My trip to Pench National park

We finally saw her, a beautiful brownish-orange animal with black stripes all over and with full grace was she looking here and there sitting in the shadow of the trees licking and rubbing her face. She was Baaras, a three year old female tiger. She really made us feel excited.

    Yes, it’s true that we have visited almost all the national parks of India but hadn’t seen a tiger, not even its tail. It then became our belief that there are no tigers in the jungles of India until we saw Baaras in Pench National park.

The Pench Tiger Reserve and its neighborhood is the original setting of Rudyard Kipling’s most famous work, ‘The Jungle Book’. During his second visit to India, from 1882 to 1889, he worked as a journalist, keeping exhaustive notes about life in that country. These notes became the basis of many books, including the children’s story - The Jungle Book. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

    The reserve gets its name from ‘Pench river’ that bisects the Pench Reserve into two parts i.e. East Pench and West Pench. The Pench National Park and Tiger Reserve extends over an area of 660 sq.km. in the lower southern reaches of the Satpuda hill ranges, along the northern boundary of Nagpur district. In 2011, the park won ‘The Best Management Award’. 

    There are six gates to enter the park – Sillari, Chorbahuli, Khursapar, Kolitmara, Surewani, Khubala. There are few more from the MP border side as well.

    The Pench Tiger Reserve is a dry deciduous forest of predominantly teak trees and as such supports a rich and diverse array of wildlife. Tiger is the main cat species of the park. As per tiger estimation of 2017, there are about 44 adults and nearly 23 sub adults (cubs). Commonly seen animals are spotted deer (chitals), bluebull (nilgay), sambar, wild boar, gaur (Indian bison), wild dog, jungle cat, barking deer, jackal, etc. Other wild animals found are leopard, sloth bear, wolf, ratel, rusty spotted cat, porcupine, fox, flying squirrel, crocodile, etc. There are more than 300 species of birds including several migratory ones. Some of them are peafowl, jungle fowl, orioles, emerald doves, drongos, teals, shovelers. The park boasts of healthy population of vultures and four hornbill species.

    We started from Pune at 5 a.m. on 20^th May. We were all very excited about the trip. It was a long tiring journey. We reached Nagpur at 5 p.m. in the evening. The National Park is two hours away from Nagpur. Till 7, we reached our forest resort Amaltas Tourism Complex at Sillari, where we were going to stay. To our surprise, it was quite well maintained. The rooms were clean and tidy. The area was quite big with many cottages. There was some playing area for kids, community hall, canteen, museum, auditorium, dormitory room facility, rest house, booking centre of safaris, etc. The resort was located near the main gate at Sillari.

our room

    Next morning, we woke up at 6 a.m. and were just wandering in the campus area when we saw some safari jeeps standing in the parking area. There was no one except for the drivers and the guides idling along. It was indeed surprising as generally in the peak season, there are fights over booking of the safaris. As we had nothing to do, we enquired for an off-line booking of a safari and yes, we got one. We grabbed the cameras and all the other essentials and jumped into the jeep along with our guide, Mahadev.

Ready for Safari!

We entered Sillari gate and were welcomed by various animals like spotted deer, blue bull, gaur and the birds like peacocks, jungle fowl, tree pies, orioles, doves, drongos, etc. Our guide gave us lot of information not only about birds and animals but also about plants and trees as well.

    On our way, we came across the pug marks of the tiger. We later on came to know after moving on further that it was not only one, two but three of them, one being a mother and the other two cubs. This increased our excitement.

Pug marks of atiger

    We visited Bakhari Lake, famous for spotting tigers, a vital water source surrounded by dense forest and favorite spot for tourists. There were some water birds floating on the water, some peacocks were feeding, a serpent eagle sitting high up on the tree. We then moved to Bhivsan Kendra  where we had a 5 minutes break followed by Jannat point ( Juna Boat Camp).The undulating dunes of this landscape offers a paradise for photographers and bird watchers. Jannat means heaven in Hindi and the name was right in its true sense.

