UPDATE (Oct 2011): They don’t allow you to park your vehicle on the road at the stretch where the flowers are usually blooming. Instead, you have the following options: 1) Park a few kms earlier and take a government bus to get dropped off in the main stretch 2) Drive a little ahead (saying that you are going to Bamnoli) and park at the junction where the main road becomes a one-way stretch from Bamnoli. The second option is a walk for only a km. 3. Drive to Bamnoli through a 7 km kuchcha stretch and then come back on the main road. This will allow the option of dropping off kids/elders on the main stretch and allow you/driver to continue on to the parking area. When i enquired about these regulations, the policeman said that these are enforced only on weekends. So, if you have the time on a weekday, you will have the place to yourself.

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I normally don’t return to any particular place before few months because i always feel that i can use that time to see some other new place. But, i have been to the Kaas/Kas Plateau three times in the past months. Such is the beauty of this area. The first two times, i went during the monsoon and the eerieness of this place was awesome. The third trip was more focussed, to catch the wildflowers in this area which bloom only for a short period of 2-3 weeks every year just after the monsoon. So, if you are reading this around the end of sep/start of Oct (the usual flowering season), GO THERE!

How to go to Kaas Plateau from Pune (Magarpatta): Go towards Katraj to catch the NH4 towards Satara. Cross the mahabaleshwar exit and go beyond for another 30-35 kms when you will see a junction with the exit to Satara on the right. Go inside Satara, cross the junction with the eiffel tower, keep going left. Then when you start seeing the mountains straight ahead, you will come to a fork , where you will see a tunnel on the left. The road on the left through the tunnel goes to Thoseghar waterfalls and Chalkewadi windmill farms. To go to Kaas, you have to take the road on the right. This road steadily climbs and reaches a plateau. After driving for around 15-20 kilometres, you will come to a wide plateau where you should endless patches of colour of either side of the road. This is the main area for the wild flowers. Though this road is not visible on Google Maps, it is a pretty good road and any car can go until the end of the road at Bamnoli Village.

We reached the plateau at around 1 pm, which was definitely not the right time for photographs. So, we finished our lunch and then went until Bamnoli, wandered around and returned a couple of hours later. On the way to Bamnoli, there were some huge patches of yellow flowers against the background of green hiils. On the more popular area, you just have a flatland of flowers.

Akshara had lot of fun roaming around the flower patches. It took a while to get her to sit next to a patch of flowers for a photograph. But, once that happened, she sat (more towards falling!) down next to each and every flower and waited for me to photograph her. The best patches were the purple ones. From a distance, they looked like huge carpets.

I had been there on the day of Visarjan (immersion of ganesh Statues). Many had advised me not to venture out on this day as one could easily get stuck in traffic, but the situation was exactly the opposite. The times in and out of Pune city were the best on that day. Probably every one else thought about the traffic and stayed indoors. But, there were quite a lot of people on the plateau incluing many armed with big lenses and tripods!

My earlier two trips to Kaas were in the midst of the monsoons and this place looked entirely different, a wet green colour and full of mist. It was extremely windy on both the occassions we went and it was difficult (for me and fun for Akshara) to get her to pose for a photo with her umbrella.

There were lot of cattle grazing in the area and Akshara wanted to get close to each one of them. With the slope on either side, it was difficult to catch up with her and the cows!

On our first trip, we were probably the only ones on the plateau as it was a rainy day and the whole plateau was covered in mist. We drove in the direction of Bamnoli, but after a while, the visibility was just too less for me to keep on driving. Akshara also got an opportunity to pose with a lamb, but she was all enthu’d until the moment the lamb also got enthu’d and got too close for her comfort.

On the trip during the monsoons, we took the route from Satara to Mahabaleshwar through Medha village and kanheri dam. This was one of the best routes i had driven on in terms of the number and the size of the waterfalls seen. The advantage of this route is that it goes through a valley and slowly climbs into Mahabaleshwar and because of this you get to see all the waterfalls on the both the cliffs to the side.

