad it would be up ahead..
After a short Pee break, I was back on road & reached Vapi in no time. I had ridden on these Vapi roads many times when I was here on official audit work a year ago with Saurabh Jain & I enjoyed riding those roads again remembering those old memories. Finally I reached Vapi junction from where I had to take a left turn for my next destination Dadra & Nagar Haveli - Silvassa. Soon after leaving the wonderful smooth NH8, I encountered one of the worst stretches I’ve ever ridden on & my average speed dropped below 30 kmph. The road to Silvassa was in a pathetic condition, full of potholes, maddening local traffic, big vehicles on small roads, lot of dust all around etc. After a horrible 1 hour ride & covering just about 20 kms, I reached the entrance on Dadra & Nagar Haveli just past 10.00 am.
The entrance to Dadara & Nagar Haveli.. which i had read about many a times in books during my childhood days.
I ventured further into the city & inquired with locals about what are the famous destinations around here in silvassa & most of them suggested a few local parks which I was least interested in. However few people suggested ‘Dudhani’ which is a scenic lake where boating etc is carried on. I checked google maps on my phone & dudhani was right on my way to the main destination of my ride i.e the very less known hill station, Jawahar.
A nice masjid like structure in silvassa.
En-route somewhere.
So I continued riding towards Dudhani with help of directions from few locals. I crossed Vasona & the roads turned good again & I was cruising at comfortable speeds. The roads to Dudhani were absolute bliss with trees covering the roads from both sides, awesome greenery & vistas all around & minimum traffic.
I stopped at a nice beautiful & lonely place for some clicks/water/pee break.
Trip meter so far.
Dudhani was nearing by as per the milestones I saw on the road & finally there was a huge milestone when I reached a place called Khanvel showing directions & kms to main areas around. I don’t know how but I missed making a left turn towards Dudhani & I continued riding straight to Jawahar. I realized my mistake when there was no more mention of Dudhani as I continue ahead & I was running behind schedule so didn’t wanna turn back for dudhani as I anyways wasn’t much interested in visiting a lake when there were many exciting places to see in Jawahar.
The distance count to various destinations.. Un-intentionally i went straight ahead instead of a left to dudhani.
I was riding on a well maintained State Highway SH185. I crossed numerous small villages so far & loved to see the villagers busy with their daily routine work. I crossed Sindoni, & Khedpa on my way to Jawahar through SH185. As I was passing by one village, an elderly man of my grandfather’s age signaled for lift & I stopped without a thought. The elderly person rushed to me & inquired if I can drop him to the next village & I promptly agreed. As we started back, I inquired about Dabhosa waterfall which was my first destination for the day in jawahar & the elderly guy helped me out with all possible details he had. He informed me the route was a tricky one & advised me to get help from local people whenever I can. Within next few minutes, we reached the next village where the elderly person left after wishing me good luck for rest of my trip.
I continued ahead & reached the junction from where I had to take a left for Dabhosa waterfall as guided by the elderly person.
Some lonely roads on the way.
The road to Dabhosa waterfalls is a narrow one passing through a small village. I saw many kids playing around & starring back at me wondering what I was wearing (safety gears) all over me I guess. I finally reached the end of the road by 11.45 pm from where one can see the first view of Gigantic Dabhosa waterfalls.
In one word, it was ‘Fantastic’.
First views from the viewing area.
I spent some time clicking pics & calling Najju who had been here just a couple of days earlier with a friend. I asked him about the way to get down to the base of the waterfall & he guided me with utmost details. I properly secured my bike & helmet before trekking down to the waterfall. I had read it wasn’t a difficult trek downhill to dabhosa waterfalls & hence I wasn’t much worried. Najju informed me I’ll just need a 15-20 minutes to get to the base of waterfall & about half an hour to get back to my bike. So I got my bagpack & headed towards the trail downhill. I met 3 young gujju guys who just arrived on their single hero Honda splendor motorcycle & it seemed they planned to trek downhill too. I asked them if they’re going to dabhosa waterfall below & they nodded in agreement. I was happy as I had company now & no chances of getting lost. So we four started trekking downhill at once & I was the last one in the group. The trek downhill wasn’t the most difficult of treks I’ve encountered so far but the super heavy bagpack that I had on my bag showed its repercussions & slowed down my descending speed considerably. Adding up to that was my stupidity of trekking downhill with my arm/knee guards on as I couldn’t leave them with my bike & my bag was stuffed full so no space for them in my bag. The knee guards were troubling me a lot as I needed to adjust them every while. The three gujju guys seemed to be regulars at this spot judging by their speed of descent as I was left far behind. However they made sure I was in their sight & did stop for me at distance whenever feasible. As I gradually descended, I could sense the growling sound of huge waterfall getting intense & every now & then I could get a clear view of the mighty waterfall amidst the rocks & trees. Finally, I made it to the bottom safely with minutes to spare for half an hour since my trek.
