One has to go to Sangameshwar in Kokan. Marleshwar temple, and Mahimatgad are in the vicinity of Sangameshwar. From Sangameshwar, there is a village called Kundi. This is one of the base village for the jungle. Sangameshwar is accessible by bus and train (Kokan Railway). We had taken a bus from Pune.
24-Jan-2009
11:00 PM Departure from Pune
We started from Ferguson Collage main gate. The bus was little late.
25-Jan-2009
6:00 AM Sangameshwar railway station
The bus halted at a hotel opposite to Sangameshwar railway station. It was dark. All of us waited for the hotel to open and have breakfast. The hotel did not open for long.
Meanwhile, Pinakin had setup a spotting scope in the open field to watch birds. There were several birds that one could identify. We interacted a lot with Pinakin. He had an amazing knowledge about several things. It was time well spent interacting.
On the flip side, we did not utilize our time for the purpose we were there.
Finally the hotel opened at around 9:30 AM. We had our breakfast. Plan for the day was laid. At last, we started for our first place.
11:00 AM Sambhaji maharaj memorial
We reached Sangameshwar village. We saw a statue of Sambhaji maharaj. It was sad to know how he was captured from this village and taken as a prisoner to Aurangzeb. Sambhaji maharaj's own brother in laws were involved in this treachery.
11:30 PM Karneshwar temple at Sangameshwar
A few meters from this statue, we visited a very old Shiva temple. This is Karneshwar temple. The temple is very old. It has beautiful carvings in stone. One should fall in love of this temple. It is a priceless heritage that our ancestors have left us.
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Karneshwara temple |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Karneshwara temple |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Karneshwara temple |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Karneshwara temple |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Karneshwara temple |
12:30 PM Shiva temple at Sangam
After seeing Karneshwar temple, we left to the confluence of two rivulets. The sangam has one old temple. This is Shiva temple. There are few trees surroundings. The place was very calm and peaceful.
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Sangam of two streams |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Shiva temple at sangam |
5:00 PM Lunch
Our next destination was Maral. However, it was 2:00 PM when we were at the base. We decided to have our lunch first and then go to Maral.
The wait was too long! Meanwhile, we went behind the restaurant. This was a dry river bed. We spent some time in the calm place.
Finally at 5:00 PM, we could have our lunch.
6:00 PM Marleshwar temple and waterfalls at Maral
After our lunch, we went to Maral to visit the Marleshwar temple. The temple is situated in the hill. Nice steps are constructed along with railings. At last, we reached the cave. Had darshan of Shiva. The scene is very beautiful outside the cave. It is said that until a few years ago, a lot of snakes used to lie in the cave. Now that everything is constructed, there are only idols of snakes.
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Marleshwar temple |
Behind the temple, there is a waterfall. Some of us had a bath in the waterfall.
By the time we were back at the base of the temple, it was pitch dark. This was no moon night. The sky was very clear. Pinakin explained us how to track the directions from the night sky.
9:00 PM Halt at Kundi village school
We came to the village Kundi. Arrangement was made for night stay in a school. It was supposed to be inaugurated the very next day on the 26th Jan.
11:00 PM Dinner
Initially, there was no light in the school. We took out torches. Soup and pulav was prepared for dinner. We slept in the school keeping in mind that we must vacate the school very early the next day.
26-Jan-2009
7:30 AM Start trekking to Mahimatgad
We woke up before the daybreak and readied ourselves for the trek. The students started gathering in the school for flag hoisting.
We kept our bags in the bus and started to trek.Immediately afterwards, we could experience that this was a forest with lot of trees. By chance, there is a half constructed road. This road was supposed to cross the Sahyadris and open on the other side. However, since this was an area of dense forest, the permission was denied fortunately.
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Palash tree |
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Jungle around |
At one point, we left the road for small foot way. This traversed through dense trees. At one point there is a slope with slippery grass.
9:30 AM Reached the fort
Finally we reached the entrance of the fort. It is broken with lot of stones falling in front of the entrance.
As soon as we enter the fort, there is a temple. Now there is nothing left. Some base of a pillar gives testimony that the temple must have been constructed a few centuries back.
10:30 AM Flag hoisting
We settled near another temple. There one police had also come. We hoisted our national flag.
 |
| From Trips - Marleshwar Mahimatgad Jan 09 Small Shiva temple |
There are 3-4 canons lying near this temple. They are rusted. There was a challenge to lift the canon lying there. One person successfully did it!
We prepared Maggi and had our breakfast.
12:00 PM Summit
After having our breakfast, we reached summit. This part is little slippery due to the grass. There is a flagpole on the summit.
Some of us clicked photographs there. The place offers beautiful view of the surrounding area. We could see that the forest area was really big.
We started to descend the fort. Four of us stayed back to explore the fort. This fort is not very often visited. Due to time constraint, we could explore only a part of it. Lot of trees have grown way wards all over the place.
2:30 PM Kundi
Finally, we started for Kundi. In half an hour, we caught up with others. In the village, we met a group who were trekking for 5 days continuously.
5:00 PM Lunch at Sangameshwar railway station
We came back to Sangameshwar railway station and had our lunch again at 5:00 PM.
5:30 PM Return journey via Chiplun, Kumbharli ghat
After our lunch, we started back for Pune via Chiplun and Kumbharli ghat. The bus reached Pune at around 10:00 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment