Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Travelogues (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/)

-   -   Magnificent Maharashtra - The Mahalog! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/67725-magnificent-maharashtra-mahalog-7.html)

@vrprabhu. Guess your kaas and thosegar posts are over. So I'm going to continue on mine.
Here's an enticing offer to you. You'd have recognised many places from the teaser pic I've posted. So as and when this log goes there, feel free to do your value addition. Till then request you to hold your posts on other places. It's good to go in a structured manner.
Once again thanks for the great kaas photos. Kaas has become khaas for many people now!

1. Yes
2. I am waiting - and so are plenty of others
3. Thank you
4. I will (gives me some breathing space to organise the pictures, compress them, name and chronologically sort them - never knew it would be so much work!)
5. Definitely. Agreed.
6. Hope so

Thanks again - for starting this thread, and allowing me to post my pictures.

And knowing your generous nature, I would like experts like Ashish Pallod, HVKumar to chip in with their guidance on the route, places of interest etc. That will make it even more worthwhile, won't it?

To all those who like nature / photography / just get away from it all - see this link - Vivek Kale Nature Photography

Maharashtra Champs,

I have not seen any details/trek logs on the Ratangad fort.
Has no-one in TBHP gone there?

I am told its equivalent to KP (Kumara Parvatha) in both effort and emerald beauty.

Waiting for it to unfold here.

@vrprabhu,
excellent promotion of kaas and thoseghar.
The thoseghar waterfall was not in full when you visited that place.
Believe me, at thoseghar, i had seen at least 4 waterfalls at a time five times the size of waterfall you posted.
The fort is sajjangad.

I have visited it thrice. The Amruteshwar temple at the base of the hill is a place worth visiting. (So much so, I took my wife and one and a half year old daughter on my bike - there was no road to speak of, and in some places my wife had to push it from behind!). But have to scan the prints to upload the pictures. Yes, it is a wonderful with breath taking scenery - which is true for any place where the Sahayadri Mountain Range ends...

Can you please enlighten me on "Kumara Parvatha".....

Thanks, Pallod saheb! Is this any road / route to bike to the top or close-by?

Yes, it was the fag end of the monsoon and we were told by locals that the water flow is much less - one villager was suggesting that we camp overnight as there was good chances of rain overnight and make the trip early in the morning - too bad we couldn't follow his advice.

Which reminds me, during my earlier stint in Maharashtra, we used to go to villages for overnight stay (my colleagues used to call it "hurda" - or is it "hulga" (?) parties! Roasted green chana, bajri bakri, pitla for us and gavran komdi and intoxicating brew for those who couldn't do without it... it used to wonderful lying in the haystack and gazing at the clear night sky. Dec - Feb was the season and it used to be cold - the bonfire created its own ambience!)Talk of rural flavour - am sure you will be enjoying these things in Baramati quite often...

MX6, when are you going to continue posting. I was hoping to see you posts:Frustrati. Let vrprabhu continue, if you are too busy to post??

there is no route to the top or close by.
only rocky pathway is the option.
mtdc has built a watch gallery from where one can get very good view of all waterfalls.


its hurda!! raw jawar.
hulga is different thing.

An idea (of hijacking thread) can spark off so many ideas!!. Plenty of scope for other enterprising guys too! :)

You are welcome vrprabhu. The pleasure was mine. AP and HVK are gems of T-BHP. Somehow AP managed to vanish from our t-bhp tapri meet. But on 23rd, I will be meeting the great HVK. Do you want to join me in that thane lunch meet?

Now that you've mentioned, we'll have it in our agenda over the monsoons and append it to this Mahalog.

Yes. the photos showed thosegar reduced to a trickle. It's much grander in the peak of the monsoons.

KP is the ultimate challenge for trekkers in Karnataka. Check on the log by smartcat where there's a lot of pics on KP. Also Addyhemmige came with his version too (though I didn't like the photo of the leeches on his leg). There's also a brave girl who did KP!