The clicks on my way down with the three gujju guys in background..
The sense of accomplishment with getting down here with all the luggage/gears was not as much as the amusement & astonishment on my face when I saw the huge Dabhosa waterfall. I wanted to get as close as possible to the water & feel it so dumped my luggage on nearby rocks & took a few steps further to reach the edge of the shimmering lake formed by waterfall. First of all I immersed my hands in the water & the water was freezing cold. However the sun was taking its toll as it was almost 12.30 pm & climate was way hotter now so I took the pleasure of cooling down myself with the cold water & got fresh leisurely. The place was a heaven in true sense. Not a single soul around except those three gujju guys who settled down at a distant corner far away at other side of the lake. I was feeling sleepy in such a nice place with cool shade of trees, shining water just a stone throw away & a huge waterfall in backdrop.
Clear shiny water.
I called up Najju/Shruti/Bhavna madam/Shailesh from the place & expressing how wonderful this place was. Our annual office trip was nearing up & I had an additional motive to come here at Jawahar to analyze if the place is fit for our office trip & so far it seemed as a fabulous idea. While I was speaking to my friends, I realized one thing, touring alone has its advantages & disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantages is that you miss your closed ones like hell when you have no one to share & enjoy the beauty of nature you are witnessing, no one to click pictures with in such a wonderful locations & no one to laugh/smile with. Anyways, I was lucky to have full network & hence at least I had my friends with me via telephone calls. While I was on phone with my friends I lost track of time in all of this as I spent almost an hour near the waterfalls & I had variety of places to cover further in Jawahar so it was time to leave even though I was totally not in any mood to do so. The local kids had trekked down to waterfall by now & they were all over the place so it was a good time to leave as the place wasn’t as peaceful as before & Najju had warned me that these local kids shall demand some cash from me & I shouldn’t deny straightaway. So I got the bagpack on with my knee guards tied on my bag’s shoulder straps & started trekking uphill.
A small video of the waterfall
I waved goodbye to the gujju guys who were still chilling out at a distance & they waved back at me. I waved goodbye to the mighty dabhosa waterfall promising to return soon next season with a whole lot of my friends & started trekking up with full energy. My start was very good & I covered good enough distance in first few minutes, however I soon started feeling I was off the trail which we took to come downhill as the rocks, the surrounding, the plants, everything seemed unfamiliar to me. However I wasn’t panicking already as I knew for sure that the trail I was on, seemed doable & eventually I shall climb up & reach the top. So I continued climbing through the trail. As I ventured ahead, I was greeted with almost vertical rock faces to climb on & very less areas to provide grip & aid my climb. What looked like an easy trek now turned into a medium level rock climb for an unprofessional climber like me with lots of luggage & a tired, sleep deprived body. The heat of 1.00 pm sun was in its full glory & I was sweating like a pig. It was so damn cold in morning while leaving from ankleshwar so I had worn two of my thick material t-shirts, one sweater & lastly a thick denim jean jacket. Even my legs were protected by shorts, covered by track pants & thick cargo pants on top. It would not require a genius mind to figure out that I was too unprepared & overdressed for the rock climbing challenge awaiting me ahead. So far I had a few adrenaline rushes & I had somehow climbed enough rocks & it seemed I had covered more than 50% of the uphill trek definitely & hence I was reluctant to go back down & rectify myself with correct & simple trail to climb uphill. Further the vertical rocks are much easier to climb up rather than climb down especially with all the heavy clothing & luggage so I decided against climbing down. I somehow climbed quite a few steep rock faces until I could climb no more & had to rest & catch up with my fast running breath. I settled on a small rock somehow & tried to relax & calm myself down before continuing ahead. Instinctively my hand reached out to the side of my bag for the bottle of water as I was dying of thirst & when I got that bottle out, I was I a shock to find out I did not have even a sip of water in the bottle. I had carried just 1 litre bottle of water from Ankeshwar which was half empty when I reached Dabhosa & as per my memory which recollected slowly, I gulped down the remaining half of the water bottle while I was at the base of waterfall enjoying the shade & talking to my friends on phone. I was feeling weaker as I did not have anything called as food so far since morning as I hadn’t stopped anywhere for breakfast & I left ankleshwar in morning without any food. Thanks to the heavy chicken dinner last night, I didn’t feel the need for food so far but I was definitely aching for some food now. I cursed myself for being such an idiot & not saving any water for the uphill trek, that too on an empty stomach. I was furious at my own stupidity.
