“Aaj Kuch Tufani Karte Hai” and “Dar
ke Aage Jeet Hai” these were the two slogans which came in my mind during our
adventurous and trilling trek from Dhavale gaon (based at bottom of the
chandragad fort) to Arthur Seat (Tourist point at Mahabaleshwar). These two
slogans truly describes our entire whole day and night adventure we did during
our trek. Before writing about the whole adventure, I just want to share some
statistics and information with you, so one can get better idea.
It took us 8hrs 30mins to complete the whole trek,
from which 6hrs was in a day light and remaining 2hrs 30mins was in dark night
with a help of torch. It was dense jungle and steep mountain range. We climbed
almost 4000ft during our trek.
It is the first time in my whole life I am writing a
blog or article. But it was really impossible for me to keep these adventurous
stuffs only with myself. So I decided to share this experience with you guys.
Let me warn you that it may not be a beautiful article, because I am not a good
writer, but the stuffs and the pictures inside it are really great ones to
share.
So now get
ready and tighten your seat belts because we are now going for a most trilling
and adventurous trekking ride, which we have experience and we all called it, “Once
in a life time experience”. Then what was the worrisome factor? That we were 16
of us and all of them weren’t prepared for kuch bhi and kaise bhi..!!!
It
all started on Saturday morning, a mini bus was booked which left from Pune at
6.30am in morning. Everyone was picked from their location; by taking the name of "Ganpati Bapa" we started the journey. We took the route of Bhor Ghat to reach
Poladpur. At 10am we stopped for a breakfast near Bhor Ghat. After having a spicy
Misal Pav and Garam Vada Pav we left again to Poladpur and tried to reach as
soon as possible.
Around 11.30am we reached Poladpur. We went out to
the market and brought some food and water which can help us during our trek,
more importantly few small torch light and whistles. After taking such
important stuffs we left for Dhavale Gaon. From Poladpur took the road to
Mahabaleshwar, few KM later take a diversion called ‘Kapade Phata’. It is a bit
of Kacha road, on the way we encounter a village of brave Maratha warrior
‘Tanaji Malusare’ and ‘Shelar Mama’ called Umarath. From there we proceed to
Dhavale Gaon, it is at the dead end of the road and surrounded by mountains in
all directions.
Our driver left us in Dhawale
village by 12.30pm and he went back, so that he can pick up at Arthur Seat.
After reaching the village 1st task was to find a guide. So we asked
few villagers to guide us, but no one was getting ready to leave their home in
afternoon heat. After few request one man (Vitthal More) said he will come, but
on one condition that he will guide us only till half way.
So around 1pm our trek started, we took the name of
‘The Great Maratha Warrior – Shivaji Maharaj’ and left the village. From ‘Dhavale
Gaon’ to ‘Arthur Seat’ via ‘Ghumti’.
This is where our 1st slogans comes in “Aaj
kuch tufani karte hai”. First it looked very easy for us, but after every step
it was getting much harder and harder with sun straight on our head. After
half hour the real jungle trek started.
Sun was drinking out the fluids from
our body. After entering the jungle we got some relief from the sun but the
mountain started taking a test of our ability. It started getting steeper and
steeper. 5mins break after every steep climb was necessary. We all carried at
least 2 litres of water with us, but it was never going to fulfil our thirst
for next 8hrs. So it was necessary to take only a sip of water at one time and preserve the
rest.
We kept on doing this for almost next 4hrs. All were
getting exhausted, but the water and the Glucon-D kept our energy level up and
don’t forget the enthusiasm to continue the trek.
From this point, we got the first look of Chandragad
fort, our guide ‘More Mama’ also left at this place. Before going he told us to
just follow the path to reach the Arthur Seat. All thought that from here, the
route may get easier, but our hope doesn’t stay for long time. It got more
difficult than it was earlier. Below photo will describe better than me.