A very long post, but such a beautiful place deserves one

Similar Places Around Pune:

1. Bamnoli Village near Satara
2. Trek to Korigad Fort near Aamby valley, Lonavala
3. Thoseghar waterfalls, Chalkewadi windmill farms near Satara

This is probably the easiest way to experience the lakes of switzerland, right in Maharashtra! Bamnoli village on the banks of the Shivsagar lake formed due to the Koyna dam is a small community of people, who mainly cater to the tourists wanting to visit Vasota fort, Nageshwar Shiv Temple and also Tapola.

Click here to see a bigger version of the above panorama

How to go to Bamnoli: Bamnoli lies at the end of the Kaas plateau. You have to go to Satara, cross the city and then take the right at the fork at the end of the city. The road at the left (through a tunner) would go to Thoseghar. Once on this road you have to drive for around 30 kms (crossing kaas lake and the beautiful flower beds) and then climb down to the shore of the Shivsagar lake. Though google maps doesnt show this road, this exists and is a good condition road, not the offroading type. As you descend the ghats onto Bamnoli, you are rewarded with views as comparable to european lake destination (provided you visit this place around the monsoons/winter).

Once in Bamnoli, you can choose from lot of boating options. You can just go for a ride around the shivsagar lake. Or, go for a boat trip to Tapola, also known as mini kashmir. The rates are reasonable, provided you have a group of 5-6 people. Otherwise, you anyway have to pay the group price. If you have time, you can also go on a guided tour to Vasota fort or the famous nageshwar Shiv temple. The waters are right up to the roads inside the village. In fact, there are few buildings which are half-submerged. I guess the end of the village is defined by the amount of water in the backwaters. There is even a Bank of Baroda branch here. So, if you want to, you can even open an account here!

I was just looking around for stuff to photograph, when i noticed something big flying overhead. Thinking it to be a big bird, i followed it and then when it came into view, i realised that it was a big bat. Then i saw the hundreds of bats on the few trees next to the shore. They were there only on these few trees. I was lucky to see this as i would have just returned to my car if not for this low flying bat.

You can go to Bamnoli as a separate trip and then spend the day with a boating trip to Tapola or combine Bamnoli with a visit/drive to the Kaas plateau, as we did.

Similar Places Around Pune:

1. Thoseghar waterfalls, Chalkewadi windmill farms near Satara
2. Picturesque wai village near Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar
3. Kaas Plateau – Maharashtra’s Valley of flowers

I love waterfalls, whatever size they come in. Whenever i plan to visit a city, the first thing i google for are waterfalls near the city. I once saw a poster of Thoseghar waterfalls in my office kitchenette (taken during the monsoon) and made up my mind that i had to visit this place. So, off i went, late last september in search of Thoseghar falls. Many blogs mention this as the third highest waterfall in India, but i didn’t come across any veritable piece of information on the same. Nevertheless, this waterfall is high, tall enough to easily feature in the list.

UPDATE: I visited Thoseghar again during the monsoon season. Lots more water and greenery. Check out a video and more photos here.

How to go to Thoseghar waterfalls from Pune(Magarpatta): Go on the NH4 (towards Bangalore). Cross Khambatki ghat, go beyond the right turn to Mahabaleshwar/Panchgani. Enter Satara on the right. Keep going inside the town of satara. At the other end of the town, you will come to a fork. The road to the left goes through a tunnel. This is the road you have to take. The road on the right goes to Tapola/Mahabaleshwar. Once you cross the small tunnel, you will come to a t-junction. Take the road on the right. The scenery immediately changes from a town to beautiful slopes (depending on the season!). After you climb a little, you will come across the exit to Sajjangad fort. Keep going and you will see a board for Thoseghar falls right on the main road. It’s a pity that a fall as majestic as this has a poor looking board befitting some roadside dhabha.
Google Maps doesnt have the road which goes from Satara to thoseghar. Given below is a map to reach Satara. After that follow the directions as i have mentioned above.The exact location of Thoseghar falls is 17°35’47.84″N, 73°50’44.98″E. Use this on Google Earth to have an idea about the route.