A view of the valley from the place i was standing at the moment.
It was getting tiring by the hour. However, I had to regain my senses & look forward at the task in hand rather than giving up as there was little or no hope for help if & when required. By now my breathing was back in control & I started the rock climbing scenario once again. Luckily after a few rocks, the trail was relatively easier to climb & I was gaining height at an average speed until a big rock stood right in front of me almost feet or two more than my height. The rock I’m referring to was almost perfectly vertical & very less or almost nil places to provide grip to climb up. I stood at little place at the base of the rock for almost 5 minutes figuring out a strategy to overcome this hurdle. These were few loose branches of wild plants, a few cactus plants & other adjacent rocks to provide some grip but not enough to ensure a safe climb so finally I decided to give it a try but I failed miserably. Had a lucky escape when the loose branch of a plant came off & almost let me go down in the valley if my feet were not properly planted. For the first time now, I was actually afraid. Now I felt that things could go wrong & there are very bright chances of me getting myself in a royal mess with these chain of events that had just occurred over past half an hour. I knew I couldn’t turn back & only way out was to conquer the rock. I decided to give it one more try before giving up & screaming out aloud for help hoping the three gujju guys or other local children come to my rescue which was an option of last resort. However I was determined to get this task done by myself & hence I left no chances this time & made a few adjustments. I removed my jacket & sweater & threw it up the rock, somehow managed to push my bag over the rock’s edge too & balancing it on the limited space on rock so as to avoid from falling down. Lastly, I got rid of my shoes/socks & placed them near my bag too. Removing all those items was not an easy task while I was standing on a small slope of a hill. Anyways, I was all light & feeling a bit fresh-cum-confident that I could do this. I tried hard, the bare legs gave amazing grip on the crevices on rocks but still it wasn’t good enough. Gravity felt much stronger than my thirsty/hungry weak body & it felt like I could lose the battle any moment now. All the years since my childhood, I have grown up watching shows on discovery channel like ‘Man V/s Wild’ ‘I shouldn’t be alive’ ‘Survival Man’ etc which thought me a lot but nothing particular seemed to be of help in this particular situation of mine. Atleast I was optimistic enough that if at all I loose the grip & fall into the valley & survive somehow miraculously, I would use few tips (like extracting water from abundantly available cactus plants around) from this survivor shows on discovery. Luckily, a thought ran through my mind as I had seen/heard somewhere on some show that whenever you are trying to climb a steep surface, always ensure just one hand or leg is moving at a time & rest all the three legs/hands are firmly attached at some place or other. This is a slow process but guaranteed success if done patiently. I calmed myself down & although I had very few places to grip my legs/hands I decided to go ahead with this technique & slowly I felt it was working as I made some progress on the rock. After some 5 minutes of desperate & patient effort combined with some close heart attacks when i lost some grip, I finally somehow made it to the top.
I was never so happier in a long time as much as I was back then. I relaxed myself for a good 5 minutes in the direct heat of blazing sun before collecting my stuff & continuing ahead. I strategically used each & every handle/strap of my bagback to tie my jacket, sweater & shoes/socks as I was in no mood to get any of them on again & increase the difficulty of my trek. I carefully got the heavy bagpack on while standing upright on that vertical rock & than moved ahead. The trek was much simpler ahead with lots of places to provide grip but thirst was killing me. I didn’t want to stop now before reaching top so I continued with every last bit of energy I had & the high hope that the top shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes away. The rock climbing was still in progress every now & then but none of the rocks posed as much of a challenge as the earlier one & my bare feet made it simpler now although both of my hands/feet were thoroughly roughed out & bruised enough. I encountered one more rock which did require some effort than usual rocks & when I successfully climbed up that rock, I was surprised to know that I did it..
