[kiren]

Hi!,

Visit to Kaas during weekends is going to be very difficult. Last year one of the days it seems there were 17000 four wheelers + 6000+ 2 wheelers. You can imagine, it must be like Juhu Beach on a Sunday Evening . You guys might not really enjoy the jatra. Hence if possible plan during a weekday.

I am planning to go on a week day most probably during 1st week of October.

Kiran

[FlyingSpur]

What is the funda with this visitor number? I would totally want to get there super early in the morning and breathe some fresh air by myself. Or do I have to wait till I am let in?

[SDP]

^^ I believe, the visitor numbers are only for the forest dept. to keep a track of how many are registered for a particular day and to possibly disallow registrations beyond a particular threshold.

It would be really chaotic if the visitors have to stand in a queue as per their number to get the tickets and the entry. Its completely illogical, but with govt. bodies, you can never be sure.

My guess would be, anybody who has registered for the day would be able to visit at any time of the day on that day.

Last time, I started from Mumbai at 4am and after a breakfast in the Satara city, I was at the Kaas plateau around 9:00AM. Even at that time, around 25 vehicles were already parked at the entry point. When I walked up, on the plateau, there were close to 400-500 people already.

Please do carry water, cap, sunglasses with you. If they follow last year's arrangements, the car would be parked half a km away and it won't be effortless to go back to the car to let's say get a cap, if it is a really sunny day.

[KSM-Vtec]

So now are we doing this like a meet/group or are we just going there on our own/individually?

Any pics from this season? Do we know for sure (first hand info from any Tbhpian who has been there already) if the right time to visit Kaas is already here or can we wait for a week or 2?


Thanks a lot for all that info SDP! Its great to have all the details in one place!

Originally Posted by SDP

1. Register online at the site mentioned (http://www.kas.ind.in/). They need a name, phone number, email id, total no. of visitors and vehicle details if any along with the date of visit.

2. After submitting, you get a prompt that the registration is successful and you are visitor number N.

3. In 10 minutes, you get a email from the Satara Forest Dept which confirms your registration and mentions Rs10 per person as the fee.

4. The email confirmation needs to be printed out and presented at Kaas for on-the-spot payment and entry ticket.

5. They have provided account details for online transfer, but it is NOT needed.

6. Hopefully the ticket/fee counter would be just before the plateau and not somewhere in the Satara city.

I believe, the visitor numbers are only for the forest dept. to keep a track of how many are registered for a particular day and to possibly disallow registrations beyond a particular threshold.

It would be really chaotic if the visitors have to stand in a queue as per their number to get the tickets and the entry. Its completely illogical, but with govt. bodies, you can never be sure.

My guess would be, anybody who has registered for the day would be able to visit at any time of the day on that day.

Last time, I started from Mumbai at 4am and after a breakfast in the Satara city, I was at the Kaas plateau around 9:00AM. Even at that time, around 25 vehicles were already parked at the entry point. When I walked up, on the plateau, there were close to 400-500 people already.

Please do carry water, cap, sunglasses with you. If they follow last year's arrangements, the car would be parked half a km away and it won't be effortless to go back to the car to let's say get a cap, if it is a really sunny day.

[Turboholic]

@KSM-Vtec: 15th and 16th are the days that most of us here are getting a booking, so why not have a drive meet for one of these days.

Yesterday I was there at the Kaas Plateau (actually passed it on the Kaas Mahabaleshwar Raajmarg) saw a lot of people there at 7 am. On my way back at around noon the place was jampacked ( not like last year ). Over all it seemed to be well managed with Police, Forest Dept. Officials and Volunteers taking care of the proceedings. Sorry no pics as I was in an open Jeep it was raining cats n dogs.

So do we finalise the 15th or 16th of this month? I would suggest Saturday as there will be a comparatively less crowd and traffic.


Can we have a list here of the people visiting Kaas and the date.

1. Turboholic on 15th September.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

So now are we doing this like a meet/group or are we just going there on our own/individually?

Any pics from this season? Do we know for sure (first hand info from any Tbhpian who has been there already) if the right time to visit Kaas is already here or can we wait for a week or 2?


Thanks a lot for all that info SDP! Its great to have all the details in one place!

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by Turboholic

@KSM-Vtec: 15th and 16th are the days that most of us here are getting a booking, so why not have a drive meet for one of these days.

Yesterday I was there at the Kaas Plateau (actually passed it on the Kaas Mahabaleshwar Raajmarg) saw a lot of people there at 7 am. On my way back at around noon the place was jampacked ( not like last year ).

So if there were a lot of people there at 7AM on a Sunday what is our plan going to be like?

Dont you think we should be there earlier? Like just before sunrise?

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Turboholic

...
Yesterday I was there at the Kaas Plateau (actually passed it on the Kaas Mahabaleshwar Raajmarg) saw a lot of people there at 7 am. On my way back at around noon the place was jampacked ( not like last year ). Over all it seemed to be well managed with Police, Forest Dept. Officials and Volunteers taking care of the proceedings. ....

Turboholic, thanks for the information!

Few questions:
1. Has the plateau bloomed completely? Or is it in patches and early stages?