Patience Fordmanchau. Patience. Let vrprabhu catch up with a well deserved rest. I'm compressing the photos for today's and tomorrow's uploads! You'll see a lot of action in this log this evening.


True. Sadly, some people don't like the idea of hijacking. I'm pretty happy if people add to my logs. vrprabhu posted some really amazing snaps of the wild flowers of Kaas.

I'm pretty sure that this sept end, there'll be a t-bhp meet there!

Continuation of the Kaas story.

Motoring along the sasvad -jejuri route, we soon came across pathetic roads. I felt like kicking myself as I never expected this kind of roads in Maharashtra at all. For the first time I felt, I should have kept on the NH4 itself.


The road was adjacent to the pune - bangalore rail route (the one that goes through sangli - miraj). And after a while the condition improved dramatically, just like the scenery.
We were coasting along and soon it was time for a short break and a photo session.


Any idea what lake this is?


The scenery was real good. Again I was happy that I took this instead of the NH4


And the happiness shows on my face!


It was almost around 4 pm and I thought it's high time I drive lest it becomes dark. Soon we were at satara and I asked directions to Bogda (tunnel). The trick is to take the right turn before the tunnel to reach kaas. Kaas is 20 odd kilometers from satara on the road that branches off before the famous tunnel.
Pretty easy to locate. Soon we got the first glimps of the Kaas lake.


Sadly, all the flowers had vanished. The colouration you see here is all because of the dried up / dead flower remnants. So much of difference in just a space of 10 days or so. I visited this place 10 days after vrprabhu did.


But I wasn't dismayed. Rather, decided to take some photos in those dying skylights and then enjoy the drive back.
Boy, the sun does set rather fast in these parts.


That's the route we took from home!

Great pics, MX6. Nice to see such natural beauty so near to Pune. I must try to visit this place soon!

Great pics from VRPrabhu too! I enjoyed them tremendously! :)

I voted 5 stars for this thread! Keep up the good work!

My wife was happy with the great open grassland meadow kind of place. Daughter was delighted seeing lakes, hills, sun, trees, animals etc. I decided to take some random snaps


Soon the sun was setting and one last photo before I start driving towards the lake.


Missed the flowers for sure. But still it's a terrific place. With whaever fading light left, I rushed to reach the lake.


However, it became quite dark, hence decided to stop and turn around. This was the closest we got to the lake.


As others stood and watched the fading lights over the lake, I took this snap of my car.


Soon we were back on route to home. Climbing over to the plateau again, this was our visibility. This was how it was for the next 45 mins of drive.


So people who think of camping in kaas, think again. I'd strictly say no to it. It's pitch dark and there can be safety issues. Satara is a better place which is 20 - 30 mins away. Here's a view of satara from the ghat sections towards Kaas, just a few kilometers from the tunnel.

All this time, I was wondering when I subscribed to a thread called "Magnificent Maharashtra". OK, now I know :D

Other than Khandala & Lonavla, I thought there is nothing much to see in Maharashtra - this state never registers as a "touristy" state. But now, I will be watching this thread closely. So what can we expect here?

Beaches? Forts? Hill stations? Treks?

Here are some random photos of Kaas trip photographed using my DSLR with a 10mm wide angle lens. A wide angle lens is a must in places like Kaas. So I'm desperately waiting for september again.

A magical place captured on wide angle. Somewhere between Jejuri and Satara.


First glimpse of Kaas. The electric lines are a big eyesore though.


Evening sun, clouds, Kaas lake and something that caught the fancy of my wife. I love my wide angle lens!


The meadow, that was once full of flowers. Wide angle rocks!


Tyre marks. Some one has had loads of fun off-roading here!


Magical Kaas. And she searches for flowers still.


Every side had a story to say. Every corner had a lonely admirer of nature relaxing.


Sunset at Kaas.


Satara. If you look carefully, the lights with the greenish tinge are actually fireworks. It was dusshera time!


We reached Satara by 8 pm. I decided to take NH4 back home. 10 pm we were back home, thinking still of Kaas.

Coming up next. Elephanta ROCKS!
Sneak peak.