[abhikb]

Prologue:

Road tripping is more addictive than anything else in the world especially for those who love to wander around. To add to it if you love being close to nature and have the right vehicle to take you up close, the addiction becomes a devotion. As many would know Sankranti is celebrated in a big way in Gujarat and everything remains off for couple of days. This time there was an extended weekend available since this holidays came up during the end of the week. Ideal thing is to celebrate kite flying with friends on the first day and then hop onto the road for couple of days.

However, as COVID had been rising very rapidly it was a confusing state what to do, staying back at home was again a difficult thing. Ideal thing was to avoid staying back at a hotel, stopping by for food at roadside restaurants and carry food to last for the day. Spoke about this idea to fellow enthusiasts and few people were ready to join in for the one day trip.

Destination finalization:

So we had a plan set for a day’s trip but then picking up a destination was a cumbersome process, it had to be a mix of trail driving, off roading and some place which will have less or no crowd. After a bit of researching, we decided to visit Mandan, Ninai waterfalls and Dahel.

This would mean we will covering atleast 650-700 Kms in a single day and will be on the road for atleast 15-16 hours. It would test the endurance, patience and the craving to explore the unseen. Anyhow when you have like minded road trippers in the pack, it’s just a matter of adjusting to the trip requirement.

About the place:

Mandan:



Mandan is a small village in Narmada district of Gujarat which houses the reservoir of Kanjari dam. The place has a huge water body in midst of a plateau and surrounded by hills all around. It is about 200 kms from Ahmedabad, 90 kms from Vadodara and about 120 kms from Surat. During the monsoon season the area is completely submerged in lush green cover and the area looks quite similar to Khajiar barring the pine trees.

Ninai Waterfalls:



Ninai is a waterfall in Dediapada taluka of Narmada district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The height of Ninai falls is more than 30 feet. Ninai Falls has tremendous beauty around it. It is situated in Dediapada's beautiful forest ranges besides Shoolpaneshwar wildlife sanctuary.

Ninai is located off State Highway 163 (Gujarat). It is approximately 35 km from Dediapada and approximately 143 km from Surat. Nearest railway station is Bharuch which is around 125 km away and nearest airport is Surat.

Route and driving statistics:



The route to Mandan from Ahmedabad is pretty simple, one needs to drive to Vadodara, then turn towards Rajpipla and keep driving upto SOU (Statue of Unity). Once the junction towards SOU is arrived, need to continue towards a small village named Gadit.

From Mandan to reach Ninai Water fall, the driving distance is about 60 Kms/1.5 Hours one side, one needs to go via Dediapada into the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife sanctuary and then take a left towards the waterfall.

Driving Statistics are as follows:

Start time and date : 7:30 am, 15.01.2022
End time and date: 1:00 am, 16.01.2022
Driving distance: 650 Kms
Driving time: 17.5 hours

The Machines:

1) Thar 700 CRDe Aquamarine
2) Thar 2020 Diesel Manual HT Red Rage
3) Thar 2020 Diesel Manual HT Rocky Beige
4) XUV700 Petrol Manual Electric Blue

Pre Plans for the toddlers:

We were supposed to travel with 4 toddlers all aged between 1 years to 3 years. This being a full day, 17+ hours drive it was imperative that proper planning is done for the toddlers right from their sleep, fooding, clothing and everything. Since this drive was to the remotest part where chances of finding something proper to eat is rare, we packed enough food for them to last a full day. Also had packed multiple pair of clothes, socks, shoes and the list goes on. The intent was that we adult need to be ready for the worst but need to ensure that the routine of the toddlers are not disturbed.

Few of the things we worked upon is as follows:

1) Make sure you are carrying meals for the baby including dinner stuff as for any other reasons you may not find a proper place to get food.
2) Carry Atleast 2-3 pairs of clothes for the day because kids love to run around in the outfield and in all probability will spoil their clothes.
3) It’s okay for them to have a cheat day(within limits) while traveling.
4) Keep a tab of their regular nap times since they will fall asleep around that time, while traveling in a car is the best place for them to take a nap.
5) Adequate set of diapers, extra pair of footwear, few toys which they play with regularly.
6) Try to engage them into enjoying outside views, as a kid my parents would ask me to read the names of the places that I see from the window, for smaller kids showing them places, animals keeps them engaged.
7) On the outfield just let them run loose and enjoy being outside.
8) Try to get them into learning the words that you do, for example my daughter Ayona knows that we drive in a Jeep and we go off road or roaming around.

