[Engine_Roars]

Those were the beautiful days of my life. We were a group of four friends, who shared a common interest, riding & trekking. We loved riding together, trekking together. It was fun, real fun. We covered almost everything around Pune, all the forts, all the ghats, all the waterfalls, well almost, including some beaches on our bikes.

Things have changed now, two of us had a ligament tear in our shoulders in two different incidents(Me and another friend), since than both of us have limited our riding. We do go back to our love of riding once in a while, however the frequency has reduced.

Thats US minus 1 (He was clicking this pic). The guy on the extreme right is me.

Vasota, this one ride has been etched in our memory since December'2012. It was 1st of December 2012, as always we had planned everything for this ride. The route, the time we leave, camera, extra batteries, the tent, the petrol, bikes except food, water & sleeping bags .


Our rides for the day. I own Avenger, however I planned to be the pillion for this ride.

Yes, in our excitement we forgot that we will require food & water & sleeping bags. It was the first time we had rented a tent and were actually going to be sleeping under a tent by the river side. Obviously, we were excited, however in our excitement we forgot that we are going to place where you don't get anything after evening 7 PM, not even drinking water.

Vasota is a fort, situated in a jungle in Maharshtra. It is approximately 200 kms from Pune. The plan was to leave in the morning, reach the village which is located at one side of the river by evening, camp there alongside the river for night, take a boat in the morning to cross the river, trek to the fort, climb down and reach home by Sunday night.

Everything was going as planned, we reached the village by 7 PM completely unaware that we do not have the luxury to buy and eat food at our will in that small village. We were not even carrying a packet of Parle-G biscuits. Somehow, we got hold of one man who had a small road side hotel, pleaded and made him cook some food for us, of course he did that on his own conditions. Thank fully, he did. Done with dinner, we headed up for setting up our tent, our very own tent for the night. We struggled with our mobile torches, to find some dry logs/sticks to help us make our very own bonfire. Looking for anything dry, with those surroundings and climate was itself a big task. We did manage to find some dry sticks, roaming like mads in the jungle in one pitch dark night.


The making of our Home.


Home, sweet home.


The occupants & Home, sweet home.


The best combination every, sky, fire & water.

Few photographs and some fun later, it was time to sleep. It was mutually decided, shoes will have to be left outside the tent as tent was too special to enter with shoes. Since we were not carrying any sleeping bags or blankets, and since it was getting colder with every passing moment because of the place being near to the shore of river, it was also mutually decided that we will sleep with the jackets on. Half an hour later, all of us gave each other the permission to put on the shoes and sleep so that we could survive the cold to live and tell the tale.


The much awaited sight after all the sufferings, Morning it was!!

Finally, it was morning. People had started coming in for the trek. We could hear different sounds and voices, talking about the tent and the people inside. To reach vasota, one has to take a ferry and cross the river to the other side. The ferry services are run by government, with a proper ticket window set up.


Hungry stomachs, smiles on faces, that is how we lived and we loved it to the core.


Our next ride.

We got ourselves the seats for one of the ferry, settled ourselves and the journey begun.


I could stay hungry for days again, if some one promises this kind of view.


Beautiful, isn't it?

The next challenging part of this ride was the trek, it was one of the steepest and felt even more steep with those hungry stomachs. Half way through the trek, the camera was shoved into the bag, we did not have drinking water left with us, however we somehow managed to reach the top and that's what the plan was, and yes we are proud of it.


Told ya!! It was all worth it.


Yes, this too was the part of package.


Ne Ne Ne Ne Ne!!!


Those were the beautiful days of my life!!

After soaking in all the beauty around, we decided to climb down around 2ish. We reached the ferry in an hour or so, and slept in the ferry till others arrived. It was an uneventful return journey.

Thank you for bearing with me, I will leave you with few more pics.
P.S.: This ride had happened 3 years back, I might have forgotten some details/information. Please let me know, if you find anything missing and I will try and recall and make the necessary edits.