On our way to Jannat point

    While returning back, we decided to go by the same route we had come. It was about 9:10 when we were passing through Bakhari Lake when we saw some crowd gathered in a place. When we went there, we came to know that there was a tiger sitting in the jungles at approx. 200 meters away from us. It was a female waiting to drink water from the lake. She looked tired.

And we spotted a tiger!

    
      We were as grateful as it was the first time we saw a tiger in the jungle. Unfortunately, as the park gets closed at 9:30 a.m., we had to leave the place. Yes, we enjoyed our first sighting of a tiger. Could we see more of them, we wondered!

    After 9:30, we then returned to our resort, got refreshed, had our breakfast and then we sat in the verandah of our cottage looking, observing various birds and the mischief played by langoors and monkeys. It was then 12:30 p.m., time to have lunch!

     This place has nothing much to do except for the safaris, hence the place is highly recommended for nature lovers or the people who like to observe nature and learn from it.

    We had a nap at noon and then got ready for our next safari. It was 3 p.m. We didn’t saw a tiger this time. Instead, we saw many sambars wandering here and there. This time, we went in another area. First we went to Salama colony, followed by Totladoh dam, a dam on the Pench River, situated inside The Pench Tiger Reserve. The power generated is used by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Then we went to Ambakhori falls, a picturesque location situated on the banks of Pench River where there is a beautiful waterfall for almost 9 months of the year. While going to Ambakhori, there was a brook where a fish owl was sitting. We were observing it when suddenly; we heard some calls of monkeys. The area was quite hilly and lonely. There was a Sambar nearby who started stamping its foot making a noise like “phank”. We thought it to be a leopard but maybe it ran away. I found this area little boring. Apart from Sambars, we saw many peacocks, monkeys, etc.

Sambar seen on our way 

Fish owl

    But this time, we experienced a different nature of the jungle. On our way back to Salama colony, dark clouds gathered and it suddenly became stormy. Trees started to sway rapidly, it became windy and it started lightening. We were quite fortunate that we were close to Salama colony.

    We rushed in the check post of Salama and took shelter till the rain, storm stopped. It was 5:30 then. We were just staring at the wind, the rain and the lightening in full flurry. What else could we do than to stare at the forces of the nature? I realized one thing there that man and animals are totally helpless in front of the nature. Hence, we must always respect and obey nature.

    We waited there for almost an hour but of no use. Finally, we decided to tie up the plastic sheet and move on further. The storm had calmed down but it was still raining and lightening.

    We reached Sillari gate after covering a distance of approx. 13km and found out to be the last one to leave the park. When we came back to the resort we were shocked to see the place dry. It didn’t rain near our resort. It was indeed a different and unexpected experience.

     Next day, we were ready for yet another morning safari. We entered the park, a little disappointed as the rain had not stopped till that moment. This time, we again visited some new places like Saddle dam, a scenic landscape providing a breath taking view of forests with a back drop of the backwaters of Totladoh dam. We didn’t see any new animals there, just the expected ones, i.e. sambars, monkeys, peacock and other birds. On our way, we saw a female sambar who was about to give birth to the young one. We then went again to Jannat point. According to our guide, a tiger was spotted there last night but today there were no traces. We then came to know that one of the tourists did spot a tiger in a place called Bamboo Van. This patch of forest is home for plenty of herbivores in the back drop of tall bamboo forest making it a good hunting ground for big cats. We went there through Bhukamp road. Bhukamp means earthquake. There is a seismometer to measure earthquakes here and even the roads are full of ups and downs, turns and steep slopes.

Jannat point

    On reaching Bamboo Van, we did hear the calling of monkeys which was a clear indication that there was some wild animal behind the bamboos but maybe it ran away as the calls stopped after sometime. We were sad because we were expecting a tiger there. We went back again to Totladoh dam and come back to Salama colony and returned back to the resort disheartened.

    Sillari gate remains closed on Wednesday so we had nothing to do on Wednesday. The Manager, after having a 5-10 minutes talk, asked, “Are you guys interested in one more safari? I will make some arrangements for you. I will ask for a safari through the Khursapar gate (which incidentally was open that day). I will come with you”.

