Date: 5th April'09
Base Village: Samrad
Group: Chakram Hikers
4th April '09: Me and my dad started by train to Mulund where we were supposed to meet Rajan; the group leader and catch bus for the trek. The trek was supposed to be beautiful and easy. I had expected a group to 8-10 people but a whopping 28 people were for this trek. We started by bus towards our destination. After moving ahead of Thane and and bus taking speed, the mood for antakshri took over. We sang lot of songs and not to mention, My dad did sing some 'Dard Bhare Nagme'. For some youngsters maybe it was too much a dose of the Dard-E-Dil Songs..Nevertheless we enjoyed...
5th April' 09: We had a stop at a Hotel before Kasara Ghat and had some tea and continued towards destination. The base village was Samrad near Ghoti. We reached village and immediately went near Village temple and dozed off. It was already 5.00 A.M. in morning to
sleep. I woke up late at 7.10 A.m. did my brush and tea was ready. Chakram's arrangements are really good. After that we had some 'poha' and started by 8.15 A.M. towards Sandhan, a gorge. A villager in whose house our lunch arrangements were made came along with us as guide. We have to walk towards Ratangad and take a right diversion, cross some plains and you r at the beginning of gorge. The first look at it and you are mesmerized at nature’s creation. Both sides are rocky walls and between a short passage to cross. Some huge stones scattered and some water here and there. I think fish population in the water holes was quite large, may be because water is drying up. In rainy season this place must be heaven. We went ahead and had to climb down a big boulder where we could hear some water falling. When we got down we could see some water falling from under boulder but was quite inside; the caves like formation. After this we moved ahead and come across a place where a small pond had blocked our way. Only way was to cross passing though the same or walking on a small rock cut on side wall and then crossing a bridge made of tree trunk(4-6 inch wide only). Here we waited for someone to fall on pond while doing this activity. But our bad luck even fatso people managed to cross this with some help. ‘Chayla ek hi no ball nahi padla’. Then we moved ahead and crossed a python which I supposed was killed by some village people and place was stinking. We moved ahead and again came across water pond blocking gorge. Here there was no option but to walk through water and to add to our woes we had a poisonous snake (must be viper) on the side wall. We managed to cross this and water was too cold. In this hot summer it was great feeling. Some people did fall in this water and it was great show. We named some females as ‘Lakme fashion week’ participants and waited for their ramp walk i.e. how they will fall off in the water. Then we moved ahead and saw a high wall ahead where some ‘kaman’ had been built on top. Some people do ‘Flying Fox’ activity from here. It really must be thrilling. Next time If I go to Sandhan, I will go for this activity. I went to edge of Sandhan and had a good look at ‘Ajoba’. The valley was really beautiful and mesmerizing, you can also see the bottom of valley from this edge…Then we had some snacks and moved back. Enroute I had good snaps of signature spider and tht dead python. The water crossing activity was thrilling this time as we waited to count how many people go down this time and it was really funny. Then we climbed up the gorge at one place on Samrad Plateau and reached edge of valley. It was beautiful. The big rock mountains and ‘c’ shaped valley was too scenic. Opposite yo
u can see ‘Agni Baan’ Pinnacles and ‘Ajoba’ . Backside you can see range of ‘Alang-Kulang-Madan’ . After this we returned to Samrad and had lunch. Poli, Bhaji ani Dal bhat was excellent. After this Kiran ne aanlele rassogulla was like icing on cake. We had great lunch and started towards ‘Balwantgad’.
5th April' 09: We had a stop at a Hotel before Kasara Ghat and had some tea and continued towards destination. The base village was Samrad near Ghoti. We reached village and immediately went near Village temple and dozed off. It was already 5.00 A.M. in morning to
sleep. I woke up late at 7.10 A.m. did my brush and tea was ready. Chakram's arrangements are really good. After that we had some 'poha' and started by 8.15 A.M. towards Sandhan, a gorge. A villager in whose house our lunch arrangements were made came along with us as guide. We have to walk towards Ratangad and take a right diversion, cross some plains and you r at the beginning of gorge. The first look at it and you are mesmerized at nature’s creation. Both sides are rocky walls and between a short passage to cross. Some huge stones scattered and some water here and there. I think fish population in the water holes was quite large, may be because water is drying up. In rainy season this place must be heaven. We went ahead and had to climb down a big boulder where we could hear some water falling. When we got down we could see some water falling from under boulder but was quite inside; the caves like formation. After this we moved ahead and come across a place where a small pond had blocked our way. Only way was to cross passing though the same or walking on a small rock cut on side wall and then crossing a bridge made of tree trunk(4-6 inch wide only). Here we waited for someone to fall on pond while doing this activity. But our bad luck even fatso people managed to cross this with some help. ‘Chayla ek hi no ball nahi padla’. Then we moved ahead and crossed a python which I supposed was killed by some village people and place was stinking. We moved ahead and again came across water pond blocking gorge. Here there was no option but to walk through water and to add to our woes we had a poisonous snake (must be viper) on the side wall. We managed to cross this and water was too cold. In this hot summer it was great feeling. Some people did fall in this water and it was great show. We named some females as ‘Lakme fashion week’ participants and waited for their ramp walk i.e. how they will fall off in the water. Then we moved ahead and saw a high wall ahead where some ‘kaman’ had been built on top. Some people do ‘Flying Fox’ activity from here. It really must be thrilling. Next time If I go to Sandhan, I will go for this activity. I went to edge of Sandhan and had a good look at ‘Ajoba’. The valley was really beautiful and mesmerizing, you can also see the bottom of valley from this edge…Then we had some snacks and moved back. Enroute I had good snaps of signature spider and tht dead python. The water crossing activity was thrilling this time as we waited to count how many people go down this time and it was really funny. Then we climbed up the gorge at one place on Samrad Plateau and reached edge of valley. It was beautiful. The big rock mountains and ‘c’ shaped valley was too scenic. Opposite you can see ‘Agni Baan’ Pinnacles and ‘Ajoba’ . Backside you can see range of ‘Alang-Kulang-Madan’ . After this we returned to Samrad and had lunch. Poli, Bhaji ani Dal bhat was excellent. After this Kiran ne aanlele rassogulla was like icing on cake. We had great lunch and started towards ‘Balwantgad’. This fort is very easy to climb and there are hardly any remnants to 
prove this fort exists. There is only one patch of fort wall left and some water tanks. Here we made our ‘Kokam Sarbat with Jaljeera’ Combo. Then we climbed down and had a feedback of trek from everyone. Then we returned and had a round of songs and sher-o-shayri in Bus. We reached Mulund back at 9.45 P.M. in night and then caught train back to Dombivli. I was happy that my dad successfully completed the same.
prove this fort exists. There is only one patch of fort wall left and some water tanks. Here we made our ‘Kokam Sarbat with Jaljeera’ Combo. Then we climbed down and had a feedback of trek from everyone. Then we returned and had a round of songs and sher-o-shayri in Bus. We reached Mulund back at 9.45 P.M. in night and then caught train back to Dombivli. I was happy that my dad successfully completed the same.
Good Write Up Buddy !
ReplyDeleteNitin Khachar
Good trek report and photo!! keep it up!!
ReplyDelete