Malsej Ghat in Pune in Maharashtra

Monday, July 13, 2015

Malsej Ghat is situated in Pune District in Maharashtra.. It is located around 125 KM away from Mumbai (Ghatkopar Railway Station in the West) to be more precise. It can be reached by road. It lies on National Highway 222. 

Map

Malsej Ghat was on my to do list for quite sometime now. I wanted to explore it in the monsoons as the weather would be nice, plus there would be plenty of waterfalls on the way. 

NH222 to Malsej Ghat

I let Manohar and Dominic know about my plans. Don't you remember them, we had done Panchgani and Wai together. Oops I forgot to mention Kohoj. As decided we met at Ghatkopar Railway Station in the west. This is our common meetup point when on treks. We met at 8 AM. Wasting no time we set out to explore Malsej Ghat in Manohar's car. 

Hill Range covered with different shades of green

Map to Maslej Ghat from Ghatkopar Railway station is attached, so that you too can follow the same, if  you have Malsej Ghat on yout to do list.

It was hot and sunny when we headed out of Mumbai city limits, soon we crossed Kalyan and the weather  started changing. My eyes could see the different shades of green enroute to Malsej Ghat on National Highway NH 222. The color green has always been soothing to the eyes, it makes the eyes relax. 

The hill caps covered in clouds

We then braked for breakfast at Murbad. There are a couple of small shops outside the Murbad ST bus stand, who sell tea, vada pav, samosa, break cutlet, tea and fruits. We had some mouth watering vada pav, samosa and bread cutlet here. Manohar, do you want to talk about the samosa. 

We then headed off to Malsej Ghat, there are a couple of small villages on the way which also serve snacks and food apart from the the Dhaba's on NH222. 

Hill ranges

NH222, was now growing thinner and thinner, the road turned at every nook and corner, but it offered a beautiful view of Naneghat and the hill ranges next to it on one side and the villages in a distance on the other.  NH222 circles the Naneghat hillrange. The top of the hill range was in the clouds, though it was not raining, the weather was amazing. Cool winds blowing was making us feel good, had it rained it would have been much better.  As the weather was dull, I had to switch my phone camera on HDR mode to get some good photos of the hill range. This is also the first time I tried to take some panaromic photos of the hill ranges. 

NH222 has got good roads, but there are plenty of speed breakers which will stop you from speeding up the hills. 

View of Malsej Ghat

As NH222 passes through the  jungle, there was thick forestation around us. As it was the forest area we decided to drive without any pit stops, we meet villagers on either side of the road, who were selling Jambool (Syzygium cumini), and other fruits grown on the trees in the forest, we didn't stop for fruits.

After 2 1/2 hours we finally see the first waterfall, though it was small in size, it gathered a huge crowd to it. We didn't want to be part of the crowd and hence decided to drive up the narrow and curvy ghats to reach Malsej Ghat, we were sure to find many more waterfalls on the way.

View of the hills from Malsej Ghat tourist point

Through the way, there were bikers on Royal Enfield's that raced in the opposite directions, maybe they too had come to see Malsej Ghat. Reminded me of my bike trip with Massey to Indurigad and Sangramgad.

The journey to Malsej Ghat offers a wonderful view of the hill ranges covered in diferent shades of green, the villages and the waterfalls in a distance, which seemed to be inaccessible from here. 

Manohar, Dom and Me at Malsej Ghat

Note that there are many people who come to visit Malsej Ghat, so be prepared to be greeted by the mob; families and guy groups with drinks hang around here, to bathe in the waterfall. So the crowd is mixed bunch. There are policemen posted at all the major points on the way, so that there situation is under control. Though drinking is  not allowed here, but people still get away with it. Food is not available here. The only snack is corn smoked on charcoal fire garnished with lemon and chilly powder,  as our stomach's were full we didn't patronise the corn stalls. Hot corn on a rainy day is a lethal combo. 