    Khursapar is another gate located on the borders of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh which is famous only for tiger spotting but the problem was that it was quiet away from Sillari gate. So, we were not sure about this safari but when the manager was convinced about guaranteed spotting of the tiger we too agreed.

    After having our lunch we saw the museum in the resort and were shown some documentary films in the auditorium. They even showed us a movie, ‘Two Brothers’ which we thought was unnecessary because it was not related to Pench Tiger Reserve. However the auditorium was indeed well set up and had good audio and seating arrangements. Something which is rare in the middle of the jungle!

Th auditorium in our resort

    We were all alone in the resort. Hence, it was quiet and calm. We then decided to go to Chorbahuli, another gate which is located near NH7, 57km away from Nagpur. We enquired about the safari for a safer side. Finally it was decided till 8 o’ clock in evening to go to Khursapar.

    23^rd May. We woke up early in the morning at 4:30 only to know that it was and raining out there. We were ready and the manager came with a jeep. It was decided then to wait for 5-10 minutes, see what’s happening and then decide what to do but certainly, the rain was not going to stop. We decided to go on for it and managed to reach Khursapar gate till 5:45 a.m. Fortunately, the rain had stopped and the sun began to shine.

    We complete the  booking formalities and went in. I was surprised to see that forest department has appointed some female guides too which is praiseworthy. We were accompanied by one of them. Her name was Seema and she told that including her, there are total 8-9 of them working for the forest department.

      As usual, we saw some herds of spotted deer. This made me realize one thing that you may not see a tiger in an Indian forest but you will certainly see a deer grazing that too, in herds. While we moved further, we again came across some crowd. We were expecting a tiger and yes it was! The female tiger Baaras!

Baaras- the tigress

    I was looking at the expressions of the people, as if they had appeared for some really hard exam and now have successfully got through it with flying colors. There was a pride on everybody’s face.  We all could see Baaras but she was sitting deep into the jungle cleaning herself and in no mood to budge. With a very heavy heart, we left the place after some time in search of something new. We saw some peacocks dancing, sambars, chitals, jungle owlets and a pair of barking deer. We even saw some nail markings of a tiger on the tree. We wandered in the jungle for some time and then went near the canteen for a 5 minutes break. There we saw a fan-throated lizard fanning out its yellow fan.

The crowd gathered to watch the tigress

    After the break, I don’t know how, but we again came back to the place where we first saw Baaras. She had moved further, approximately 200m away from us. Our guide told us about one of her habits that she eats very much and being a juvenile, she cannot digest the food and faces problems such as indigestion and constipation. According to her, she was facing the same problem this time. She gave us some more information about Baaras saying that being a younger female; she was being allowed to live in area of Durga (her mother) who is now a mother of three 5-months old cubs.

    Why the name ‘Baaras’? Because she has number ‘12’ (Bara in Marathi/Hindi) above her left eye. I felt her to be cute and chubby.

The place was quiet and distinct. Just besides the jungle track was a water hole, about 100m away. Beyond the water hole, there was a sudden steep slope maybe a dried up gorge and immediately after that was a hill on which she was sitting. Suddenly, Baaras stood up and disappeared into the gorge .All that were present there were waiting patiently for her to come back. She was moaning sitting in the gorge. and we could hear her faint sounds ‘AAOUU’.  Every one stood with baited breath for the animal to come out. Suddenly, a peacock nearby saw her and gave a call. Few minutes later, Baaras started walking towards the hill but something caught her attention. There was a herd of spotted deer nearby, grazing, which hadn’t seen Baaras. Baaras took position. Maybe she wanted to attack on a deer but something stopped her and even the deer ran away a couple of moment later on seeing her. Frustrated, she then walked a bit further parallel to the hill and stopped, thinking. She started walking back to the gorge but this time, she was just behind the water hole. We thought we lost her. Our guide was standing on the seat next to the driver seat looking for her. She murmured, “First foot placed.” We started thinking what this exactly meant? Nevertheless our eyes were keen to see the tiger. No sooner she said this, the tigress came up near the water hole. Whoa!  A three year old beautiful tigress just in front of us! The sound of the shutter clicks suddenly filled the ears. Everybody started clicking photographs of her, some video shooting, some were taking selfies but Baaras, she was least bothered of what we people were doing.