Yes, that was the last rock of the valley & now I had rough patch of walkable land in front of me. I heaved a sigh of relief but not for long as I was expecting to reach the top & see the village which was closeby from where we started our trek downhill. There was no visibility of civilization from the point I was at so I promptly got on my feet & started walking on those rough dry land wherever my instincts & my feet took me as there was no trail to follow. Soon I could see some grass fields & I hurried there as I had seen such grass fields while riding to Dabhosa. As soon as I reached the small land of grass fields, I could see the road which got me to dabhosa waterfall. I was definitely relieved now. Although the road was almost half a kilometer away, I happily walked across the grass field with every last ounce of my energy & reached the road in no time. It was difficult to say how far away I was from where my bike was parked so I continued walking slowly barefeet on the hot tarmac of the road & soon enough I could see the small cluster of village huts that I’d seen earlier. Everything seemed familiar now & I had mixed feeling of happiness as well as sadness since as per my memory, I was still a good kilometer or two away from my bike. Dying with thirst, walking bare footed on hot tarmac with a bag on my back that felt almost like a 100 kgs at minimum & sweating through every gland of my body, I continued towards the village slowly & after sometime, I saw first signs of human beings once again after an eternity, atleast that’s what it felt like to me. There were small kids playing under a roadside tree & as I got close, I recognized they were the same group of children whom I saw while getting to dabhosa & who followed us (Me & Gujju guys) downhill to base of dabhosa waterfall . As I slowly approached close to them, they all noticed me & they seemed baffled at my condition. I could hear them talking slowly to each other while staring at me. As I finally reached to them & I just said the following line in their native language directed to all of them in general,
“Paani Aahe ka?” (Do you have Water?)
The most eldest of all the kids promptly responded with a “Yes” & shouted out aloud to his other friend to get some water quickly. I was so relieved at that moment that I just collapsed on the road & sat there awaiting while these little angels get me some water. I removed the bag & sat on the road under the tree while a group of atleast 10 kids surrounded & stared at me as a dying grandpa. Meanwhile the water arrived, in a 1.5 litre plastic colddrink bottle which didn’t look so clean but for me; it was like holy water straight from holy ganga river. The water was damn cold, that’s what I noticed with the first desperate sip which took me straight to heaven. All my dried out mouth, throat & lips were instantly lubricated with this cold water & I wanted to gulp down the entire 1.5 ltr of water which very much seemed possible to me in the present situation. However I slowed down & drank water in small sips as I had learned from some survival show. By now, I was feeling fine & the eldest member from the kids struck a conversation with me asking if I was fine. I nodded yes. I replied back thanking all of them for the water. The eldest member told me that they did see me going on a wrong trail while all the children were at the base of Dabhosa & they all collectively yelled to bring the same to my notice but I was too far away & couldn’t hear (mainly because of thunderous sound of waterfall in backdrop) or see any of them as they saw me. They were surprised how did I make it to the top, what took me so long & from where did I eventually emerge out of the valley. I told them I came up about a kilometer ahead from here on a barren land & none of them recognized if there was any path/trail to dabhosa base from where I came up. Anyways I least cared from where I came up as long as I came up in one piece. They offered me the bottle of water but I denied as I had already drank almost a liter of water & wouldn’t need any more for a long time. However I did inquire if there were any hotels in the village as I was too damn hungry but they denied & informed me I’ll get a dhabha right on the junction where I made a left turn to dabhosa. I thanked all of them once again before getting up from the road & as appreciation; I gave them a big packet of famous chocolate coated peanuts which I had bought from Bharuch for my family & friends. They all loved it & the eldest guy straightaway started distributing equally among rest of the group. I got up & started walking towards my bike which was a further 500 meters away. Things were fine now, all I hoped was my bike to be safe too & the first glimse from distance ensured my bike was right there where I left her. As I got close, I checked if any issues with the bike but thankfully none. I wore my shoes, & left the rest of the stuff on my bagpack only as I was too hungry & anyways I had to stop at that dhaba a few kms away. Before leaving, I distributed few more peanuts among 2 local kids near my bike who were demanding some rs 20 cash. I checked my wallet & I had just a few Rs500/100 notes so I couldn’t give any cash to the guys, however their gesture was priceless & I didn’t want them to fight amongst each other over cash so decided against distribution of cash. I got back on my bike & rolled her downhill in neutral gear. Waved goodbye to my little friends one last time as I stopped next to them & then I rode straight to the dhabha.
