NIGHT TREK TO RAJGAD FORT, NASRAPUR, PUNE, MAHARASHTRA

 20th of February 2013

View from Balle Killa (fort on top of a fort)

First a little bit about the fort: It was built sometime during the 15th century AD, the fort is 1300 meters above sea level. Shivaji captured the fort in the year AD 1647, Shivaji spent most of his time here which was about 25-30 years. RAJGAD was the capital of the Maratha empire for a long time till RAIGAD was made the capital. It was here that Shivaji's wife queen Saibai died and is buried( Samadhi)
The fort is huge! it takes a couple of hours to trek from one end to the other, im guessing that there was atleast a 10 KM trek along the fort, this does not include the fort on top of the fort known as Balle Killa, this is were the palace was. The diameter of the fort is 40 KM around the base, you can see the other forts from here such as Sinhagad and Torna (Prachanagad)

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?hl=en&q=rajgad this is a link to see the layout to the fort!


The Night trek!

How to get there: It is around 40 KM from Pune, we started from Pune at around 4pm went to Swargate bus stand and took the MSRTC bus with the board Swargate to Bhor this is written in Marathi so if you don't know the language always ask people are willing to help!, going by your private vehicle is not a great idea as parking your vehicle overnight in the village is not a smart thing. The last stop is Bhor, you do not need to go that far, you have to get down at NASRAPUR village, this is just after Shivpur toll plaza and just after the first Mac Donalds you see. Of course let the conductor know where you want to get down!

Ashish(orange shirt) and me(red)

Best time to trek here: August to February

 Our story: We got down at Nasrapur cross the highway and head toward the village, here we met our friend Ashish who lives in Nasrapur, he would be our guide. You can do this trek without a guide but since we knew Ashish we thought it would be a good idea to ask him along.
We reached Nasrapur at 630PM went to Ashish's home put on our Shoes and took a utensil for food.

The grain Jeep

From Nasrapur you have to take a Jeep to reach the base of the fort this is about 15KM, we had to change into three vehicle cause we did not get a direct ride to the base. We hopped in a jeep and then into a grain carrying 4 wheel drive and the into the Milk Van!!
Oh yeah! Important!! The locals warned us that no one treks to Rajgad this late at night and told us that there was a possibility of running into Hyenas or vice-versa!! It was a little unnerving, but we decided to take the chance anyway, we like a little anxiety!

Wha t you'll need: a sleeping bag, WATER! plenty of it atleast 3 liters per head trust me you do not want to drink the water available at the fort, people throw their trash and what not in that water!!
a change of clothes, food for dinner and breakfast, torches, your mobile phone with a Bsnl sim card, a lighter or matchbox to light a fire and some tinder,a utility knife, a first aid kit..... this is not an easy trek you can fall easily.

faithful doggy! Jonathan and me.
the doggy will feature in almost every photograph from now!

We hiked to reach CHOR DARWAJA, this is a tough route requires endurance as part of this trail is vertical climbing. We started from the base at 9PM, we had company in the form of a dog, this dog was with us the entire trail, it literally followed us and came by our bus to see us off when we were leaving back for home the next morning!!

 Every trek we do, we have a moments of Idiocy! here is an example, we stopped about 1KM up the trail to get the rocks out of our boots and we ended up leaving a torch behind and then trekked ahead 1km without realizing that one of our torches was missing! we trekked back with our bags and to our good fortune found the torch, yes we had turned it off when we lost it! so we lost 30 minutes, the temperature that night was around 10'C ( 50'F)and windy but it still makes you sweat it out as was evident from my T-shirt.

 With the help of the moonlight and torches we hiked on. At a point you will see a board along the trail that reads Rajgad in Marathi this is the right track, in the night it is easy to get lost even if you are a local, we did not get lost, that is a relief as we usually do lose our way for a couple of hours!. Further along the trail you will come across solar powered lamps, however these do not work as this is India and people steal the batteries!

one of the solar lamps along the trail

Blinded by the flash from the camera! 

As you go along the trail the trail starts getting steeper and steeper and then it is a vertical climb there are railings which will help you up!

the trail gets vertical! Jonathan with the torch

The railing to help pull yourself up! and my boot!

The vertical climbing marks the end of the hike, you enter the fort through Chor Darwaja

As i mentioned before Idiocy took over for a while again! when we reached the top like in the picture above at chor darwaja we could see the outline of an animal higher up, it moved and headed down a bit and then we noticed that there were more of them, their eyes shining in the moonlight still we couldn't figure what we were looking at? we flashed our torches at them only to see more eyes, hearts racing we  thought its the middle of the night what could it possibly be? we grabbed sticks I had my Swiss Army Knife ready, thats when we heard the give away, a bell tinkling we realized it was a herd of cows grazing on the top, we didn't think of cows because it was almost 12 midnight.

Once we settled down we picked up some wood started a fire and got out our food and ate like pigs, we had to cook our dinner actually just fry it, Venkys chicken nuggets! sandwiches for dinner!