As accepted earlier, I am not at all good at writing but I sincerely hope I could do the justice to this ride.This one ride, taught us so many things at different levels. Any given day, I would love to relive this ride, no questions asked.

[GypsyKing_775]

Hi Engine_Roars!

Fantastic pics!
Have trekked vasota almost 7 times now & still have a desire to go there many more times!
Vasota is one good jungle trek & a thrilling experience.
I am quite sure the village you are talking about is Bamnoli & camping overnight near the koyna backwaters under the dark night sky is a fantastic experience!

[RedTerrano]

@Engine_Roars Lovely pics! Thanks for sharing.

Did you go via Pune - Satara - Bamnoli?
I did Vasota trek many years back and we had taken that route.

We spent the night at the fort base (Met Indavli) near a largish puddle, rather we were stupid enough to sleep there, as we were woken up at nights with the sound of bears coming in to drink! On our return journe
On our return journey, we saw a leopard footprint which we suspected was very very fresh. The soil near it was wet and it had a high pungent urine odour. For all we knew he was watching us!! Kind of scary moment!

[sandip]

Wonderful pics.
Nice to see people appreciate nature.

Would you recommend this place to camp if there is a family (may be 2).
With 2 young children around 6 years.

I have been planning to introduce staying under the sky without any human interfernce (read TV, computers and electricity) to my son. I have a plan in mind to go and camp in the Rann of Kutch. But that is too far and if I go there I will have to take a long leave. Hence it is not materialising.

200 km is very doable.

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

Vasota, this one ride has been etched in our memory since December'2012.

Awesome Ashish! That is one helluva place and those views are stunning!
Am sure you have a few more rolled up your sleeve eh?!
Bring it on buddy, thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Any wild incidents worthy to be recounted?

Cheers!

[Dodge_Viper]

I still remember the scary incident I encountered during my Vasota trek. We did both Vasota and Nageshwar pinnacle and while getting down we decided to take the dry waterfall route from Nageshwar. By the time we came down it was dark. The waterfall route had dense trees on both side. For some time the group was dispersed, some were ahead, few behind and I was alone in between. I could feel some movement continously on both sides in the forest. I stop, the movement stopped, I resume walking movement started. I was damn sure it was some animal. Deadly scary moment. Later caught some speed and got hold of the boatman who also came with us since he was known to us. Told him about the scary moment and he cooly said..yeah it must be some animal, don't worry they won't come in front of you since they are more scared than you. That was a different experience altogether

[Engine_Roars]

Originally Posted by GypsyKing_775

Hi Engine_Roars!

Fantastic pics!

I am quite sure the village you are talking about is Bamnoli & camping overnight near the koyna backwaters under the dark night sky is a fantastic experience!

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, it should be Bamnoli, been ages so could not recall the name. Those were the days when I never thought of penning down those rides, hence never put efforts to make notes of the routes & places. It was a fantastic experience indeed. Loved it to the core.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

@Engine_Roars Lovely pics! Thanks for sharing.

Did you go via Pune - Satara - Bamnoli? I did Vasota trek many years back and we had taken that route.

Thank you for appreciating.

Yes, the route should have been Pune - Satara- Bamnoli, don't remember but can not think of other route from Pune. Spending night at the fort base was something we had intentionally kept off of the list, knowing the presence of all sorts of animals in the jungle. It should be avoided for two reasons, first, A jungle should be kept away from human interference atleast at night because that is when it comes alive and second safety of both, animals & humans. Glad, that you guys came out unharmed, definitely a scary experience.

Originally Posted by sandip

Wonderful pics.
Nice to see people appreciate nature.

Would you recommend this place to camp if there is a family (may be 2).
With 2 young children around 6 years.

I have been planning to introduce staying under the sky without any human interfernce (read TV, computers and electricity) to my son. I have a plan in mind to go and camp in the Rann of Kutch. But that is too far and if I go there I will have to take a long leave. Hence it is not materialising.