It was well past 2.00 pm now & more than 2.5 hrs spent at dabhosa. I ordered Thaali at dhabha which I got promptly & I ate as much as I could but not much since I had drank a whole lot of water minutes ago. Met a few men having lunch there who inquired from where I came & where I was headed to & I narrated my trip plan in summary to which they were surprised. They offered me to join them but I was almost done & had to leave as I was way behind schedule now so I payed the bill & got back on road.
A click by a young local lad outside the dhabha after my lunch. The T'shirt, sweater, Scarfs tied up with my bag.
A small dam on river just a few hundred metres away from dhabha makes me stop for a few clicks.
All fresh now with tummy full of local yummy food & rejuvenated energy, I set out for the next destinations in Jawahar worth a visit.
Introduction to Jawahar (Text copied from internet)
Jawahar is a hill station with a difference. While, it shares a salubrious climate, picturesque waterfalls and scenic views with other Maharashtrian Hill stations like Mahabaleswar, Jawahar has a unique Tribal flavor to it. It is home to Jai Vilas palace, the seat of erstwhile tribal kings. It is also an important centre for learning for Warli style of paintings. Far from the madding crowd, Jawahar is an excellent weekend getaway from Mumbai. It beckons travelers looking for a “non-touristy” hill station.
Warli Tribal Art
Jawahar is home to the Warli tribes. Today these people number over 300000 and are continuing their unique traditions and customs. They speak a dialect which borrows words from Sanskrit, Marathi and Gujarati.
The warli are an artistic community and their skills have been known since the 10th century AD. What is unique about their paintings is that instead of mythology, the subject matter is about just another day in their life. They use mud, charcoal or cow dung to narrate their lifestyle. Ciircles, triangles and squares dominate their vocabulary. Their inspiration for circle is the sun and the moon, mountains and trees for triangles and piece of land for the square. Typically, the central motif of the paintings is surrounded by everyday events like hunting, farming, fishing, etc. It is interesting to note that till the 1960, painting was done only by women.
That was until Jivya Soma Mashe arrived in the scene. An over-seer of grasslands he became a legendary painter during the 1970s. He held his first international exhibition at Palais de Menton, France in 1976. A remarkable achievement indeed, for a man who was abandoned in childhood by his family. It is said, he used to speak very little during his childhood and expressed himself only through drawings on the ground, a strange hobby that later got him international recognition!
Jawhar or Jawahar is a hill station situated in the Thane district of Maharashtra. Known as 'Mahabaleshwar of Thane district', Jawhar is famous for its scenic beauty and rich cultural heritage.
Jawhar is located at a distance of about 80 km from Nasik and 180 km from Mumbai. Jawhar shot to fame as it is the home to the Worli tribes, one of the tribal kingdoms in Maharashtra.
The past of Jawhar of Maharashtra is deeply rooted in tradition. The tribal way of living had in fact, fascinated the renowned Maratha hero Chathrapathi Shivaji and he chose to camp at Jawhar during his travels to Surat. Jawhar later became a princely state ruled by the Munke dynasty under the British Raj.
Jawhar has a thriving tourism industry today that has encouraged the infrastructure development in the area. There are a few water reservoirs and dams in Jawhar that are located at scenic places. The serene surroundings of these water reservoirs and dams have become a major tourist destination.
Though Jawhar is an important tourist destination, it retains its rustic habitat. The tribal surroundings of Jawhar are largely left untouched when compared to other tribal habitats. The natural beauty of the area remains unaffected by the developments in the modern world.
There are several tourist attractions in and around Jawhar. The prominent among them are the ancient temples, Jai Vilas Palace, Bhupatghad Fort, the water falls of Dadar-Kopra and Palusa, the Hanuman and Sunset Points, Shirpamal, etc.
The Tribal Heritage tour is a popular activity among tourists who visit Jawhar. Jai Vilas also known as the Raj Bari, the ancestral home of the tribal kings, has become the gateway to explore the tribal way of living. Exploration of the hill station and trekking in the hills of Jawhar are other activities. From Jawhar, excursions can be made to nearby locations, Lonavla and Khandala, for picnics and trekking.
The Worli paintings of the Worli tribes of Jawhar has become world famous and has become the characteristic landmark of this place. The Worli paints, made by rice paste, were initially used only to decorate their residences. The theme of Worli paintings is basically the rural life of the Worli tribe. The Worli paintings on canvas and paper have now become popular souvenirs of Jawhar.