Why Baaras? Look at the eyebrow

     She bent her fore limbs and drank some water with her eyes towards us and ears turned backwards, maybe judging the movements of the deer. Oh, what a wonderful sight it was! She then turned and with her hind legs in the water, she moaned again. Then she sat down with her back in the water facing towards the hill for a long time.

    It was nine now and we were quiet far away from the exit gate. Hence, one by one the jeeps started leaving the place. We too were going to leave the place, when the tigress got up and started walking on the borders of the waterhole and then stood thinking more than five minutes. Then this graceful animal started walking down in the gorge and then disappeared out of sight. It was an unforgettable pleasing experience. There was regret of leaving the place in our mind but the tigress had already left and there was time limit, so we had to return. We had to rush through the jungle to reach the exit gate in time. The road was curvy, full of stones and pebbles and potholes but it was a great fun.

    We came back to our resort till 10:15, got refreshed, had our breakfast and then decided to pay a visit to Madhya Pradesh side of the park. We went to enquire for Turiya gate but the gate was closed that day. The surrounding area was not that good. The roads were poorly maintained but the resorts and hotels were quiet luxurious. We had our lunch while coming back to our resort on the way. After having some rest, we started packing our bags for the upcoming day.

Turiya gate

    I was feeling sad the next day. I didn’t want to leave because it was a lovely place. This was the first ever National Park where in we saw a tiger hence wanted to stay as long as we could but that wasn’t possible, you know, as our next destination was beckoning us- Ajanta caves.

    We left Pench at about 8:30 a.m. with a very heavy heart. The road was seriously checking our patience as there was traffic jam in between and there was no scope in moving forward and backward. We were there for almost half an hour. Even after getting out of it, our destination was far away from the place.

    It was a dry area with no trees and with dry air. There were only shrubs. Somehow, we managed to reach the place, Fardapur, a village near Ajanta caves at about 5 o’ clock in the evening. It was an exhausting day. The village surrounding the caves is not at all good but the caves are worth seeing.

    Ajanta caves are 29 rock cut Buddhist cave which date from 2^nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state. The caves  include the paintings and rock cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving example of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive are the paintings which present emotion through gesture, pose and form.

Ajanta caves

    The caves were covered by jungle until accidently ‘discovered’ and brought to Western attention in 1819 by a colonial British officer on a tiger- hunting party. The Ajanta caves are located on the side of a rocky cliff that is on the north side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river, Waghur, in the Deccan plateau. Further, round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high, are audible from outside the caves. Along with the Ellora caves, Ajanta is the major tourist attraction of Maharashtra and is heritage site.

     The next day, we woke up at 6:30 in the morning and started from our hotel at about 8:45 towards the caves after being refreshed. The caves were almost 2-3km away from our hotel. There was a parking area allotted for the visitors. There is a bus shuttle service from parking area to the caves. You have to climb up a small hill to reach the caves. The mesmerizing beauty of the nature seen here is completely startling.

    There is information displayed outside each and every cave except for the few as their access is closed, hence it is not necessary to hire a guide spending a lot of money unless and until you want to actually study the caves in detail.

    It took 2-3 hours to see the caves. The paintings in the cave are surely very beautiful but now being quiet old, most of them have got damaged. There are sculptures and monuments in the rest of the caves.

Caves and sculptures in Ajanta

    We came back to the hotel by 11:45 a.m., had our lunch and took some rest. We started again from our hotel at 4:45 in the evening to go to The Top View Point. This is a place on another hill from where you can see all the caves in U-shape and this is the place from where these caves were first discovered. The scene was brilliant. Standing there, I was watching and just thinking how wonderful it would be in monsoon when it is in summer. This is the place where you can see beautiful sunset.