Mountain was getting steeper and steeper. We have to
get more alert, because there was a deep valley on one side and the path was slippery,
one wrong foot and you’re down 1000ft. One of my friends was getting cramps in
his feet, he was not even able to walk cleanly, and it was difficult for him to
climb such steep ends. But with the belief and hopes he kept on walking with a
strong mind set.
After climbing through Steep
Mountain and dense jungle for more than 5hrs we reached Ghumati. There was a
small ancient temple at ghumati. The view from there was so mind blowing and peaceful
with the entire mountain range looking so tiny and we were so near to nature.
Everyone was so happy to reach our first target
because we were told by our guide that we will get some water source near
ghumati. All started searching for it nearby ghumati, later we got some water
source but there was a bad news that water was not drinkable. We all got a
440 volts shock because all our water which we carried was over and every one was
so tired and thirsty and still our 3hrs trek was remaining. One more bad news
was that sun was setting down and we have to continue our trek in dark night
with help of torch and no water.
Now the real adventurous difficulty
was going to start because what we did till now was in a clear day light with
better visibility. But now it was the same Steep Mountain and dense jungle in dark
night with low visibility of torch. This was going to be a challenge for all of
us, because we were not sure of the path and also we were not able to see more
than 10 meters further. Sorry I am not able to provide pictures of night
adventure because of low visibility and we all were just thinking of one thing,
to reach the top as soon as possible before the torch batteries gets over.
We were walking in small-small group
of 4-5 peoples, each group having at least 2 torches and one whistle. Slowly-slowly
we walk further taking care of each other and describing the path to the
peoples behind us, so that they can carefully follow each other without getting
any injury. Just walking and walking and still no signs of Arthur seats. What to
do? Are we on right path? When are we going to reach? Should we take a halt or
just keep walking? All such questions were going through our mind. Everyone was
just helpless; there was no other option but just to walk on the path. But no
one was willing to stop, even the steep climbs, dense jungle and deep valleys
were not able to stop us. We were just walking without taking any break this time,
without any water, without any food, only one target, to reach as soon as
possible.
Now it was 8.30 pm, one of our groups
was way further then us. The path which we were following got over at a steep vertical
wall of almost 20ft. They told us to stay at place where we were and they will
climb that vertical mountain and check whether there is any way forward towards
Arthur seat. We all waited, soon one guy who climb the vertical mountain
shouted “Modhen pan vaknar nahi, thaken pan thambnar nahi”. We asked him what happened.
He said that he saw the railing of Arthur seat. All of us got so happy and
excited, started dancing in middle of jungle and mountains. We all started
shouting “Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhavani” in middle with excitement.
But don’t forget still there is a
hurdle to complete, the steep vertical wall of almost 20ft. we decided that one
time only one person will climb that vertical wall and other guys will help him
by showing light of the torch. One has to use his both hands and legs to climb
that wall because there was a 1000ft deep valley below that wall. Your one
mistake can cost you all. To get a better idea about that vertical wall I have
posted a picture of it below. That picture doesn’t belong to us, it is of someone
else who climbed that same wall, and this is just to give you a better idea of
what we climb at 9pm in dark night with help of dim torch.
After completing that last hurdle we finally reached
the Arthur seat at 9.30pm. We all were very excited to complete our trek with
such great enthusiasm. I can’t describe that feeling in words and there our 2nd
slogans comes “Dar ke aage jeet Hai”. All started shouting like mad peoples at
the Arthur seat. We achieved what we aimed for.
Our driver was waiting with our bus
at Arthur seat; he was also worried about us. Now its time for a final group
photos. So this ‘once in a life time experience’ stays with us for whole life.
Moments which can’t be forgot for whole life.
Thank
You all you guys for giving your precious time to read this article. Hope you
all love my experience and you too are willing to do such in your life.
Please
do comment after reading the article because yours comments are the only gift i can get for sharing this experience with you, so that next time it will encourage me for writing even better stuffs.