View of the hill range

NH 222 is narrow and winding, ghat section, the cliff on one side and the valley on the other. So drive safely here, plus be careful, as there are landslides that happen in this part of the region, apart from the waterfalls that happen on the road. 

Finally we were at the entrance of Malsej Ghat tourist spot, MTDC has a few row houses. The Flamingo Restaurant, caters to the food needs of the tourists, but it is packed. the row houses offer a wonderful view of the Malsej Ghat, the tall hill ranges covered in green and the deep valley's below. Again the area around the MTDC hotel is a tourist attraction and gathers a huge crowd. 

Malsej Ghat

MTDC resorts offer the best view in Maharastra at the cheapest cost, so if you want to stay at MTDC you need to book month's in advance. 

The weather was dull and cloudy, not sure when it would rain, with no trees for shade we still decided to take our changes and walk  along the railing which offered  jaw dropping view of the valley below, the NH222 which cuts through the hill range. 

All off a sudden the sun sneaked out from the clouds, making us sweat, but that was not acceptable by the rain clouds, which soon hid it behind them, the weather was nice and cool, no sweat at all. The smell of the mud, I so love it. 

Another view of Malsej Ghat

Private vehicles and ST buses plying to Nagar i.e Ahmednagar halt at Malsej Ghat,  they depart either from Kalyan or Murbad. So  if you like to travel by public mode of transport, now you know what to do. 

We then headed off via the NH222 to Mumbai, as it was around 2 PM on my watch we had to brake for lunch, again we had mouth watering Chinese Food at one of the roadside dhaba on the way to Murbad, After our Wai roadtrip, chinese food is a must eat on our travel itinerary. 

That's Me

Finally after having our stomach full we headed off to Mumbai via the same way we came here. Usually we use car as the mode of transport to visit a hill fort or a hill station, but this is the first time we just drove all the way to Malsej Ghat in the car. I am loving it, hope to  have many more car rides in the furture. 

All this cost us just Rs.330 each. (Ghatkopar to Ghatkopar inclusive of food and travel) Budgeted ride.

Wilson Point (Sunrise Point) at Mahableshwar in Maharashtra

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Manohar and I had decided that we would be making a trip to Panchgani, as we couldn't complete it, the last time we visited Mahableshwar. We had visited most of the Points in Mahableshwar and Pratapgad Fort. But as we traveled by public transport we missed out on Wilson Point (Sunrise Point) and Lake Venna.

 So this time we decided to travel by the car instead of public transport, at such a short notice Dominic volunteered to join us.  Three's Co. We decided to kick start the trip with Wilson Point (Sunrise Point) followed by Lake Venna, Points of Panchgani and later the historic temples of Wai.

As decided we met at Ghatkopar Station at 10:15 PM. Manohar was to drive us all to Mahableshwar in his Maruti Swift. 

Dom stunned me with the size of his bag, The size of the bag was that of the one I carry for a 10 to 14 day trip. I was curious to know as to what he was carrying in the bag. Keep reading to find out more, as to what was in his bag.

We stopped at the Food Court on the Expressway, now the temperatures had started dropping we were feeling the cold. We decided to have some Vada pav. As we inquired, the vendor informed us that   the outlet will remain open till the Vada pav is in stock, post that the outlet wil close down. We had our share of Vada pav and in a minutes time, the lights went off. The Vada pav's were over and so they shut shutters. 

We were to travel to Pune by the Express Way, to refuel CNG at Kothrud in Pune. As travelling on a car which runs on Petrol and CNG is much more cheaper than a car that runs on petrol alone.

We relied on GPS to show us the way throughtout the journey. Missed out on a couple of correct turns and so spent the next one hour lost on the roads of Pune. Not a soul on the road at 3 AM, who could help us with directions. Finally we met a couple of rickshaw drivers who then  guided us with directions, and finally we were at the Kothrud CNG station for refuelling. 