View Larger Map

The route to Thoseghar from Satara was very scenic (even in September). The road goes along the edge of the cliff giving you wonderful views all along the way.

You have to climb down a short distance before you reach the view point from where you will be able to see the thoseghar falls. The walk is short, but the climb back can be tough in summer. But, why would you go to this place in summer. The falls are dry in summer. So, the best time would be right in the middle of the monsoon.

There are actually many falls visible from the view point. The biggest one is to the right and not completely visible. The one straight ahead is also big and has two layers.

I checked on Google earth and there seems to a earthern path to go to the other side of the cliff. One can get a frontal view of the main falls. That is the plan for this monsoon . From thoseghar, we proceeded to Chalkewadi windmill farms. I saw that this was one interesting place to see around Thoseghar, but i never realised that the whole area would be infested with huge, reallu huhe windmills. Easily, the biggest i have ever seen, you can see hundreds of them all over the hills.

You have to continue in the same direction for another 4-5 kms until you reach the top of the mountain where the road seems to end at the windmills. if you proceed further, you will reach the koyna backwaters, but you better have a 4WD to do that.

The windmills were much bigger than what i thought would be. Akshara enjoyed the windmills a lot and didn’t want to get back in the car. Overall, it was a very good one-day trip covering Thoseghar waterfalls, chalkewadi windmill farms and a drive up to the parking lot of Sajjangad fort.

Similar Places Around Pune:

1. Thoseghar Waterfalls in Satara during the monsoon
2. Bamnoli Village near Satara
3. Kaas Plateau – Maharashtra’s Valley of flowers

I guess that the sunset point is the most crowded viewpoint in Mahabaleshwar just because of the fact that you cannot view anything at other viewpoints at that time of the day and not because this viewpoint offers an excellent view. The location is actually good, but there are lot of tall trees just beyond the viewing area which present us from seeing the sunset over the mountains. All you get to see is the sun making its way down towards the mountains and for this i dont need to go all the way to Mahabaleshwar .

Having said that, if you are near Sunset point near the time of sunset, do go and visit. If it is your lucky day, you may get a chance to see a colurful sunset. In fact, i would definitely visit this point sometime late monsoon, as it is the clouds which make a sunset.

Like other viewpoints in Mahabaleshwar, you find lot of horses here. But, in an attempt to lure tourists for a ride, the horse-keepers make the horses jump around and in the process kicking up lot of dust. This makes it really irritating to stay around the place

Just the sunset was boring, so i moved back and started taking photos of the people viewing the sunset. I got some interesting snaps.

As we are on the topic of sunsets, here are some photos of the sunset taken from my balcony in Magarpatta city

Similar Places Around Pune:

1. Picturesque wai village near Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar
2. Shivling peak near Lions Point, Lonavala
3. Lions view point near Lonavala

On the way from Pune to Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, a casual traveller can easily ignore Wai  as just another dot on the map.  But, if the little effort of deviating around 3km from the main road is made, you are assured of getting enough natural beauty to your heart’s content.

Route to Wai from Pune (from magarpatta):

View Larger Map
Go to Solapur Road, Keep driving towards swargate. At the swargate signal, turn left towards Katraj. From here, it is a straight road to Katraj. Once you reach Katraj, you will pass the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological park (a.k.a. Pune Zoo or Katraj Zoo ) on your left. You should see a Ghat section in front of you. On crossing this road, NH4 will “arrive” from the right. Join it and enjoy the drive for around an hour. After around an hour, you will come across a mountain cutting across the highway leaving you wondering on how to cross it. This is the Khambatki Ghat. The best part about this Ghat section is that it is one-way leaving you freely to overtake slow vehicles even on a blind curve. The ascent on this ghat is wonderful and if you can, do stop for some beautiful photo opportunities. No, don’t plan for a photo session on the way back, as the way back doesn’t have a ghat section, but a long tunnel! Once you cross this Ghat, you will see signboards for Wai/Mahabaleshwar (go under the bridge to the right). This is a nice single lane road with lot of banyan trees for company.

