Sahaydrisangh Trek To Andharban

 Sahaydri Sangh Trek To Andharban

Andharban Pass near Pune is part of the Sahyadri range that connects Tamhini Ghat to the Konkan region this  trek starts at “Pimpri village” in Tamhini region of Maharashtra, which is also the highest point of the trek at around 2300 feet. You will be descending around 15 Kms during this trek, Andharban route in via Mumbai-Lonavala-Ambavne - Bhamburde- Andharban in which the dense forest will continue for the first 8 Kms. You will reach Hirdi village after the dense forest is over, this where you can find some refreshments, water and lunch. There are villagers in Hirdi who arrange homestay and camping for the trekkers. ( Hotel Chaitanyatej 261966952 / 8805597275 ) is the place where we spend a night in rainy reason.. The end point of the trek is Bhira dam, which is the start point of Kundalika river, famous for Kundalika white water rafting.

Sahaydrisangh Trekkers at Base village Andharban

Trekkers

nice one

If you are planning to do this trek on your own, it is better you take a local guide with you from the Pimpri village as you might not find the way at some points. Avoid taking the risk as there is also no cellular network to connect.

You can easily find the location of the start point “Pimpri village” on Google maps. If you are planning to bring your own vehicle, you will need to take a driver with you as the start and end point of the trek are pretty far from each other and your driver can take your vehicle to the end point. It is not recommended you do this trek by using local transport, as there is no direct bus that reaches the start and end point (Pimpri village and Bhira Dam). You have to communicate in Lonavala itself to reach andharban base point, as the way onwards Bhamburde is not good, so most of the autos/tamtam denied to go their.

Superb view of lake

hotel Chaintnyatej 

Sahaydri Sangh 

Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Harihar Fort

SAHAYDRI SANGH TREK TO HARIHAR GAD

Harihar Fort is built on a triangular prism of rock. Its three faces and two edges are absolutely vertical (90 degrees). The third edge towards the west is inclined at an angle of 75 degrees. A one metre wide rocky staircase with niches in it is carved out for ascending & descending the fort.

There is a temple with Shivling & a large cave with no idol in it. The view from top is very exciting. One can see Vaghera in the north, Tringalwadi, Kanvai and Upper Vaitarna lake in the south, Brahma, Kapda and Brahmagiri in the east, and Fani, Basgad and Utwad in the west.

Vaitarna is the main river in this region. But due to the one – sided slope of Sahyadri, the water flows away from this region. There is an absolute shortage of water from January to March in this region.

The actual top of the fort can be accessed with a bit of easy rock-climbing without equipment.

There are 117 steps in all. After you climb the first rocky staircase (main entrance) we walk through below a overhang with a sheer drop on the other side facing Brahma hill.. Simply superb. Again one has to climb a set of steep stairs (with niches), then pass thru a staircase inside the rock and then reach the top of the fort. The view from the top is excellent.

Memorable : - As after long time we went to trek with Sachin chavan, umesh mane, saurabh shivalkar, Nilesh Shinde, Mangesh Keny and his friend, Rajesh Rahatwal, kumar khot, Prakash Prajapati, Vishal mhaske and myself Bhushan Indulkar. Special Thanks to Sachin chavan, for traveling all the way from Latur to Mumbai for this trek…. Jay Shivray. 

 JAY SHIVRAY

Sahaydri Sangh Harishchandragad Trek via Nalichi vaat...

Sahaydri Sangh Harishchandragad Trek via Nalichi vaat

December month started trek to harishchandragad is almost excitement in all trekkers, as its good to visit between September to February season on this fort. Well what can I say for Harishchandragad, its 2^nd heaven, its Green carpet. So sahaydri sangh decided to climb harishchandra once again on 20^th December but from Nalich vaat route agin, on special request of Saurabh Shivalkar.

The Fort is quite acient, considered to be from the Medieval period, the great sage changdev, used to mediate on Taramati / Rohidas in 14^th Century. The Caves are also from the same period. You will not found much history about this fort, but it was captured by the Marathas in 1747 from the Moguls.

Nalichi Vaat : -

We climed all the rock patches with no difficulties. One needs more confidence and dertermination then ropes to climb these rock patches and Sahaydri Sangh all guys Sachin chavan, Vinayak galve, swapnil hande, manesh keny, vishal mhaske, vikrant more (small pack), ajit sherkar, jitu, rajesh rahatwal, saurabh shivalkar, Pratik and myself bhushan indulkar were easily crossed this rock pathches without any stress.. We were expected huge hot climate but it doesn’t happen, climate was okey.

The view from the rock top was breathtaking. Once we reached the top of this rock patch, we took a moment to admire that we have achieved, giving us sense of content. That was a moment of cherish. Well done Sahaydri Sangh.

