Shivajimaharaj Fort Visit: February 2014

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