[abhikb]

The Drive:



We had planned to assemble at Shantipura circle at 6:30 am in the morning, the plan was to leave the city by 7 am so that we can reach Mandan before 12pm, then reach Ninai Falls by 3pm and finally close the day at Dahel. However, as it happens with maximum trips for some or the other reasons you ought to get delayed. Same things followed suit in this case and we could finally leave the city by 8 am. A delay by a hour meant we have skip 1 place, Mandan being the first point there was no point in dropping it, there was a choice between Ninai falls and Dahel, we ultimately chose to skip Dahel and cover Mandan & Ninai Falls.

While going 2 Thars and 1 XUV700 was to assemble and 1 more Thar belonging to AnishD who had driven to SOU a day prior and had stayed overnight at Ramada resort, They were to join us at Rajpipla and continue the trip further.


New product, New Logo and a New dawn of an era for Mahindra

It was bone chilling cold in the Morning, typical winter morning the we started. We woke up at 5am and had that typical excitement before starting a road trip. By 6:15 am we were ready and all set to get into our 3507, Ayona was still sleeping at this time and we didn’t bother to wake her up, snuggled her into a blanket and quickly took her along with us. We took the SP ring road towards Aslali circle and then through the old NH48 upto Vadodara. At about 8 am we reached Aslali circle and hoped to NH48, since most of the people take the NE-1 (expressway) to Vadodara this highway remains empty and is cruising lover’s paradise. Another 1 hr and 15 minutes later we reached Vadodara, since all of us had started early morning it was apt to stop over for a quick breakfast. As we turned on the Vadodara-Dabhoi route we stopped by a small highway side restaurant and got some fresh typical Gujarati breakfast.

The driving time till Mandan was another 2 hours from the breakfast point, instead going through SOU we decided to take the Dabhoi-Rajpipla stretch which proved to be a disaster since at lot many stretches the road widening and flyover works are going on which slowed us down eventually. Anyways after juggling with bad roads we crossed Rajpipla where bhpian AnishD was waiting for us to join.

Without wasting much time we started our drive to Mandan which was 25 Kms away, this was our second visit to this place, the first one was during the monsoons (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ve-mandan.html (4 Thars & a Monsoon drive to Mandan)). There’s a small ghat section which is required to be covered before reaching Mandan. The ghat is little bit occupied with Truck traffic especially the ones which carry goods to MH. Anyways we reached Mandan in another half and hours time, during the monsoon the place was lush green and the water level was less as compared to this time. As soon as you enter the place is completely submerged under water.





We evaluated different options on what to do further, we finally decided to take a small patch of road on the left which was partially submerged under water, for a regular car it’s not advisable to try but since we had Thars this was not an issue, the XUV700 was parked at the entrance though. Once we were on the other side of the patch there was a kachcha road which was again submerged under water but led to an island on the other side. One of us went inside on foot first to check the depth of the water, we observed it’s knee deep on the coast side and could be covered in 4L. So we took the plunge and all the 3 Thars made its way to the island with ease.

The island was surrounded by the water body all around and was much peaceful, something which we miss in the regular city lives. We had packed our lunch beforehand as we knew there would be barely any options to have food in that area. It was a typical day out in the lap of nature for us, the sweets winter afternoon, the green surroundings, silence and serenity all around. The ladies wanted to do boating, hence we finalized a couple of them to ferry the them along with the little ones. While we guys waited on the coast and it was a typical automotive discussions, probably the best part of being in the company of petrol heads.


That’s mine and bhpian AnishD’s family


Favorite pastime for petrol heads

Once the kids and the ladies were back from boating, it was time to leave Mandan and drive towards Ninai falls which was a 1.5 hours drive. But to get back to the road we had again do a bit of water wading and then take the kachcha road to the main highway.

The clock ticked 3pm, we were there for good two hours doing a bit of trail driving, chit chatting on automobiles and what not. As we started our journey towards Ninai Falls, Ayona was fast asleep to complete her quota of afternoon sleep. Mobile networks don’t work apart from BSNL and Jio so finding the right road will be a bit tricky. Anyways we had Jio connections so the GPS took us through the Shoolpaneshwar sanctuary, the roads are tarred but single lane and has small ghat sections at few places.







