I had been to Thoseghar last weekend (Aug 7/8). The monsoon was still on and it was constantly drizzling. Thoseghar was at its best with the waterfalls in full force. Below are some photos and also a video (a new addition to my blog) from that trip. If you want to see more photos and also get directions to Thoseghar, check the post from my previous visit.

Related posts:

1. Thoseghar waterfalls, Chalkewadi windmill farms near Satara
2. Waterfall after Tamhini Ghat near Kundalika river
3. Drive to tamhini ghat during the monsoon

It was a beautiful rainy weekend, but work kept me indoors for almost the entire two days. I was deperate to get out and go for a drive. When i got a break for a couple of hours, we decided to drive down to Dive Ghat on the way to saswad. This is a small ghat which one has to cross on the way from Hadapsar to Saswad. Check the post on balaji temple at narayanpur if you are not aware of the route from Hadapsar to Saswad. We spent around 15 minutes stopping at various points on ghat for some photos. Not many photos though, as i was on an official call for most of time and was taking photos with one hand holding the phone!

Related posts:

1. Waterfall after Tamhini Ghat near Kundalika river
2. Trek to Purandar fort – in the rain
3. Balaji Temple at Narayanpur Village

The buddhist excavations at Bhaja, also known as Bhaja caves, date almost to the 1st century AD and are believed to be one of the oldest buddhist religious centres in this area. it is also a big tourist draw as it is near Lonavala, but thankfully, because of its classification as a national monument, it is relatively well maintained compared to many other tourist attractions here.

How to go to Bhaja caves from Pune (magarpatta city): Bhaja caves are very easy to locate , as the exit is located right on the old Pune-Mumbai highway. Take the Nh4 (old mumbai-pune highway) towards Mumbai, few kilometres (6-7) before lonavala, you should see an exit on the left towards Bhaja/Malavali (and one on the right towards Karla caves). Take the left, you should reach Malavali village (there is a railway crossing to cross – a wait not more than 10 minutes). 2 kms from Malvali, you would reach the base village of Bhaja, where ample parking is available. On any monsoon day, you would see lot of trekking/walking grps walking towards Bhaja from Malvali railway station, but the likes of me drive over as much we can and then walk the remaining distance. On the day i went, the old highway was blocked because of Palkhi, so i was forced to take the expressway. So, if you too have to take the expressway for some reason, drive upto Lonavala (central point), take almost a U-turn onto the old highway going towards Pune, drive for 6-7 kilometres and then turn right towards Bhaja. During the non-monsoon seasons, there is a shortcut from behind the food court on the expressway (before lonavala) to reach the malvali village road without having to go to Lonavala and then come back.

The base village of Bhaja has its typical share of chai/Pakora shops and the garbage dumps. Once you cross all this, it is just you and nature all the way. There is a waterfall just at the base which is used for bathing as well as washing clothes. But, if no one minds, who cares? There were many buffaloes grazing near the fall and Akshara wanted a snap with them. A little later, she found another dirty cow to get photographed with!

To reach the caves, it is a short climb of around 20-25 minutes on a properly laid out path. There are steps for most of the distance, but at some places, it may get tricky. The steps were a little too big for Akshara to climb on her own, but it wasn’t a tough climb even with carrying Akshara most of the way

The best time to visit Bhaja caves would be late evening, as the caves face west and the late evening light would be great for photographing the caves. It was cloudy/raining for most of the time on the day we went, but the few minutes that the sun came out, the light was magical. The caves officially close around 6 pm and they dont allow anyone to enter beyond 5.45 pm, so time your visit leaving around 20-30 mins for the climb. We took it easy going up , spending lot of time taking photos of the amazing greenery around and also using our standard prop (nowadays), the umbrealla.

You can actually spend a lot of time at the top exploring every nook and corner of the caves. We went close to the closing time and it was also starting to drizzle. With just one umbrella for the three of us ( and no jackets), we spent just around 10-15 mins walking around and doing a brief survey of the caves.

The caves are right next to the Lohagad fort. You can see the fort from Bhaja village as well as from the caves. If you walk to Lohagad from the base village, it is a walk of 2-3 hours. If you have a good vehicle, you can drive along for most of this distance almost upto the base of Lohagad fort. Visapur fort is also closeby. To go to Visapur fort, you have to climb up to the left of the caves. There is no clear path marked, but just keep going up and you should reach Visapur Fort. If you intend to walk to Lohagad from Bhaja, don’t come towards the path to the caves, instead walk across the fields (next to the temple). This should save you a km or two.

More photography on the way down. It was a good half-day trip with a mix of nature and history

Related posts:

1. Trek to Purandar fort – in the rain
2. Lions view point near Lonavala
3. Lonavala waterfall

While Khadakwasla dam is more famous as an evening hang-out place for most Puneites, who come there to swim and have butaa, Panshet dam has always been famous for its boating scene. The backwaters of Panshet extend for a long distance and has high cliffs on the other side. So, even if you don’t go boating, there are lot of viewpoints of Panshet dam where you can have a nice picnic.

While Khadakwasla dam is more famous as an evening hang-out place for most Puneites, who come there to swim and have butaa, Panshet dam has always been famous for its boating scene. The backwaters of Panshet extend for a long distance and has high cliffs on the other side. So, even if you don’t go boating, there are lot of viewpoints of Panshet dam where you can have a nice picnic.