Kokan Kada : -

Konkan Kada of Harishchandragad is a huge  cliff.  The view of the Konkan region from the top of Konkan Kada will take your breath away.  In the monsoon season, the wind currents blow up from under the cliff and if you throw flowers down, the wind blows them back up.  It’s a fascinating experience, which I had experienced when I had climbed Harishchandragad twice in year 2007(from Khireshwar via Tolar Khind) & in year 2011  (from Nalichi vaat ), both the times the view was too different than this time, we were pushing our guys hard to come before sunset view end at kokankada, Finally we managed to spend atlist 20-25 mints on kokankada, from that place we captured amazing sunset snaps n our own too J 

Kedareshwar Cave

Going rightwards of Harishchandreshwar temple, there is the huge cave of Kedareshwar , in which there is a big Shivlinga, which is totally surrounded by water. The total height from its base is five feet, and the water is waist-deep. 

Taramati Peak

Also known as Taramanchi. This is the topmost point on the fort somewhere aound (1450 meters). Leopards are seen in the forests beyond this peak. From here we can have a glimpse of the whole range of Naneghat and the forts near Murbad. From this Taramati point, we can have a glimpse of forts till Siddhagad near Bhimashankar in the south and Napta twin peaks, Ghodishep (865 meters), Ajoba (1375 meters), Kulang fort (1471 meters)in the north near the Kasara region

Temple of Harishchandreshwar

This temple is marvelous example of the fine art of carving sculptures out of stones that prevailed in ancient India. It is about 16 m high from its base. Around this temple there a few caves & ancient water tanks. The top of the temple resembles construction with the north-Indian temples. A similar temple is situated in Buddha-Gaya

Harishchandragad lies where the boundaries of Thane, Pune and Ahmednagar districts converge.

1) From Thane District: One has to board the bus for Nagar from Kalyan & alight at ‘Khubi Phata’. From there we reach the village of Khireshwar by bus or private vehicle. This village is 7 km mean almost 1 ½ hour walk from khubiphata.

2) From Pune District: There is a daily bus from Shivajinagar ST stand (Pune) to Khireswar village.

3) From Ahmednagar District: via Rajur village.

Nilesh Shinde, santosh sarak, umesh mane, Kumar khot, Vikrant more this among our group  missed this trek.

I had started this write up of trek after 6 months later from the trek but still, it felf as if I’m just  back from  the trek . 

Jay Shivray

 JAY SHIVRAY

Sahaydri Sangh Trek To Naneghat...

Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Naneghat

 had trek previous in Jan 2013, after big time we Sahaydri Sangh are decided to go for a trek.

On early morning sunday i.e.e 20^th October 2013 we Sachin Chavan, Vikrant More ( Senior & Junior), Mangesh Keny, Saurabh Shivalkar, Rajesh Rahatwal, Vishal Mhaske and myself bhushan Indulkar  boarded to     naneghat road via to Kalyan (54 km) ---> Tokavade – Vaishakhare – Naneghat Gumfa board … at 10.45 am. we took the jam packed ST to Murbad, which is 30 km away. While chatting with fellow passengers we came to know that the annual Jatra at Mhasa village was starting from today and that’s why there was heavy rush for the ST. It was the most humid day in October season … 

On reaching their firstly we had some snaks.. Tooked some snaps. It was 11 am sharp. Sun was almost on head J . We immediately started our trek. The Naneghat pass which is barely 10 feet wide is carved out between two mountains. It is here that the famous Naneghat caves are located. This pass was a crucial and highly important trade route for Indian as well as foreign traders long back in time. The weather was too hot as I mentioned earlier as it hottest day in October and quicly in a 15 mints from start itself we started feeling tired but as we some young generation is with us Mangesh keny and vishal mhaske starts to lead the trek.. then everyone followed them.

While passing on climibing up we were found big mosquitus. Dangerous.. it was.  

.

The climb had started.

It was all rocks from here on. The entire way till the top is made of rocks, rocks and only rocks. There’s hardly any soil. It’s like the whole mountains is one big rock, broken down into s

We almost Reach top of V curve of Naneghat

mall pieces. The advantage here is that you get a solid footing and there’s very slim chance of slipping anywhere. Strangely, there were very few groups going up or coming down.

There are electricity towers erected on the plateau over Naneghat caves. The wires that carry thousands of watts of electricity begin from the top of Naneghat.

Sachin Chavan kept telling us that there are steps near the caves. But when we reached the final patch of the climb, all we climbed were rocks, rocks and more rocks. Where were the steps? As in the case of most of the historic structures and forts, even the Naneghat steps are in a dilapidated condition. However, as we kept climbing higher we kept getting amazed at the beauty of the narrow ‘V’ shaped pass. Throughout the climb Saurabh  and Rajesh gang was coming slowsly.  And not surprisingly, even in the midst of the beautiful nature, at a height of 2500 ft… wow what a beautiful scnece it was.., all thes we reached the caves at 1.30 pm, 2 ½ hours after we had started the climb.

