Solo offroad trip to Rajmachi > Safari 2.2 4x4 on 6th July 08:

[jaysmokesleaves]

Hi everyone,
Have been busy traveling. Did a trip to Udhwada followed by a round trip of Mumbai - Mahabaleshwar- Pune- lonavala - RAJMACHI - Mumbai.
The roads were wonderful throughout. Rain accompanied me through the whole trip. Poladpur to Mahabaleshwar road has broken tarmac for most of the way. Mahabaleshwar was completely fogged out in the day and the night was almost zero visibility- so all the pics are pathetic. Panchgani was better off the next day. Drove from there to Puna and stayed for a day and headed for Mumbai . Reached Lonavala @ 10am approx and then remembered that Pdev had said the Mumbai gypsy gang would be there offroading almost every weekend at Rajmachi. So off i went straight through to join the fun.
I didnt find anybody there and decided to go straight right all the way up to Rajmachi myself. Lots of trekkers making the best of the weekend in the superb monsoon weather.
The road up to Rajmachi was pretty easy. I was skeptical initially from an earlier experience a few years ago when we got stuck in a couple of mahindra classics(lack of skill then). Besides, this time i was going solo and if i got stuck then nobody to help other than gather a few enthusiastic drunk weekend warriors who would hopefully oblige to assist or wait for rains to subside and then dig myself out.
However, since i was already at the base i decided to go lock stock & smoking barrels(bharat stage III). A thought crossed my mind along the way that they should collect pollution tax here rather than Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani.
Hope you guys enjoy the pics most of which were shot at the Shiva temple @ Rajmachi. Some were shot on the way Mahabaleshwar from Poladpur.
The drive to the top of Rajmachi was comfortable to say the least. The safari did not feel stressed out. Comfortably forded through 2ft+ of the stream crossing and the subsequent rock climb(as seen in Pdevs Rajmachi pics & vids).
I had to reverse on a couple of sharp curves while climbing, thanks to the fantabulous turning radius of the safari. But the ship sailed through.
Not many pics because there was no one to click but the greenery enroute speaks for itself.
By the time i got down from Rajmachi, the safari footboards were covered with 2" thick muck. Sory no pics of that... too much rain .

[jaysmokesleaves]

Some more pics from the trip. enjoy..

[anilkalvani]

amazing.com dude

[Limpid]

Hmmm, I am missing Maharashtra. Nice photos! Did you get a chance engage 4x4 in this trip ?

[musicmanaman]

Those are really good pics and the locations are fantastic, looks like you had one hell of a time. The pics makes me want a Safari too.

[indianrunner]

Nice writeup and the snaps show that you really had fun. However do be cautious when off roading alone.

[aaggoswami]

Nice photographs.
The location is quite impressive.
Its really risky to go on offroading alone, but it must have been a lot of fun.

Were there any risky/heart stopping moments with Safari ? How was Safari's 4 X 4 performance ? Was it engaged all along ?

[akroy]

Nice pictorial Jay!! Mahabaleshwar route looks gorgeous in monsoons.

Abhi

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by Limpid

Hmmm, I am missing Maharashtra. Nice photos! Did you get a chance engage 4x4 in this trip ?

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Nice photographs.
The location is quite impressive.
Its really risky to go on offroading alone, but it must have been a lot of fun.

Were there any risky/heart stopping moments with Safari ? How was Safari's 4 X 4 performance ? Was it engaged all along ?

Thanks & glad you all liked the pics. There was a lot to shoot but i dint want to keep geting in and out of the vehicle in the rain since i havent had the time to get seat covers yet.
I did 70% of the route in 2wd. Rest of the route i did in 4H since it was very slippery. while returning i had to engage 4L once on a downhill curve since there was almost no traction. IMO the safari 4wd is quite capable if driven intelligently. The ground clearance really helps. I do not know about the torque curves & spec sheets but whatever is under the hood, works pretty well. I will certainly recommend the 4wd safari for the enthusiast.

I hope to do the route again with a bunch of friends sometime soon. Anyone reading this is welcome to join in.

[bglsrini]

great pictures jay.Really enjoyed seeing them and the safari

[jkdas]

Nice pix Jay. Golden Beige looks great. Where did the alloy cups (? ) go ?
Using OE wipers?

[adarvesh]

i suggest you not to go alone to rajmachi if you are stuck then god help you

[indianrunner]

Where you using stock H/T tyres or have you invested in A/T or M/Ts?

Rgds

[PhrozenFire]

Hey great pics there Jay! Takes me back to the trip two of my friends and I made to Rajmachi back in 2002, on a CBZ and Suzuki Shogun. The tarmac road ended in Lonavla itself and from there on till the base of the fort was a gravel and rock strewn path. We had to fjord quite a number of streams, which was great fun! And we barely sat on the seats at all. Most of the time we were just standing on the footpegs - imagining ourselves to be Paris-Dakar riders! Dont have any pics of that trip as digicams were way too expensive then for college kids to afford. Nevertheless, your pictures took me back on a nice trip down memory lane!

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Nice pics there Jay and keep them coming.