As I rode towards Jawahar which was another 10-15 kms away from Dabhosa, I saw a beautiful lake on the right side with a picturesque landscape & I couldn’t help myself from getting off the road via a rough offroad patch as I rode straight to the lake & stopped as close as possible to the lake. The place was really mindblowing. It was a perfect picnic spot with close friends, especially for couples. But like I said earlier, it hurts to see such beautiful places & not being able to enjoy it with your loved ones. So I clicked a few pics, shot a video & decided to get back on road to Jawahar as I was behind schedule buy a fair margin.
Ain't it beautiful ??
My baby all happy as it seems.
Poser baby..
Absolutely clear water with rocks underneath visible.. see for yourself
A video of the beautiful serene lake..
It was 3.00 pm already when I left the lake & i rode nonstop till Jawhar. The road to Jawhar wasn’t the best of roads as it was quite a lot of offroading for last few kms. I was sleepy with a tummy full of delicious lunch & hence at one particular turn, I almost lost some concentration & risked going over the edge of the road on the ghat that I was riding on. I corrected my mistake in knick of a time & abused myself for being careless. Wanted to slap myself & get back to senses but I didn’t as I would need to stop for that & remove my helmet, but I was too lazy for that. Finally I reached jawahar by 3.15 pm.
By first impressions, It was really a small sleepy hill station with minimum tourists around. Local people were busy with their usual chores & seemed relatively unbothered by my presence. I had four tourist destinations to cover in Jawahar as per my internet study so I went ahead & stopped besides a local person & he guided me aptly with the directions & the sequence of visiting those four tourist destination in most feasible & time saving manner. The first on my list was Jai Vilas Palace.
Some information from net about Jai Vilas Palace:
Jawahar was a princely hill station during the British Period and was ruled by the Munke family. Jai Vilas Palace was the seat of their power. A visit to the palace, also called Raj Bari, is highly recommended. It is nestled amidst thick forests on top of a rock providing a breathtaking view of the hill station’s surroundings. There are 80 rooms in the Palace providing a glimpse of the curios and furniture of the times. The palace is surrounded by a huge cashew nut plantation.
I somehow misunderstood the directions to palace & spent a good 5-10 minutes wondering where I went wrong with directions but the locals were quite helpful & I eventually reached the palace by 3.30 pm. As I parked my bike, a local lad came inquiring where I was headed to & I replied back I wanted to see the palace from within. He promptly denied back as the royal family was just about to visit the palace anytime & preparations all around the palace were in full swing so no tourists were allowed. It was sad to know that but I did click a few pics of the palace from outside before leaving.
A picture off net for this beautiful palace.
A nice offroading video of the trail on my return journey from the palace.
Next on my destination list was Hanuman point. Some history off the net:
Legend says that Lord Hanuman fell in love with this hill station and had relaxed here while on his way to meet Lord Rama. So, as expected, there is a Hanuman point to visit as well. It provides a breathtaking view of the vast valley below Jawahar.
I reached Hanuman point within a matter of minutes & found it to be a quiet a peaceful place. Just like Matheran, there was red soil all around & for the first time my bikes tyres were painted red & I loved the combination. There’s a small Hanumanji’s temple right in the middle of the ground & view points behind the temple to overlook the beauty of entire valley. I took the blessings of Bajrangbali ji thanking him for a safe journey so far inspite of difficulties at Dabhosa & prayed for my safe reurn journey to home. Minimum crowd over there & I clicked a few pics before setting ahead on my trip.
A beautiful view of valley for as long as eyes can see..
A click by a locale at the entrance of Hanumanji temple.
The Valley
The big fat tyres in RED
Nice twisty roads visible from the Hanuman point.
A video:
Next on the destination was Sunset point, nothing spectacular about this place, yet it was different & peaceful from other sunset points that I’ve seen, so the visit was worth it. It was just about 4.00 pm then & I was happy with my progress of covering all the destinations as scheduled but I wasn’t gonna wait at this sunset point till sunset which was a good 2-3 hours away so I bid goodbye to that place after a few clicks.