After around 8-9 kilometres, you have to turn for Wai (Going straight will take you to Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar). After around 3 kms, you enter Wai village. Maybe Wai was a village long time back, but it is a bustling town now and you will surely ave a strange look on your face as to why so many sources on the internet called Wai a beautiful village (just as i did!). But, what you have reached is the town centre. The real beauty of Wai is beyond that.

The village centre too has interesting spots. There is the Maha Ganapti mandir (the first photo of this post) and some nice small temples/bridges to photograph! But, the real reason why many visit Wai is a further 3 kms away, in a place called Menavali Ghat (or Menavli). Btw, it is pronounced “May”navali and not “Mee”navali. I confused quite a few locals by asking for directions to “Mee”navali Ghat.You just have to keep going a further 3 kms on the same road you entered Wai. Do not take the left (near the Ganpati mandir) crossing the bridge. We shall go there later

Menavali Ghat, the place which contains – as people would like to say – the temple appearing in Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades. This was the place which the movie referred to as Charanpur. Of course, they must have spent a lot of time cleaning up the temple’s surroundings to make it look so good. Nevertheless, the place is calm and serenely beautiful. You don’t see people by the hundreds like in Lonavala, just the few who have taken the trouble to drive over to this remote area. We spent close to half an hour taking lot of photographs.

Akshara was quite interested in the buffaloes, as she was seeing such an animal for the first time After the Shaniwar Wada trip, Akshara has taken a liking to the umbrella and it is very difficult to pry it away from her once she takes it.

I also read somewhere that the big banyan near the banks was the one used in the movie Swadesh for the Panchayat scene. So, we took some photographs near it for posterity’s sake

Right neat to the place where you park for Menavali Ghat is the Nana Phadnis Wada. This is the place where Nana Phadnis, a minister in the Peshwa era built a wada (house) for himself on the banks of the Krishna river. We didn’t have time to go inside and explore the house, but the wada looked very photogenic in the light drizzle that was on.

Not many who visit Wai take the trouble to drive another 9 kms in the single lane road until Dhom dam. You have to come back to the village centre from menavali Ghat and then cross the bridge next to the Maha Ganapathy Mandir and take a right. This road will take you to Dhom dam. But, it seems, dhom dam is closed to public and there are also signs that photography is not allowed. But, we drove a little ahead and asked people to point us towards any place where we can get close to the water (backwaters of the dam). We were shown the way towards a boating place. It is a narrow lane which opens up once you come close to the water and the view was AMAZING!

The pictures definitely don’t do justice to the beauty of this place. Vidhya even started comparing it to the views near lake thun in Interlaken, Switzerland! There were just 2 other groups of people there and they were also about to leave. The view was such that you felt the need to immediately take a panorama.

There was this strange formation on top of the mountain nearby (Second photo below). We thought that it may be the remnants of a fort, but the locals said that there was no fort there and it was just some rock formations. They looked pretty impressive from far and i am surprised that i never saw any information/photo of this online. If you have any info on this formation, drop in a comment.

We spent close to 15 minutes at this place enjoying the solitude. We left as we wanted to be back in Pune before late night. Some more photos…

On the whole, it was an enjoyable 7 hour round trip –> 2 hours from Pune to Wai (1.5 hrs if you leave early in the day), 1.5 hrs back (time saved because of the tunnel through Khambatki ghat) and the rest spent in photography and a south indian snack at gandharv dhaba (just before the Wai exit on the road from NH4 to Panchgani).

Similar Places Around Pune:

1. Sunset point in Mahabaleshwar
2. Bamnoli Village near Satara