    We sat in the park near our hotel for sometime till the evening. I was in grief. The holiday trip had come to an end. I was going to miss the places I had visited. The next day, we started from Fardapur at about 8:15 and reached Pune at 5 o’ clock in the evening.

      I liked this place so much that I hope that I will once again get a chance to visit Pench in future

 Photo credits: 

 Mansi Wagh
 Chetan Wagh

Watch the Youtube video of the safari here

Tikona

        We could see the fort from below through the trees but we had lost our way in the jungle! It seemed as if we had chosen a wrong path. We were waiting for Sarang, one of the leaders of our group, to give a green signal when he shouted, ‘Hey guys! It’s a wrong way. We have to go back’.

         We came on a plain area then, where we were directly facing a side of the fort. We had actually decided to climb through a pass which was on an edge of the pyramidal fort. But at one point, we were really puzzled as we weren’t able to find the exact path. We could see the pass but we were finding it difficult to go there. ‘There’s a land slide’ said Ojas, a member of the leaders of our group.

Tikona seen from Kashig village

          When Sarang went to find another route to make it out, we were waiting for him eating Karvanda from the plants nearby. Imagine 70 of us waiting on a small plain on a sunny day. We were expecting the rain to fall but we couldn’t see a single sign of it. While we were bored, sitting on the plains, Satish Marathe, the group leader, was looking at us through the pass, confused, about where we went wrong.

Waiting for further instructions

          He waved at us in desperation. Now we knew the route but where was Sarang? It was just the moment when Satish asked my younger brother and me to run and ask the participants to wait in the pass when he went searching for Sarang. We ran very fast as we had no idea about how many people have gone ahead as it could have led to losing the path again. We were quite exhausted when we reached the pass.

          In about next 5-10 minutes, Satish, Ojas and Sarang came with the last few participants and without wasting time, we started climbing the pyramidal fort, Tikona.

On the way

Oh still so much to climb..

While climbing up the fort

           Tikona which is also known as Vitandgad is a fort in the region of Maval in the Western India. It is about 60 kms away from Pune located near the village of Kamshet. The fort got its name because of its triangular or rather pyramidal shape as mentioned which is about 3500 feet high. The fort is famous for its big gates, water tanks, temple of Trimbakeshwar Mahadev and Satvahana Caves.

History of Tikona:

            Very little is known about this fort and its origin. Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I of the Nizam Shahi dynasty conquered the fort in 1585 and annexed it to Nizam territory. In 1657, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj brought thwe whole of Kokan which had been under Nizam territory, under his control. He conquered Tikona at the same time along with other forts like Karnala, Lohagad, Visapur, etc. The fort was a centre of control of entire Pawana Maval region. Later, the fort was surrendered to a Moghal warrior, Kubadkhan, who attacked the region with Halal Khan and others according to the treaty of Purandar signed on 12 June 1665. 

                The fort was comparatively small, so we could have been on the top of the fort in just one and a half hour from Kashig village. It was sunny, we all were tired climbing up. It took more than one and a half hour to go up. 

Temple with the well in front

Chunyacha ghana

         On the way, we came across a gate named as Vetal Darwaja, a cave through which we have to pass, followed by a temple with a well in front of it. Here we filled up our water bottle as the water was potable. Next was an idol of Lord Hanuman carved on a rock which is coloured with vermillion and a Chunyacha Ghana (limestone grinder). After that is a well-built staircase of small width which made it difficult to climb. But it was a great fun climbing up the stairs.

Stairs

Stairs of the bastion

           On the top was a huge bastion just in front of the gate. There were some stairs going up on the top of the bastion which seemed to be destroyed. There was a temple and some caves beneath it. Then, Satish Marathe as well as Sarang gave us some information about the surrounding area of the fort. As the sky was very much clear, we could easily see nearby forts and places like Lohagad, Visapur, Tung, Pawana dam, Duke’s Nose peak, Torna and Sinhagad except Korigad which was behind the misty clouds. After enjoying the scenic beauty of nature, clicking some photographs of it, we sat and had our lunch. Everybody had brought their own tiffin and we all were busy enjoying and sharing our packed lunch. There was variety in the food including various kinds of parathas, puris, bread items, rice items in it. It was more than welcome as we were very hungry by then.
  