The valley at sunset point
Last destination in Jawahar for me was Shirpamal. It was a few kms away from Jawahar & on my way to Kasara ghat so I bid goodbye to sweet & sleepy Jawahar & set out on the beautiful curvy hill roads. Shirpamal, is where Shivaji Maharaj camped on his way to Surat is near Jawhar. I reched this place by 4.15 pm & it was a great feeling to know Shivaji Maharaj was once in this place. The point provided a 360 degree view of entire valley & I rode my bike straight to the point where a nice structure was built. Unexpectedly, a couple was romancing behind the structure & they got alerted by my bike’s sound. I didn’t want to leave that place so soon but I didn’t want to disturb the poor romantic souls either so I hurried myself with a couple of pics/videos & left the place within a matter of few minutes.
I rode straight uphill ;)
Beautiful small structure..
A 360 degree video from Shirpamal.
All places of interest done in Jawahar before 5.00 pm i.e. before my scheduled plan so I was quiet happy with the progress. An idea struck in my mind as I had been seeing Trimbakeshwar, a holy shrine for Hindus in the holy land of Nashik within reachable limits. I was riding on SH4 leading to Kasara ghat or Trimbakeshwar, either of the two destinations as per my wish. Soon enough by 5.00 pm, I reached a junction at a place called Mokhada from where a left turn would take me to Trimbakeshwar via SH4 which was approximately 40 kms away & a right turn shall lead me straight to Kasara ghat via Khodala through SH10. I was confused so as to what to do. After a few minutes of logical thinking standing right there at the junction, I figured out I’ll reach Trimbakeshwar by 6.00 pm at minimum. Getting darshan in peak evening hours shall eat up more than an hour & I shall not be able to get back on road before 7.30 pm. A further 200 kms of ride from Trimbak to my house after sunset wasn’t a good idea, especially with my tired body & sleepy eyes. It was already past 5.00 pm & I still had to ride 200 kms to home even if I ride through SH10 & Kasara ghat but atleast I would be able to cover a fair distance before sunset & save a few hours which I would have to spend at the trimbakeshwar temple. My heart wanted to visit trimbak, but my mind rightfully disagreed. Finally, my mind won & I took a right turn & headed straight on SH10 although not before promising myself a ride to Trimbakeshwar soon.
Luckily, there was a nice small Ganesh temple on this route too, as per my studies off the net so I had something to cheer about. It was called ‘Devbandh Ganesh temple’ which was a few kms away near Khodala. As I was few minutes into the ride, I encountered very nice set of twists & turns to ride on through the small hills & ghats. The roads were absolutely amazing with ups & downs with twists & turns of all kinds. There were hardly any straight roads more than a few hundred metres. I was covering quite a few small hills as I kept on ascending & descending & continuing the same again. The roads were completely covered with trees from both the sides & the climate was getting cold again after a long time. I was enjoying the ride to the maximum. I took a few corners at quite thrilling speeds & loved it. I dreamt of getting my cornering lover friends Najju/Percy on this stretch of the roads very soon. Soon I reached Khodala & found Devbandh temple right next to the road. Got down from the bike & took darshan. It was a nice simple ganpati mandir. I inquired with a local guy if there was anything to see around & he replied back there was a big waterfall around apart from a dam but I would have to trek a fair bit & it was already past 5.00 pm so not a good idea since it would be sunset soon.
The Devbandh Ganesh Mandir.
Some info on Devbandh waterfall/temple (Courtesy DNA)
Just 120km away from the city, nestled in the Khodala Hills lies the pristine Devbandh waterfall. It offers weary Mumbaikars a much needed break from the usual city grind
Escaping the city’s monsoon madness over weekends has become a necessity for hordes of Mumbaikars. The tendency is to descend like migratory birds upon the usual holiday resorts at popular destinations like Khandala, Lonavala, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Malshej Ghat, Bhandardhara etc. However, there are scores of relatively undiscovered locations that offer a respite from the madding crowd.
The Devband waterfall is unique in the way it allows you to stand right behind the wall of water. About four people can be sandwiched between the waterfall and the rock face.
Head out of the city from the central side and after travelling for about 120km, you will find yourself in the hills of Khodala in Thane district. Khodala is a mountainous and thickly-forested locale. Four kilometers from there is Devbandh.
The terrain here has a natural formation of a dam, giving it the name Devbandh. (Devbandh means Gods' dam). The Ganesh temple built on a scenic riverbank at the bottom of the valley is the prime attraction here. Devbandh offers a breathtaking view of the mountains. Various shades of green interspersed with flashes of brown and black fed by streams; rivers and waterfalls give the feel of being a part of a fresh, watercolour painting. The Devbandh waterfall is a mere 15 minute trek from the Devbandh temple.