After dinner we sat by the fire for a while to warm up as it was windy and chill, we then cleaned up and headed to the temple were you can sleep.
To our surprise there was a group already in the temple snoring away to glory, we found a little space in a corner and slept at 1AM, we planned to head out by 630AM to explore.

We woke at the said time and headed out we had the leftovers from last night for breakfast and some tea that the other group offered. The morning was beautiful, cold mountain air and a great view from the top! here are the rest of the photographs enjoy!!!

Torna fort

Jonathan and torna fort in the background

Balle Killa (the fort on top of a fort!)

Shivaji's wife Rani Saibai samadhi

The way to Machi

Rajgad fort, can you see that hole halfway in the wall? thats where doggy was sitting in the picture below!

All for a Dog!

Saturday project, building a dog kennel for a doberman, aaaaaaah procrastination Im so good at it!

Butterflies In Pune

Red pierrot

Plain tiger

evening brown

Plain blue tiger

COBRA'S HOOD (NAG PHAANI) LONAVALA, MAHARASHTRA

NIKE

COBRA'S HOOD( NAG PHAANI) a.k.a DUKES NOSE is a trekkers paradise here in Lonavala Maharashtra, it is abou 65KM from Pune toward Mumbai and is 96KM from Mumbai toward Pune, it is easily accesible by road and rail.

A nice hike, on the edge at Nag phaani( COBRA'S HOOD)

Cobra's hood is a great spot for rappelling, it is an easy trek to the top from the southern approach the other routes to the top are very steep and risky, this landmark is easily visible from the Pune-Mumbai expressway.
You can see from the top the entire hill station of Lonavala, toward the south west the Lohegad and Visapur forts are visible. Here are a few pictures i've taken, we trekked here on the 7th of february 2013, it takes about 45 mins to reach the peak.
Oh yeah!! its called the Dukes nose because it resembles the nose of the Duke of Wellington!!
I must apologize here for the date and time imprinted in the pictures they are completely wrong!

all to get a good shot!

Dukes nose, it resembles the duke of wellingtons nose

the temple at the top

You can see the expressway in top left corner, Lonavala is easily spotted here

Visapur, Lohegad forts are seen in the mountains in the background

Motorbiking to Kodachadri, Mookambika, Karnataka

The peak at Kodachadri, sunrise

Sarvajna Peetha

Kodachadri (Shimoga district) is mountain(1400 meters) located approximately 40KM from the Mookambika temple town in Udupi district of Karnataka in the Mookambika wildlife sanctuary. Kodachadri is a hill that men have apparently trekked since pre historic times, the evidence being the monolithic structures of stone 12 feet high in the nearby areas. Adi shankara is said to have meditated at a small temple carved from stone called Sarvajna Peetha.
We live in mangalore so we started from there on our motorbikes.

How to reach Kodachadri from Mangalore: Start from AJ Hospital and Research Centre, it lies on the National Highway 66 ( formerly NH 17) this road connects Kochi(Kerala) to Panvel (Mumbai), The road signs from Surathkal to Udupi Have not been completely changed, so at points road signs read as NH 17 this is the same as NH 66! Head north from mangalore to Udupi and then from there to Kundapura. The total distance from Mangalore to Kundapura is about 90KM.
From Kundapura head toward Kollur, If you stay on the NH 17( NH 66) take a right after crossing 3 bridges you'll have to travel 36KM and if you take the right from chikensaal it will be 45KM, both roads are good.
Once you reach Kollur head toward Mookambika and you'll pass through the Mookambika wildlife sanctuary and then reach the giant temple arch over the road indicating you have reached Mookambika, from Mookambika the road takes you to the main temple and from the temple gates take a left to the guest houses and continue along that road to Kodachadri, the entire trip from mangalore is 163KM and that includes the 9KM drive to the temple priests home near the peak.

our ride, from front to back: SUZUKI FIERO, BAJAJ PULSAR 150
HONDA CBR 250

If you come by car or anything other than a motorbike or a four wheeldrive you'll have to park it at the village and either hike to the peak or rent a jeep from the village. For motorbiking the road is quit an experience, it can be risky because of the steepness and the numerous hairpin bends its totally offroad motorbiking and i enjoyed  it thoroughly!! Its a nine KM ride and will take around 30-45mins to reach the temple Priest's home. 

road to kodachadri( picture borrowed from xbhp)

temple priests home

If you call the local tourist office you can arrange for an overnight stay at the top with tents, if not tents you can stay overnight at the temple priests home for Rs 200 that includes one meal and early morning tea, its totally worth it! the temperature can be between 10'C to 16'C in the night so bring warm clothes, you'll be sleeping on the floor with mats and a blanket.

Whats there to see? most people come to see the sunset and sunrise, the temple Sarvajna Peetha, the Iron pillar, the Ganesha Guha, nearby waterfalls are there which requires you to do some trekking. The view from the top cannot be jusified with words you have to experience it, here are a few photos enjoy!!

Sunrise