Home of Clouds: Malshej

    Do you remember song 'Nile Nile Amber Par'  from Hindi movie 'Kalakar' and the lyrics  in it 'unnche unnche parvat jab chumte hai amber ko, pyasa pyasa amber jab chumta hai sagar ko'? These lines enlighten the potent affection in love. To reveal this affection and attraction in love, lyricist gave example of love between mountain and clouds. By looking at these pictures you would feel the same emotions that the lyricist wants to say.
    After looking at the scenery this song easily came to my mind. During rain it is always being pleasant and enjoying environment at Malshej. To experience this natural delight people come to Malshej. So you would like to plan your next trip monsoon to Malshej, right?

Showering Malshej

     

     Here is county of fun, the Malshej ghat. You can enjoy clouds, rain, rainbow, waterfalls, water spring at one place. And for all these we do not have to go far away because all the fun is available on the road or nearby road. Now days Malashej is getting popularity like Lonavala and Khandala.

     In monsoon youths from Mumbai, Pune gather here to enjoy rain and waterfalls. Gathering of youths and dancing in rain is like welcome to new season rain with celebration. After some heavy rains you can find almost 7-8 good waterfalls to enjoy a shower of nature. Sometimes during weekend due to crowd the highway becomes walker's zone and you can't drive easily. Besides youths families also come here to enjoy nature.
 

     After dancing in rains and taking shower in waterfall any one would like to have 'Pakode' or 'Bhaji' and tea. During monsoon local people set small tea stall where you can find hot tea, all kinds of 'Pakode' and roasted corns. So gear up for your next monsoon trip at Malshej.

     In next post I would like to share beautiful pictures of clouds at Malshej. So stay tuned. 

Gateway of Fun

Gateway of Fun at Malshej Ghat

    It is  tunnel at Malshej Ghat. Its rally gateway of fun, you would enjoy this ghat section during all seasons. However rainy season has its own charm. You would be in country of clouds. In winter you can see beautiful landscape of ghat and Harishchndra gad .Its just 100 km away from Kalyan - Mumbai and 120 km away from Pune. As I said earlier you can have combo pack of trips as there are many sites to enjoy like Harishchadra gad, Shivaneri and Lenyadri.
   This post is also a gateway to my forthcoming posts that will have all about Malshej ghat and Harishchandra gad.

Birth Place of King Shivaji : Shivaneri

     Raja of Maharashtra 'Chatrapati Shivaji' was born at Shivaneri Fort. Shivaji is being at the epicenter of history of Maharashtra. This fort is on a plain, isolated hilltop. This is the perfect place to see historical monuments plus nature's beauty. One can visit Shivaneri at any time of year however sprinkling monsoon and winter would be the perfect season. I have been there twice during February and July. Here I enjoyed my photography the most because during sunset the colors in sky are just awesome. You can see colors sprinkled all over the sky from West to East.

Birth Place of Shivaji

      On toe of hill there is a town called Junnar which is in Pune district. Junnar is historical place and there are many picnic points around junnar like Shivaneri, Lenyadri, Ozar, Malashej ghat and Harshchandra gad. At Lenaydri and Ozar there are temples of Lord Ganesha. These are the two temple out of famous 8 'Ashtavinayakas’  (8 holy temples of lord Ganesha in Maharashtra). 

Marble plate state that Shivaji was born on 19 Feb 1630

     Shivaneri is just 90-95 km away from Pune and 130-150 Km away from Mumbai. There is only road conveyance available. You can park your vehicles at the toe of hill and you can go to top of hill using stone steps. On the way you can see well maintained fortification and beautiful, huge gates. The landscape around it creates attractive scenery.

First Gate of Shivaneri Fort

     At mid there is a small temple of deity 'Shivai'.  People say that Shivaji's mother was praying to this deity for bright and brave son who can bring peace and independence in region. The ‘Mahal’ where Shivaji was born is still there. From this palce you can see hill of Lord Lenyadri. 

Old Chapha tree

In Maharashtra, this fort is one of the well maintained forts. On the way different gardens are maintained where you can see different types of flowers.  Now days various species of trees are preserved so one can see verity of trees  over here.

Three Idiots

These photos may tell you that this is must see place. Not only this, you can have one day trip in which you can visit 2-3 places popular of Maharashtra which are around the Junnar town. 

Sunset Visible from a Gate of Shivaneri

 
 

Happy Dipawali

Wishing all a prosperous and happy Dipawali, Enjoy the festival of light . a

Fascinating Rajmachi

Fortification of Rajmachi

    
     Suppose that you are on top of clouds and walking over it. And you can see your shadow on the clouds and your shadow is encircled by beautiful rainbow and it looks like enlightenment around devata's, How would you feel? Is it just imagination? Certainly not, its not imagination, its my true experience when I visited 'Rajmachi' for first time. Though we were tired by walking for 5-6 hrs, the pleasant weather and scenery at this place made us feel energetic. We fall in love of this fascinating place. Since then during every monsoon I have been there. Rajmachi is small fort or watch tower where you can enjoy the true nature. If you want to experience all sheds of rainy season in a single day then it is right place.  

The Rajmachi

Beautiful Waterfall, this is the view from Rajmachi

      
      During monsoon, people go to Lonava, Khandala hill stations to see picnic points like Bhushi Dam, Monkey point and the park in Khandala and these are the most crowded places where one may not enjoy the true nature and it's beauty. Most of people don't know the remote and untouched points like Rajmachi. However the trek lovers from Pune, Mumbai knows this beautiful place near Lonavala and few of them might had visited it. 

On the way of Rajmachi there are such Water streams

     It is the only destination where you can also enjoy the way towards it. While walking to this fort you can see many small big water falls, also you can enjoy playing in water streams. During monsoon and Winter the weather is fantastic and you can enjoy air conditioning of nature. This place is great delight for nature photographer.  

     Rajmachi is situated at north of Lonavala (Maharashtra) city. The distance from Lonavala city is around 22-24 km. This is ideal place for horizontal trek, one can start from Tungarli village which is adjacent to Lonavala. You need to cross Pune - Mumbai express way and at the first hill there is a telephone tower which is visible form most parts of expressway. On that hill there are many beautiful dwelling. From here you can see Rajmachi emerging out of clouds.

   Till the end there is rough road available and you can drive using vehicles like 4 x 4. However this road is not suitable for other vehicles. From last 2-3 years motorcyclist trying to use this route but due to some muddy areas and water streams on road diving is not easy and you need to leave your vehicle in between. However during winter this option may be feasible. If you are trekker then keep in mind that you have to walk for 5-6 hrs from Lonavala to Rajmachi and then come back. The trekkers which had been gone there 2-3 times sometimes prefer to trek in nights. I had tried this 2 times, the only drawback in night trekking is that you cannot enjoy surrounding nature until morning.

   Near Rajmachi there is a small village called Thakurvadi. Here you can find some food and breakfast. The villagers says that they can go to Lonavala within 2 hours. But urban guys like us can not make it within 4 hrs. To reach here, there is another route from a small train station between Karjat and Khandala.