How to go to Panshet Dam from Pune(Magarpatta): Go towards Swargate i.e. on Solapur road vis Big Bazaar. When you reach the end of this road beyond Swargate at a T-Junction, turn left. Take the immediate right (there is a signal and there is a mahalaxmi temple on the left). The road on the right is the Sinhagad road. Keep going on this road crossing Parvati and towards Khadakwasla. You dont need to turn anywhere. This road will take you straight to Khadakwasla. Once you cross Khadakwasla, keep going on this road for another 10-15 kms and you will see signs for Panshet dam boating. Follow those signs and you should be climbing the hills on the other side of Panshet.

View Larger Map

There wasn’t much water in the dam backwater because of the poor rain in June and July until now, but the greenery was very much visible all over the place. We stopped at a place where we could walk over to the edge of the hill sloping gently towards the water. There was few house strategically built on the edge and i can imagine the kind fo view they must be having during the monsoons

We had been there with few friends and their kids. The kids had a gala time posing for our photo requests. The photos with the visibly darker green colour are from Sunil’s camera. All my photos are little bit on the overexposed side.

Akshara wandered all over the place and was up to her usual antics. It was difficult explaining to her that her request to go “keezha” (down the slope) was not something that can be done

Most of the time was spent on experimental photo sessions with us and the kids. It was a good day, could have been better with the Neelkanteshwar visit if only we had been prepared for the rains. More on neelkanteshwar in a separate post.

Related posts:

1. Bushi Dam in Lonavala
2. Waterfall after Tamhini Ghat near Kundalika river
3. Picturesque wai village near Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar

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.

Related posts:

1. Thoseghar Waterfalls in Satara during the monsoon
2. Waterfall after Tamhini Ghat near Kundalika river
3. Sunset point in Mahabaleshwar

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

Related posts:

1. Picturesque wai village near Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar

Every hill/mountain/hillock in Maharashtra must be having something on the top. Be it a fort or a temple. The shiva temple in Bhuleshwar is on top of a small hill in the middle of nowhere. There is also this TV tower right next to the temple (like the one at Sinhagad) spoiling the atmosphere.

The temple was once within a fort, the remnants of which are visible in the vicinity of the temple. This temple gets huge crowds during Mahashivratri. The priest told us that there is a decent crowd on almost all days in the mornings. An unique thing about the shiv-ling in this temple is that the top portion of the shivling opens up and you can put offerings (usually pedas) inside it. If you are really devout, these offerings are gobbled up, not by a rat, but God himself. The priest told us that such miracles do happen even now, albeit for the rare devotee.

You don’t need to go to Bhuleshwar temple as a devotee. You can go there as a casual tourist to relax in the absolute calm surrounding the hill. You can take photographs anywhere in the temple and for the pious, the priest also does archanas. The priest also doubles as the guide and if he is not busy, he has lot of interesting stories to tell. This would make a good trip for the evening. We started from Pune at around 6 pm, we reached there close to 7, just in time for the sunset. The wind was blowing like crazy and Akshara enjoyed it.

How to go to Bhuleshwar temple from Pune(Magarpatta): Go to the Pune-Solapur highway. Turn towards Hadapsar and proceed in that direction i.e. away from Swargate. You have to travel around 35 kms on this road. You will cross a toll booth where you pay a strange fee of 22.50 Rupees. After the second toll (close to village Uruli), you have to take a right. This right turn is 3 kms after the second tool and 2 kms before the village Yavat. There is a sign on the left side of the road pointing to the right lane (marked as Bhuleshwar). You will also see another sign on the right (next to the lane) which has directions to many other places like Sasvad, Narayanpur etc. You have to go on this road for a further 8-9 kms before you reach a ghat section. This ghat is pretty bad, it is like driving through an open quarry! The problem with this ghat is that the whole surface is of loose rocks and gravel and can be quite tricky if vehiles come in the opposite direction. Update: The entire ghat section has been relaid and it is a good tar road to drive on. After you reach the plateau on top, Bhuleshwar temple woul dbe visible to the right. You have to take a right and then climb upto the temple’s parking. The last 100-150 metres was incredibly steep with me having to stay in the first gear the entire stretch. If you don’t want to try this, park it before this steep stretch and climb up on the stairs. I couldn’t find this village road on google maps nor could i do a visual identification of the temple on google earth, but the map provided below should give you an idea of the location where you have to take a right from the Pune-Solapur highway.

View Larger Map

There were many disfigured statues in the temple. The priest told me that this was done by Aurangazeb’s men in an attempt to destroy and mutilate Hindu art.

Another interesting thing in this temple was the statue of Ganesha. It seems that this is the only temple in the world where Ganesha has a female form.

A very interesting place to visit and just relax.

Related posts:

1. Visit to Baneshwar shiva temple
2. Bhuleshwar temple during the monsoons
3. Balaji Temple at Narayanpur Village

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).

Related posts:

1. Sunset point in Mahabaleshwar
2. Drive to Panshet Dam near Khadakwasla
3. Visit to the Bhuleshwar Shiva temple

Lions view point was easily the best part of my lonavala trip. The moment you reach the edge of the cliff after walking across the road, you just cannot avoid saying “wow!”. The view is majestic and panoramic. You would see dozens of small waterfalls all over the place with one waterfall pretty prominent in the view. If you know what the waterfall which appears in the middle of the pictures above and below ( and know the way to reach it), do leave a comment.

The wind is extremely strong at this place and it was quite thrilling to see many adventurous (or some may say foolhardy) people get close to the edge to get “that” living-on-the-edge photograph! On the left , you see a conical hill, which i came to know was referred to as the shiv-ling. Lions view point is a must-visit on a trip to lonavala.

Related posts:

1. Lonavala waterfall
2. Bhaja caves near Malavali Village, Lonavala
3. Bushi Dam in Lonavala