Group photo on the top

         After spending some time on the top, some of us went near the caves with water tanks in it to fill up the bottles. Yes, it was too hot and the sun was beating our skin. We all were feeling thirsty again and again. We were expecting rain which for some reason did not show its face on that day. The top of the fort have very few trees. Isn’t it the responsibility of the people staying there or the visitors to plant some trees which are dense enough to give the shadow? We did our part by planting some Jamun and Mango seeds this time too. I know that not all but some of them will definitely grow up into big trees some day.

           We started climbing down after having the lunch, this time by a new route, towards Tikona-peth and to our surprise; we climbed down the fort in just 45 minutes or maybe one hour. It was exact 2:30 p.m. when we were in the parking spot of the village.

           When everybody came down, we sat into the bus who were waiting there since morning. The place where we had our tea seemed to be an ideal place for one day picnic spot. The hotel had an approach to the Hadshi lake which was almost dried up with some water. We had our snacks and tea and started with our return journey.

       We made our return journey memorable by singing and dancing merrily on the music played on the music system. We reached Pune at about 5:30 p.m. and actually were surprised to arrive so early in the city.

         We enjoyed the trek and I am eager to visit the fort again.


Photo credits:

Satish Marathe 
Shantanu Kanade

Visit to Jeevdhan- Naneghat

       We have visited Jeevdhan and Naneghat several times with our group but this time, we could experience something new.

About Jeevdhan fort:

         Jeevdhan is a well-known fort which is about 1 km away from the modern day town Ghatghar in Junnar Taluka of Pune district in the state of Maharashtra. The distance from Pune to Jeevdhan Fort is about 122 kms and the time taken to reach the fort is 2 hours and 25 minutes, depending on the traffic. The route for the same is Pune-Pimpri Chinchwad-Narayangaon and then from left of Junnar towards Ghatghar Village. From Junnar, S.T buses are also available for Ghatghar. Similarly, from Mumbai, the time taken to reach the fort is 3 hours and 18 mintues, again depending on the traffic. The distance from Mumbai and Jivdhan fort is 165 kms.

         The elevation of the fort is of 1,145 m above the sea level in Sahyadri range and it is one of the famous five trekking destinations among trekking enthusiasts including Chavand, Hadsar, Naneghat and Shivneri. The fort was looted and destroyed in 1815-1818 by the British upon the siege. The difficulty level of this trek is medium as it includes misleading jungle tracks and rock patches. The steps are beautifully carved which lead to the Kalyan gate and hooks are attached on to the walls near it to make it easy for a regular climber.

        This time, there were in all 32 members and we started from Pune at 11: 15 p.m on Saturday. Late in the night listening to the songs, talking, slowly we entered into the area near the fort. Besides the road were all grasslands and trees, waterways, and fields. While on the way, we saw something surprising. As we were passing through, I saw some yellowish white lights moving besides the road in the grasslands when one of us shouted, ‘Stop the bus, these are fireflies!’. We all came out of the bus and what we saw was completely astonishing. There were many fireflies flying here and there with their tiny sparkles. The number of the fireflies was so much that many trees were just lighting up and blowing off as if someone was switching on and switching off the light. As we were on the outskirts of Pune and as it was about 2:30a.m., we could experience the brightness of their light.

         After enjoying them, we again sat in the bus and within no time we reached the base village of the Fort Jeevdhan, Ghatghar. It was about 3 o’ clock in the morning and there was still time to start with the trek. So we decided to take some rest till about 6:30 in the morning. We spent that night resting in a temple of that village.