History and some records and as per villagers saud that Romans traders used this pass as an access route to trade horses and other trade items. Naneghat caves are located at the base of this pass. Traders used to come and stay in the caves till they were a sizeable group and then they proceeded their journey. This was to ensure safety of their goods from the notorious robbers who infested the area in that time. When we reached the cave a big group  was already present there.

We had food their took some rest and then went to upper portion of Naneghat..

Just Look the view at down ...horrible

While returning, coming down we heard big sound of wind – cloudes.. horrible.. whats was that.. it’s a rain.. coming from pune to Mumbai J now what .. no one has carried anything to save ourself from rain. We all need to reach atliest base point quickly before rain reached us and we did started coming down quickly…now rain started lightening n souding.. great great great.. Njoyed October rain like Bhimashankar trek in year 2011. Just before we reached rock pathches end.. rain reached / caughted us.. and sounded ( Pakad Liya :P )… aata kaay bhijave tar lagnar.. cuz no one has idea how much this rain will be long.. so we continued to our route towards road.    

At last at around 4.45 p.m. we reached the road point.. we all feeled cold  J cant tell you in words :) .. and then we stated pointing / stoping buses/private vechicles from road side.. but no one has stopped then we decided to move towards tokavade village.. from that point one RSF police van has stopped and gave us a lift. Thank god otherwise it was a big problem for us cuz we need to reach kalian via murbad first. Had some tea and food in tokavade village and from MSRTS ST we reached kalian at 7.30.

We all Sahaydri Sangh Enjoyed specially Junior vikrant cuz all the way in trek we were telling him… arrey chotasa trek aahe re.. eka tasacha.. J but due to hot climate that one hour takes us 2 hours J and rain while returning. All Guys show great courage as usual Saurabh Shivalkar was in front in that. Good job pady.

जय शिवराय 

सहयाद्री संघ 

Vikrant More taking panorama pics

beautiful view from top of naneghat

Saurabh Bhau..lay bhari 

Route to naneghat trek

Jay Shivray

 पुन्हा भेटू पुढच्या ट्रेक ला त्याचे नाव :- हरिश्चंद्रगड नळीच्या वाटेने। काय येणार ना :) 

Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Peb Fort (Vikatgad) - Manorama Point ( Matheran )

Sahaydri Sangh Trek to Peb Fort (Vikatgad)-Manorama Point (Matheran ) 

Peb Fort :

Located in the same mountain range as Matheran, Peb fort is a enjoyable trek for a day’s outing.

The fort derives it name from the Goddess 'Pebi'; Peb is also called 'Vikatgad' for its supposed shape of the Elephant Headed God, 'Ganesh'. The trek to the top involves surmounting a some very small rock patch and a ladder. The fort is famous for its caves which are maintained by disciples of Swami Samartha and the meditation chambers carved out from the rock inside the mountain. 

To get inside the meditation chamber, one has to crawl through a narrow passage in the rock and then climb down into the meditation chamber. The chamber is very well maintained with tiles on the floor for people to sit and meditate.

The fort also has a temple dedicated to Swami Samartha on the top and has the footwear or 'Padukas' worn by the great saint kept on the top. The view of the entire Neral and Karjat region from the top is worth the climb. Another attraction of the trek is the only standing Bastion or Buruj facing the Panorama point of Matheran, the view from here is just too beautiful to describe.

One would fined Peb Smilar to Gorakhgad in terms of the time required to climb the fort, ways towards the fort, the cave and the sorrounding nature, but there is a dense forest on the way to the fort Peb. Nowadays deforestation has reduced it alot. The fort is also named as "Vikatgad ".

The tentative itinerary for the Trek is as given below:

Neral railway station – Aanandwadi Village – Peb Fort – Panorama point ( Matheran) – Dasturi naka ( optional)

please note.. even this seems vast route.. it takes hardly 2 ½ hours only for Peb fort to Paronamra point.


Sachin Chavan will remove all Train ticket so all you just need to be on time in railway station before 5 mints of train arrival.

Please note this travel is almost 2 hours travel from dadar – neral so. Please be on time on platform.


Train Timing

Karjat Slow-S7 platform no.1 Dadar

CST : 5:19 am
Byculla : 5:27 am
Dadar : 5:37 am
SION : 5:42 am
Kurla : 5:48 am
Ghatkopar : 5:53 am
Thane : 6:14 am
Dombivali : 6:36 am
Kalyan : 6:45 am
Neral : 07.22 am

The cost for the trek is Rs 220/- per head which includes

Travelling from Neral to Aanadwadi
Breakfast nd AFTERNOON refreshments.


Things To Be carried:
Good raincoat
A bottle of water (atleast 2 Ltrs must),
A napkin
Biscuit or Cake pocket.

All Sahaydri Sangh members request you co-ordinate with everyone sautrday night only.. when and where you can meet on Sunday morning.

Dhanyawaad ani velevar yaa karan bike jaat nahi tithe :P

Jay Shivray