Once you approach Ninai Falls, you need to turn left from the main road onto a broken tarmac patch for another hour or so. From the parking spot there’s a small trek required to be done to reach the base of the falls, monsoons are the best time to visit this place, during winters the flow of water is less as compared. The sand beneath is soft sand hence it’s advisable not to go in deep waters alone.













We spent about a hour at the foot of the falls and then did the trek upto the parking spot. The time was about 5:30 Pm now and it was imperative to make our way out since it was tribal belt and with no mobile network or a soul around in the dark it would be a risky drive in the night. We had planned to visit Dahel but dropped the plan, maybe can visit some other time.

Once we crossed dediapada we stopped for a quick cup of tea at a road side tea stall, then had to stop for refueling at a nearby petrol pump,even though mobile network is not available all the petrol pumps accept card payments.

The ghat section between Mandan and Rajpipla had to be crossed in the dark now and somehow we noticed that the trucks traffic has increased in the evening time. Me and bhpian AnishD were the most experienced ones in Hill driving, so I took the lead and Anish da drove last and the rest of the two vehicles drove between us.

At around 10 PM in the night we joined back the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway just a little ahead of Vadodara and stopped by a good restaurant for dinner. Post dinner we started the final leg of the journey by 11 PM, it was a couple of hours drive and the roads were completely empty, by 1 AM we were back home, the little ones were asleep by this time which was quite obvious given the long journey time of close to 17 hours.

Conclusion:

A Road trip becomes lot more easy and enjoyable when you have like minded people for company. Even though we started early morning and reached back home this late, there was not a single sign of drop in enthusiasm.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[abhatt]

Mandan is a good place.

I would NEVER visit there over a weekend or public holiday though. People in India destroy it with plastic wrappers. It's a shame that people in the Modi land itself do not follow the most basic step of Swachh Bharat

[abhikb]

Originally Posted by abhatt

Mandan is a good place.

I would NEVER visit there over a weekend or public holiday though. People in India destroy it with plastic wrappers. It's a shame that people in the Modi land itself do not follow the most basic step of Swachh Bharat

Agreed to what you said, not only just plastic wrappers I have seen people literally urinating in the flowing water. There’s a difference in being civilized and being cultured, the difference is pretty much evident.

[zalaps]

Originally Posted by abhikb

Thar 700 CRDe Aquamarine

Hey abhikb,
Nice travelogue. Beautiful pics.
How's 700 doing?

[vikas2211]

Very nice trip. Seems to be a perfect family (with friends) getaway.

[XDriver]

abhikb, congrats on the lovely road trip ! The 4 Mahindras look fab together ! Nice images and the waterfall shots are amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[abhikb]

Originally Posted by zalaps

Hey abhikb,
Nice travelogue. Beautiful pics.
How's 700 doing?

Hello Sir, good to hear from you after a long time. The 700 has been doing exceptionally well, have clocked close 37K Kms in a span of 2 years. No niggles and manufacturing defects so far and runs butter smooth be it city driving, highway runs or off roading. To sum it enjoying every mile of ownership.

Originally Posted by vikas2211

Very nice trip. Seems to be a perfect family (with friends) getaway.

Originally Posted by XDriver

abhikb, congrats on the lovely road trip ! The 4 Mahindras look fab together ! Nice images and the waterfall shots are amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you guys, as soon as these beauties stand together the hand moves to the phone and there’s a continuous spree of photos.

Mahindra fanboy speaks

[vikas2211]

Originally Posted by abhikb

Hello Sir, good to hear from you after a long time. The 700 has been doing exceptionally well, have clocked close 37K Kms in a span of 2 years.

Are you sure 2years on 700? Its hardly few months right?

[abhikb]

Originally Posted by vikas2211

Are you sure 2years on 700? Its hardly few months right?

Hi Vikas,

The 700 here in the scenario is my Thar 700 CRDe and not the XUV700. Before discontinuing Thar CRDe, M&M manufactured a special edition of last 700 Thars and gave the name to the model as Thar 700 CRDe.