          The next morning, we all woke up because of the calls of the cock nearby, at 5:45 a.m. We got ready and were waiting for the breakfast which unfortunately was late because of some genuine reasons. We were all really very hungry and bored because of the breakfast getting late. We were actually going to leave the village at 7:30 a.m. but it was now 8 o’ clock. Some of us went to sleep waiting for the breakfast. We had ordered for breakfast before leaving Pune and we expected it on time. After sometime, a person from the nearby village arrived with our breakfast in his car. We were so happy to see him. We had our breakfast and then started with our trek at 8:30, one hour late. There was a plain area in between the fort and the village where we saw many crabs of various sizes and even a small snake. He went so swiftly beneath the rock that we couldn’t recognize it. 

Start of the climb to Jeevdhan

            After the plains was a dense jungle. Slowly and steadily, we reached the middle of the trek. Now, it was the time for the rock patch. When we reached the base of the rock patch, we were surprised to see that there was a ladder fitted on the rock patch. It ruined all the fun and excitement of climbing the rock patch which we had done just last year. 

Ladder which spoiled the fun

           The ladders were not in a good condition actually because they were bent in some places and they were all rusted. But still, we could feel the steepness of the rock patch and we could see a beautiful scene with all mountains of different shapes around us, the Ghatghar village and there were many clouds flowing.

            We reached the top of the fort where there was a small stream of water flowing. The water was cool and hence many of us including me after climbing the rock patch were standing beneath the stream of water. It was so cooling as well as refreshing. There were caves besides this stream. The caves were beautiful but the water was really dirty, full of green weeds and algae.

Caves

Bastion on the top

          There was a bastion (buruj) nearby where we saw another snake. The name of the snake was Gunther’s racer. Its scientific name is Platyceps gracilis. This snake is found mostly in the western part of India from Maharashtra to Rajasthan. Its average length is 70 cm while its maximum length is 93 cm. People often get confused between this snake and Russell’s Kukri due to its similar head markings. It is a non-poisonous snake.

Gunther's Racer doing a peek-a-boo

   

        When the snake became aware of our existence, it went into a crack in the rock nearby of the bastion and hid, keeping an eye on us. We took a five-minute rest over there until everybody came up on the bastion and then went near the storehouse on the top. The storehouse is worth seeing with various beautiful carvings and architecture.

Store hose on the top

       There are many unexplored store houses on the top which can be explored by taking certain precautions. The main gate and the Kalyan gate are in good conditions. After exploring the beauty of that storehouse, we decided to climb higher on the fort from where we could actually see Naneghat and other forts in the vicinity. 

Naneghat seen from the fort

       Unfortunately, as the sky was unclear, we could hardly see the forts clearly. Despite this, we saw Fort Ajoba from there on our right and the Peak of Dhakoba on the left. We could see the village where we were next going to have our meal in the afternoon near Naneghat. It was somewhat 12:30 p.m. by now. So immediately we left the place and went towards the water tanks a little away. The water tank near the store house atop is not at all potable but the water near the Kalyan gate from the rock cistern is very much clear and potable as compared to that one. Still, one must take at most care while using the water for cooking purpose or even drinking.

 

Water tanks

 When we reached near the water tank, most of us were filling up their bottles from the tank. The water was really very cool. After sometime, while filling up the bottles, one moment came when everybody started playing with that water. It was so soothing and refreshing, just what we needed. Even the weather was changing continuously but was very pleasing indeed. After a while, we all were in a great trouble after playing with the water as cool breeze started blowing. This made us all shiver. We had some snacks there and then decided to visit Vanarlingi. 

          Vanarlingi is the name of a pinnacle near the fort. It is about 385 feet high. It seems to be small when seen from a distance or from the fort but when we go near it, one can actually see the height of the pinnacle. This pinnacle got its name because of the Langoors which are called as ‘Vaanar’ in Marathi. When seen from below, it looks like a Parsi man standing. Hence, it is also called as ‘Khada Parsi’. (‘Khada’- standing and ‘Parsi’- Parsi man). One can climb up on Vanarlingi in a day with the special climbing equipments. The re-bolting of this Pinnacle was done in 2010.

