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-   -   Monsoon Masti On 15th August. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/63653-monsoon-masti-15th-august-2.html)

Hey that sounds like "Verandah" of a house.....I suppose the pronounciation is more "Wa-run-dhaa" ghat :)

Ashish,
I was accepting this from you ( Travelogue), two day off will not keep you quiteclap:. But hey why the suspence, please do not keep it pending till tomorrow.

The pic are fanstastic, I have never traveled to this location as what you have describe.
I want more pic and yes finish this travelogue at once as I want to enjoy the endingplease:

uday

3:45pm
Started to move further to see the end of backwater.
I was almost sure that we will hit varandha ghat.
The road to varandha ghat from this dam is fully twisty running along backwater on the mountain.
The traffic is sparse, rather say nil.
There is no truck traffic as varandha ghat is too steep for trucks.
Buses also run ekka-dukka.
Whatever vehicles on road were some cars from pune, some bikers, thats all.
Enjoy the pics.

Improved road.



backwater






wet nature



bikers...


...enjoying waterfall


beautiful waterfall, my new finding on this road


some crazy guys at waterfall


my favorite waterfall in this area,
last time, my friend lost gold ring in this waterfall.


At last, we reached to the end of backwater and start of varandha ghat.

Beautiful valley looking from the top of varandha ghat.


distance from varandha ghat


We were looking at the valley.
Suddenly, my friend shouted," hey, whats that" pointing toward a pinnacle.

REF the square in following picture.


ME: it is wanarlingi[ penis of monkey].
friend: you cheater, last time at jivdhan fort trek, you named that pinnacle there as wanarlingi. now, you say it here.
me[laughing]: in maharashtra, all such pinnacles are termed as wanarlingi. there are too many monkeys in sahyadri, you know.:D
friend: lets go there.
me: we have to go shivtharghal to have close look of that pinnacle.
friends: then, go to shivtharghal.

It was almost 5:00pm standing at the top of varandha ghat and we finalized our destination " shivthar ghal".

Not too many people travel on this road due to bad conditions, remote area, no traffic, no eateries, no villages.

you, rkavathekar and abhijitparadh had correctly guessed the area.

hey uday,
there is no suspense at all. i am writing this travelogue the way it happened.
as earlier mentioned, at the start of trip, we had not fixed any destination.
from baramati to shivtharghal, it is @just 170km but we took 7 hours to cover it.
i will finish this today.

lovely pic, simply awsome. Why I am in Mumbai, I should be staying close to Baramaticlap:

uday

Yes I thought that first teaser pics were those from Varandha ghat alhthough I haven't been in that ghat for ages!

Everytime I travel from Konkan back to Pune it is via Tamhini or Kumbharli ghat near Patan. May be I should try the Mahad route out soon. Good one Ashish!

5:00pm
We still had two hours in hand to explore the area.
Started toward shivtharghal via varandha.
We were hungry as we had not taken our lunch.
There were numerous waterfall along the road.






Reached to vaghjai temple in the ghat.
There are lot of roadside eateries .
Stopped there.
There were some 25 vehicles parked and some crowd.
Ordered pakodas.
Meantime, i took pics of beautiful valley and waterfall.








monkeys




vaghjai temple.


the crowd


roadside eatery


me with friends


biker cum drunker cum dancer


beautiful konkan from top.

5:30 PM
After having fresh pakodas and tea, continued further in the ghat.
There are three/four deadly hairpin turns otherwise ghat is ok.
Halfway in the ghat, there is right turn toward shivtharghal.
This is shortcut while coming from bhor.
Otherwise, main route to shivtharghal is from the village birwadi which come after climbing down entire ghat.
Though this is mere 6 km shortcut, this is highly dangerous road.
There is a ghat on this shortcut. Within span of 2-3km, one is down by almost 1000feet.
Road is also kachcha in the ghat.

varandha ghat


sheer cliff


beautiful temple on shortcut


paddy fields on shortcut


kachcha road of ghat on shortcut


beautiful area


pointed pinnacle


first glimpse of shivthar ghal


full view. look at three stage waterfall



finally, at shivtharghal. time 6 pm sharp.

I see water, water everywhere and still Pune city has a 30% water cut w.e.f today :Frustrati

Ashish, looks like you have learnt the lesson of travelogue telling. Letting the details out of the bag slowly and very slowly and make all the spectators crazy with anticipation. Keep it up:thumbs up

Coming back to your travelogue, your blessed to be living in that region, during May'09 after meeting you and crossing Baramati and Nira river the route turned into one of the most scenic that i ever saw in my life.

So much of greenry and water and look at us, we are living in extended summer till date ( trust me, i still use AC at nights:Frustrati )

Thats the problem with all guys.
the places i visited are near to mumbai rather than baramati.
mumbai people are blessed with so many attractions within reach but they are unable to explore it. mumbai guys, forget expressway and lonavala, venture out to countryside and konkan, there are many surprises for you.

kumbharli ghat is the best and quickest.
tamhini ghat is beautiful.
varandha ghat is lonely, tiresome but also beautiful.

haha, the water in the veer, nira-deodhar and bhatghar dam is reserved for baramati area.
pune guys have water from khadkvasla, panshet, warasgaon and temghar dam and those dams are half filled in this season.

haha,
i learnt the lesson of travelogue from you. your mahabaleshwar travelogue is simply:thumbs up.
regarding water in hyderabad, you have husainsagar na.:D

Please come to Hyderabad and we will be glad to let you swim in Hussain Sagar! (if something happens after that, mobike will be responsible!:D)

The three stage waterfall looks inviting! Any close up pics?

The weather looks awsome, specially when we dont get this kind of weather here in Jaipur.

Ideal time for Chai, pakora and roasted bhutta's.

Great pics Ashish.

You are expecting us to swim in that?:eek:. There was a time i use to do canoening and rowing in those waters and fell in water once and till date that stink hasn't gone...LOL

Sure, i will be waiting at the banks with a K-2 ( a canoe which can seat two people) ready to rescue Ashish, Baywatch stylelol:

Those are beautiful places - all wet and verdant green. And unknown to people outside Maharashtra.
Thanks for sharing these images.