We then kickstarted the journey, exited the Express Way and onto NH 4. Now the roads keep getting broader and narrower so if you travelling at night, be careful and to top it you have  slow moving trucks and racing cars  for company.

Manohar drove for a hours time, we braked for a quick nap. Manohar was the only person driving, as I can drive only automatic cars and Dom doesn't know how to drive. It is advisable that on a long journey, you have a backup driver who can take turns at driving so that you save on time and you don't overexert yourself. Meaning I need to start driving geared cars.

Time was 5 AM I guess, when Manohar was up and we started our journey to Mahableshwar. I was sleeping like always, finally due to hickups on the road, I was wide awake. A small power nap comes in handy when you feel sleepy. 

Now it was a race to Wilson Point (Sunrise Point) in Mahableshwar. As per Google , Sunrise was to happen at 6:55 AM.  Now we had to race if we had to reach on time to view the sunrise. 

We relied totally on GPS and Google Maps for directions. We exited NH 4, onto the Wai Surur Road, crossed Wai, then onto the Wai-Panchgani-Mahableshwar Road crossed Panchgani to reach Mahableshwar. Manohar drove as fast as he could on the hairpin bends on the roads so that we reach on time. Roads are full of people who are there for morning walks. Do drive carefully.

We won the race against time and were there at Wilson Point, in a nick of time. It was already dawn. The sun was not out yet but the clouds in the sky were beautiful, the patterns they had formed was just amazing. If you plan to visit Wilson Point, please be early else you will not be able to see the cloud patterns.

Finally the sun rose and it shone on the clouds, like a golden lining. The sky was golden in color and the view from Wilson Point was amazing. But it was so cold, that even after wearing a jumper I was still shivering.  Manohar and Dom, were shivering too. I believe the temperature would be less that 10 degrees. With the sun shining on us, we were still feeling cold. Enjoyed the sunrise and then headed off in the car to ST Bus stand, with glass rolled up due to the cold.

The road to Wilson point is narrow and a bumpy road with rocks on either side of the road, so drive carefully else you might damage the lower end  of the car. 

You must be wondering why ST Bus stand. 

Journey Neral to Dasturi Naka

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Getting out of a crowded train at Neral was a pain.

I was lucky enough to get a seat in the fast train to Karjat. The plan was to alight at Neral as my destination was Matheran. The next train was after a gap of 50 minutes, so I was sure that this train would be very crowded.

As I suspected, it was. I could not imagine having to travel so far to work every day of your life. And yet so many people have to do it, just so that they can earn a living.

Neha got in at Ghatkopar in the Ladies compartment of the train. We met at Neral at 8:29 am and decided to trek all the way to Dasturi Naka.

We kick-started our trek at 8:45 am at Neral on the road leading to Matheran.

A number of cabs going to Matheran overtook us along the way. The people in the cab appeared surprised to see us walking on a hot, sunny day. More than one of them must have thought we had lost our marbles to even consider walking all the way to Matheran in that heat.

We were supposed to reach Dasturi Naka at 12:15 pm as per our calculation. But the heat and the strain of walking along the Ghats took its toll on us and we had to take many breaks along the way. Our 2-litre bottle of water saved us.

As we walked, the climb began to get steeper and the heat more and more unbearable. We were lucky enough to get a lift from a troupe of people all packed up in a trax. There were 14 people already in it and the two of us added to the already-strained ‘comfort’ levels.

Finally at 2 pm we were at the parking lot at Dasturi Naka. It had taken us 20 minutes by Trax to get there. Had we tried to walk the whole distance, it would have taken us a little less than two hours. The roads right on top were extremely steep; all the vehicles have to shift to the first gear to manage this tricky stretch.

A big thank you to the family who helped us out.

It was a mistake on our part to even consider trekking up the road in the summer. The winter or the monsoon would have been less hard on us. The summer skimmed the cream out of us.