How to get there
Take a Kasara local from Mumbai. ST buses will take you to Khodala.
Alternatively, you can travel by car either on the Mumbai-Nashik highway. You can also take the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway No 8
It was time for me to say goodbye to devbandh temple as I was still a good 30-40 kms away from Kasara ghats so I decided to ride ahead at a leisurely pace while enjoying the beautiful view around. The twisties continued to come & go & I was loving to ride on these roads. I encountered a minimum of atleast 200 + turns within last one hour. Finally I rode through a small tunnel & the other side of tunnel was an exit straight to kasara ghat. I was surprised as I reached Kasara quite earlier than expected as it wasn’t even 6.00 pm yet. I recollected the stretch of kasara ghat I was on as I had ridded here once before on our ride to Shirdi. I was on the side of Kasara ghats which lead north to Nashik/Shirdi/Indore etc but I had to go south to Mumbai. There was no U-turn even after almost 3-4 kms of riding northwards. Finally I saw a small dhabha & decided to have a breakfast before carrying ahead with last 150 odd kms of the trip.
My baby at the dhabha on kasara ghat aside a newly launched TVS Apache Hyperedge :)
I dumped my luggage on the table, rushed to pee & then got fresh with some cold water. I ordered double omlettes & damn it was tasty.
Sunset at Kasara ghat.
I called up shailesh while I was having breakfast & asked him if he wanted to meet at kalyan but he denied. Shailesh/Pravin were interested to join me directly at jawahar but they pulled out from the trip & now when I told him the fun I had, he wished they could have joined me too. The sun was setting fast & by the time I finished my breakfast, it was dark already. I took a U-turn on Kasara ghat just a few meters ahead from the dhabha & then it was time for some crazy ripping session on Kasara ghats. Personally I love the southbound kasara ghat which I was riding on as it offered immense cornering possibilities & awesome roads with relatively less traffic. I zipped through the ghat within the next few minutes & continued riding at high speeds towards Mumbai. For the first time so far in the trip, I was actually ripping the bike rather than cruising. I maintained 100+ kmph speeds & even crossed 110 at many a times. With all the ripping session, I was at Kalyan before 7.30 pm. Thereafter I encountered some bad traffic which lead me to thane by 8.00 pm where I met Shruti who was in a state of shock as she didn’t actually knew, until yesterday that I went to Ankleshwar on bike. Did some chit chat & some more breakfast before leaving for Mumbai by 8.30 pm. The traffic as expected wasn’t gonna be easy on my tired body after a 400+ kms ride so far. I somehow managed to cut through the traffic till sion but it got worse later on & I could finally reach home only past 9.45 pm. Thoroughly battered, I parked my bike in my garage & literally kissed her on the headlight for getting me safely home. I was so damn tired that I wanted to crash on my bed straightaway. I forgot to click a pic of my trip meter, actually I didn’t even see the final count on trip meter & went straight to home. I remember the trip meter to be somewhere around 910 kms. Carrying my heavy bag for two floors was pain in A**. As I entered my home, mom & dad were surprised to see me home in such a terrible condition. I hadn’t actually informed them that I was coming back. Oh, I also forgot to mention, I hadn’t informed them that I went to Gujarat on bike ;)
Got fresh in a jiffy, changed my clothes & straightaway jumped on my cozy bed. Didn’t had any dinner as I was stuffed enough. Thanked the Allmighty for such a wonderful trip & saving my stupid a** in dabhosa. Lastly before I slept, I prayed for more such solo trips soon.
Trip Summary
An official trip to Gujarat brings an opportunity for me to take my baby alongwith me on a realy awesome solo trip covering guiet a lot of destinations in Gujarat + Maharashtra on my way back to mumbai.
Date - 13th December 2010 - Mumbai to Gujarat
21st December 2010 - Gujarat to mumbai. Riders - Myself all alone :) Bike - Yamaha FZ-16 LE Route taken/Destinations covered - Marine Lines -> Borivali -> Manor -> Vapi -> Valsad -> Surat -> Ankleshwar -> Surat -> Vapi ->. Silvassa -> Dudhani -> Dabhosa waterfalls -> Jawahar -> Khodala -> Kasara ghat -> Thane -> Marine lines Major Highways taken - NH8, SH185, SH4, SH10 & NH3 Total Kms covered - Approx 900 kms.