Vanarlingi

         There are four bolts on the fort edge which is in front of the pinnacle. Many people attempt rock climbing and rappelling of Vanarlingi and Valley crossing between the pinnacle and the fort as an adventure. We were all mesmerized to see the beauty of the pinnacle and the scene around.

           We started to descend as everybody were hungry. It was too hot and we all were feeling uneasy because of this. We were going to climb down through Kalyan gate. 

         This is a beautifully carved gate on which there is a crescent moon, a kalash and a sun carved on it. The gate is chamber like from where when we pass through, we come across a V- shaped gorge leading downwards. The Naneghat comes exactly in front of the person standing in that pass. After the rocky area, there are some steps which are somewhat destroyed. There were big boulders on the entire path which made moving down difficult. Two of us were sitting on the rock, helping and guiding the participants to get down. It was a great fun climbing down the rocky path. 

         It was about 2:45 p.m then. Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, we were not able to go near Vanarlingi, or even below it according to the earlier plan. We climbed down the rock steps until we reached the middle of the mountain where the forest started.

        My brother and I had brought some mango seeds. As we entered the forest we were busy throwing the seeds far into the forest. One or two of the group showed special interest in the activity and helped us in completing this task. We actually planted the last few remaining seeds on the way. It was Environment day the next day. So I think we celebrated the day in advance indirectly by contributing something special like this which made us all happy.

         In another hour, we were down on the plains near the fort. Now we had to reach the house where we were going to have our meal as fast as possible as the hunger was now really unbearable. We started walking, finding the way towards the house when I looked back up and this totally caught my attention. The heads of the fort and the pinnacle were totally covered by dark rainy clouds. We were expecting the rain to fall as it was too hot and we all were quite exhausted. But we kept on walking. We could see the top of Naneghat straight in front of us but I think, we had lost our way. I think we all were trying to find the way towards the village. Gap was formed in between the group. Half of us were far away, beyond our eye sight. We were in the last batch and I think we took a long route finding the village.

         And then, it happened for which we were waiting from such a long time - the rain started. Oh what a pleasure! But the force of the rain increased after some time. There was thunder and lightning. Finally we saw the first batch people of our group some distance away. It seemed as if the rain was not going to stop. The force of the rain was so much that it became uneasy even to keep our eyes open.

        Somehow, we managed to reach the house in the village. We all were wet, from top to bottom. After reaching the village, we all changed our clothes and were waiting for the lunch when the rain came to halt. There was greenery all around, the trees seemed to be refreshed and the weather became cool and pleasant. We had proper meal that day, bhakri, batatyachi bhaji, harbaryachi usal, dal-rice and amrakhanda. It was really filling. As the house was small, we had our lunch in two batches. After the meal, we visited Naneghat which was close to that village.

Naneghat

Ranjhan near Naneghat

Inscriptions in the cave

   

           Naneghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats near the Junnar in Pune district of Maharashtra. ‘Nane’ in Marathi means coins and ‘Ghat’ in Marathi means pass. Hence the name ‘Naneghat’. This pass was used as a trade route by traders during the reign of Satvahana between Kalyan and Junnar. The name was given as the pass was used as a toll-booth to collect the money from the traders crossing the hills. There are some caves having inscriptions which indicate that they are the work of the consorts of the Satvahana ruler Satkarni dated between 60 and 70 BC. On the entrance of the pass, there is a huge ‘Ranjhan’, a pot in which the money was collected from the traders. There is a water tank containing potable water in it.

  

           We all were tired. The caves are a little away from the parking area and even the rocks in the pass had become slippery because of the rain. So only few of us visited the caves in the pass. It was 6:30p.m. when we left the place. On the way, we saw the birth place of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the well-known fort of Shivneri from it’s base. We reached Pune at about 9:30- 9:45 p.m.

          We enjoyed the trek very much. My brother and I have visited this fort three times now and every time, we could experience something new. This time, it was really something special, the fireflies, the rain, the mango plantation, etc.

        I hope to experience something new again when we visit the place in future and I hope the ladder is removed.