TRIP TO BHANDARADARA AND TREK TO KALSUBAI PEAK
On 31st December 2009, Ravi left Mumbai with Pritti and Rhea for Pune, where he wanted to celebrate New Year eve with his friends. I and Radhika decided to avoid the New Year eve rush and left Mumbai at 08.30 am on 1st January 2010, for Bhandaradara.
Bhandardara is a village on the western coast of India in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra, about 185 kilometers from Mumbai. We took the Mumbai–Nasik highway and went up to Ghoti Village which is 9 kms after Igatpuri. Here we took a right turn on to the Shirdi by- pass road. This road goes to Rajur and then joins Pune-Nasik road at Sangamner. About 35 kms from Ghoti, turn right and travel about 5 kms to reach Bhandaradara on a narrow road. It takes about 4 hrs to cover this whole distance. We reached around 12.30pm.
Ravi and family left Pune on the 1st afternoon and joined us at Bhandaradara around 6pm.
Bhandaradara is nestled in the Sahyadri Range and offers pristine beauty and serenity. This is still not a much explored area and hence peaceful with no commercialization. There are only two resorts in the area offering good accommodation and food. During the day it was very pleasant and evenings were slightly cool. The resort had arranged wonderful tribal dance shows in the evenings.
I checked up with the resort reception and came to know that Kalsubai peak can be approached from a village 8 kms away from the resort and the trek will take about 6 hours. I had not actually planned to take this trek when we left Mumbai. But once in Bhandaradara, I decided to take up the challenge.
Next morning at 8.30 am, I put on a light jacket, cap, took an apple, an orange and a bottle of water in a small back pack and told my wife I am going to Kalsubai peak. I took the car and drove to Village Bari. From here the peak is about 5 kms. I parked the car and talked to the villagers for a guide. A tribal young man offered to guide me to the peak. We started at 9 am. Initially it was more or less level ground. We walked through couple of villages on bunds separating paddy fields for about 2 kms and reached a temple of Hanuman and another deity. From there it was a gentle slope for another kilometer or so. There was some vegetation, mostly bush, all round. Very few trees were present. The track was dusty with some pebbles and boulders. I had some problem walking as I was not wearing proper trekking shoes.
There is a well at half the climb, which had cool, clean water. I am told that the water level in the well does not drop even in summer.
Suddenly the track became quite steep, some times even up to 45 deg. In some places to cross ravines or where the slope is very steep, iron ladders with railings have been provided. These have pipe rungs at about 30 cms spacing. If you miss a step you will be in the ravine. Some such ladders have more than 75 steps and you cannot stop in the middle as it will obstruct those going up or down. You have to keep pegging along. It was very tiring. The guide kept goading me on and with frequent rests I made it to a plateau right at the top. Suddenly you find a huge rock formation about 50M high in front of you, which is the peak. Kalsubai temple is on the peak. I had to again take the iron ladder which is almost vertical, to climb up to the peak. And then there I was at the peak Kalsubai. It was 12 noon. My guide told me that I had made the climb faster than an average person. The peak is a flat ground of about 30M X 15M with the temple at the center.
At 1,646 mts, Mount Kalsubai is the highest peak in Sahyadri range of hills and is a favourite of trekkers. The trek is however strenuous and requires quite an amount of stamina.
I met a group of young men at the peak, who had come on motor cycles from Mumbai. They brought camping tents with them and had decided to stay at the plateau for the night to watch the sunset and the sunrise. The air was cool. There was thick fog all round and visibility was poor. Through the haze we could see the Sahyadri Range, some other peaks,(Along, Malang, Kulang and Mahuli), the Bhandaradara dam and the lake. The guide pointed out a spot where JATAYU’s wing is supposed to have fallen when he fought with Ravana who was taking away Sita. A small temple for Rama is built at the spot.
I ate the fruits, drank some water and started the descent at 12.30 pm. The descent was also not easy especially on the iron ladders, as you have to climb down backwards. The dust and small gravel on the ground made it slippery. We had made it almost 85% when we had to go down a steep slope. I did not get a proper foot hold, slipped and fell on my back. Luckily no serious injury except some bruises on elbows and palms. After a little rest we reached the village by 2pm.
Unfortunately. I found that one of the tyres of my car had gone flat. The village is so small, that no one knew to change the tyres. I was too tired to do anything. I just sat on a rock wondering what to do. Then a young boy of around 15 years approached me and said that if I could guide him he will try to remove the flat tyre and fix the new one. It took him half an hour to do the job while I went on telling him how to do it. I was happy the job was done and he was happy that he learnt some thing new. I gave him some money and left the place and reached the resort by 3pm.
No communication with outside world was possible on the trek as hills all round block signals. Surprisingly when my son called me I was right on the peak and I could talk to him. After that there was no communication for nearly three hours and my family were bit worried, specially my grand daughter Rhea. As soon as I reached the resort, she ran to me and shouted at me “why did you go on such a trip alone?” I stood still for a moment and to lighten the situation, just turned around and showed my back which was covered with red earth from the fall. She had a hearty laugh. She asked me about injuries and when told that there was nothing serious she was relieved.
I had some thing to eat and took rest for some time. In the evening my son took us around in the car to see the dam and the lake. On the way we saw some fields where traditional ploughing was in progress. I got down and took Rhea around and showed her the plough, the bulls, furrows, sowing of seeds, watering the fields and explained how it is all done. She was also thrilled to see a huge well, fields of cabbage (each one weighing some 3kgs), tomatoes and brinjal. Where does a child get to see such things in a city like Mumbai?
Back at the resort, we had a glorious time together. We played table tennis, badminton, cards. Rhea took a cycle and had some fun.
We left Bhandaradara next morning for Mumbai. Back to routine.