200 km is very doable.

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

Hi Sandip,

Thank you for your appreciation.

Yes, I am one of those who gives priority to nature over most of the things. Any special occasion, I make it a point to head to a destinations which are closer to nature, and fortunately I have been able to keep in touch so far.

Camping with family is a great idea, to make the family bond stronger and make the kids understand the importance of being close to nature. However, safety becomes the priority when it is about the family so I would suggest you to avoid this place. It becomes really dark and kinda scary at night. Instead, I know a place, a camping site in fact, which would suit all of your needs including safety. It is 60 Kms from Pune, on a hill overlooking the Pawana Lake. The camping site is known as Rusticville, they do have a website. A quick Google search should do the job. I had been there with my wife on her birthday. Loved it. Absolutely safe, and real close to the nature. Do let me know if you need more details and I will be happy to help.

P.S.: I am in no way associated with Rusticville, I know the place because I have been there and liked the set up.

Originally Posted by Trojan

Awesome Ashish! That is one helluva place and those views are stunning!
Am sure you have a few more rolled up your sleeve eh?!
Bring it on buddy, thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Any wild incidents worthy to be recounted?

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

I still remember the scary incident I encountered during my Vasota trek. We did both Vasota and Nageshwar pinnacle and while getting down we decided to take the dry waterfall route from Nageshwar. yeah it must be some animal, don't worry they won't come in front of you since they are more scared than you. That was a different experience altogether

Thank you Trojan,

I have been to many rides & treks, somehow this place struck a chord. Yes, you are right I do have few more rolled up my sleeves and lots & lots of pictures too. Sadly, I am not good at recollecting and writing things.Hopefully, I will share them all before I stop.

The wildest incident was the hunger & thirst. The voice coming from with in was the scariest of all. We were a bunch of carefree boys, least bothered about the voices/things around so no wild encounters as such. Your's was scary though, I would never like someone following me when am in a Jungle.

[fiesta1.6]

Engine_roars, awesome trek and awesome photos. I always remember the first time I have been to this place. Serene simply serene is the word that comes to my mind whenever I think of this trek and the nature here.

By the way, did you encounter any leeches?

[Engine_Roars]

Originally Posted by fiesta1.6

Engine_roars, awesome trek and awesome photos. I always remember the first time I have been to this place. Serene simply serene is the word that comes to my mind whenever I think of this trek and the nature here.

By the way, did you encounter any leeches?

Thank you. Yes, it is serene. I can go again and again to this place and would not even mind if I get lost somewhere in there.

I guess leeches should be a problem during the monsoons because of the density of jungle. Fortunately, we did not encounter even one because of the climate we chose for the trek, i.e. winters and if that is not the case than may be we were too lost to notice any of it.

[fiesta1.6]

Yes. I remember, most of the time we used to trek in monsoon and I think we trekked just before the boat ride closes for the monsoon i.e. at the start.

[sandip]

Thanks Buddy !!!

I wanted to go somewhere where, there is no set up at all.
Doing everything that you need, yourself, has an element of fun.

But I take your point and will make do with Rusticville.

Many Thanks.

[GypsyKing_775]

Few years back, trekkers were allowed to stay on the fort.
I think we had stayed in the nageshwar cave there.
Definitely remember hearing severalanimal sounds in the night.
But for some reason, the forest department does not allow staying overnight & one has to return on the same day of visit.
Also have heard that there is "Navin Vasota" & "Juna vasota", was not able to find out which is what though.
Certainly an awesome trek it is, especially after the monsoons when the launch takes you straight to the forts entry point!

[Engine_Roars]

Thank you for your response guys .

Sharing few more pics of the ride!!


The early morning fog!!


Not so welcoming entry-enter the Jungle!!


Beauty everywhere!!


The proof, I had been there!!


River in the Jungle - All the time we were wondering what if some animal around is waiting to get us done with our stupidities so that he/she could drink the water!!


There goes the Sun!!

Hope you enjoyed!!