2. Exactly where do people pay the fees and get entry tickets?

3. Is the online registration strictly enforced? Or people can just reach there, pay the fees and get the tickets?

4. Is there a parking arrangement this year? Are they allowing parking on the plateau?

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

So if there were a lot of people there at 7AM on a Sunday what is our plan going to be like?

Dont you think we should be there earlier? Like just before sunrise?

TBHPians laluks and starvegabond had managed to reach Kaas before dawn 2 years back and the experience that they had shared was really beautiful. They stayed in Satara which enabled the early morning visit.

For folks coming in from Mumbai, let's say, it would mean leaving Mumbai around midnight.

Don't let the crowd bother you. The plateau is huge and 80% of the crowd would not step outside the 20% area along the tarred road that passes through the plateau.

[asdon]

Hi Guys,

about 4 to 5 BHPIans are comming to Kaas on 20th September from Bangalore, including me, RoyalCruiser, KarthikK, Alterego and ShishirBN. The trip is not yet confirm but most probably wil happen, is there any chance of Cross City mini meet? Bangalore+Pune/Mumbai?

[Turboholic]

Dear KSM-Vtec, what i meant by a lot of people is that - a lot of people for 7 am, there were approximately 25 to 30 people there and i did not expect a soul to be there. I dont think being there earlier would do any good because there will be a lot of Fog early in the morning and we would not be able to enjoy neither the sunrise not the Valley of flowers. What i suggest here is ETA 8 to 9 am at the Plateau on 15th.

Dear SDP, please find my answers below:

1. Has the plateau bloomed completely? Or is it in patches and early stages?

The Plateau has not bloomed completely its only in patches and all I could see were the white flower patches with some pink, purple and yellow flower patches. I think that the full Bloom will take at least a weeks time.

2. Exactly where do people pay the fees and get entry tickets?

Just as one approaches the Plateau there is a check post where the fees need to be paid.

3. Is the online registration strictly enforced? Or people can just reach there, pay the fees and get the tickets?

I am not aware about this.

4. Is there a parking arrangement this year? Are they allowing parking on the plateau?

There is a Parking arrangement this year. NO PARKING on the Plateau. Just before you start climbing towards the plateau there is ample space for parking near the School and just after a Dhaba. From there its just a 10 minute walk to the Plateau. How ever I am not sure where the Official parking space is, I have heard that its ahead of the plateau though I am not sure as I did not see it myself.

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

So if there were a lot of people there at 7AM on a Sunday what is our plan going to be like?

Dont you think we should be there earlier? Like just before sunrise?

[KSM-Vtec]

So should we have a show of hands for the team "planning" to visit Kaas on the coming SUNDAY 16th Sept 2012?

[SDP]

This thread seems to have lost steam. :-(
Nothing like the frenzy last year. Did the whole heritage status and prior-registration thingy put people off?

Did any group visited Kaas on 15/16th Sep? Any pics/report?
How was the Kaas weather over the weekend?

[shabahmad]

Hi SDP,

I went there on Saturday, it was cloudy & rainy, with patches of sun light for few seconds. Place is very beautiful and flower blooming happened.

We can got there without registration also. Looking at the weekend rush of tourist Satara Police has started checking documents of your vehicle. They are checking only non MH-11 vehicles. I remained adamant didn't shown my vehicles documents and went ahead.

Thosegar falls was amazing with all 4 falls flowing to Glory.

Regards,

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by shabahmad

Hi SDP,

I went there on Saturday, it was cloudy & rainy, with patches of sun light for few seconds. Place is very beautiful and flower blooming happened.

Thosegar falls was amazing with all 4 falls flowing to Glory.

Regards,

Thats great news, will be great if you can share some pics!

Originally Posted by SDP

Did any group visited Kaas on 15/16th Sep? Any pics/report?

Couldn't go because i wanted to attend the Lewis Hamilton event last evening.

[satrab]

Hi, I plan to drive to Kaas on September 22. Banking on the fact that its Ganpati and hence there would not be too many people. My registration number was 87. Anyone else on this forum planning to travel there on that day?

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Turboholic

...Dear SDP, please find my answers below:
...

Thanks Turboholic for all the information!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visited Kaas yesterday. Very few visitors because of the important festival. In fact that was the prime reason why we chose that day.

The forrest guards were not asking for any registration. Just asked for 10 Rs per adult (kids free) as entry fee and 50 Rs for the camera.

Proper cement concrete poles have been put up so as to fence and cordon off the area. Last year, the fencing was temporary and people were all over the place.

The plateau has bloomed, but not completely. There are lots of green grass patches and the grass (and not the flowers) was the dominant one in some areas. In areas where flowers have bloomed, the pink ones were dominant.

The general understanding is: some color dominates on certain days in certain patches and that's how the plateau looks quite different every few days even during the same season.

The famous donald ducks are in early stages of blooming and are rare on the plateau at this point of time. I just spotted a couple of them and they were about 1/5th of their full-blown size.

Could not spot a few varieties that I saw last year. At the same time, we spotted around 4-5 new varieties this year.

The climate was GREAT. Sunny, no rains. A little bit of cloud cover provided relief from the sun and the heat once in a while.

Would post a few pictures on this thread tonight.