However when I called up the coordinator for the trek he asked me to make up mind for some real adventure and asked me to be ready for a real endurance testing. To summarize the ridge which we had to cross in order to reach RajGad from Torana is a distance of around 12 kms and descending from Budhala machi of Torana and ascending towards Sanjivani machi of RajGad is not a common man’s task!
I made up my mind and my spirit to explore Sahyadri overcame my worries and fear and I decided to join the team of 9 people.
On fine morning of 13th March, Saturday I reached Swargate bus stand at 6.45 am and our journey stared from there. The first hinder in our journey was getting the bus to reach to the base village of Torana. We waited for more than an hour there at Swargate, still there were no chance of getting bus going directly to Welhe, base village of Torana.
We decided to board the bus for Bhor and got down at Chelati fata on Pune-Satara highway. From there we took a private jeep to Welhe.The local people over there run private jeeps as frequency of busses is said to be very poor.
We reached Welhe at around 9.30 and had breakfast. After having breakfast at around 10.30 we started climb. Even though the next climb for around 1.5 hour was not much difficult it was very much tiring. The Sun was on the go and our bellies were full, so with multiple breaks we reached till the first platue from where the plain climb ended. Next climb was not so easy.
From here as we look towards west we get to see a not so clear ,still splendid view of Lingana and RaiGad. From here RaiGad seems to be a perfect straight wall, soaring the sky! On south we get to see SinhaGad rising high with its two towers on the top.
Also the view below of back water of a dam on Kanandi river was spectacular. The water was very tranquil and apparent.
We took a halt there. A rural woman was having a small stall of fresh Limbu-Sharabat there. We revitalized ourselves with a glass of Limbu-Sharabat and rested there for 10 mins.Till that time it was 2 o’clock in the watch and we were aware of the fact that we were running much before the schedule.
On the way ahead the road was tricky. Some good hearted people have constructed railings on the rocks which helps a lot while climbing. The patch we made in next half hour and very happily reached to the first door of Torana which is built in Hanuman Buruj.
Also the view below of back water of a dam on Kanandi river was spectacular. The water was very tranquil and apparent.
We took a halt there. A rural woman was having a small stall of fresh Limbu-Sharabat there. We revitalized ourselves with a glass of Limbu-Sharabat and rested there for 10 mins.Till that time it was 2 o’clock in the watch and we were aware of the fact that we were running much before the schedule.
On the way ahead the road was tricky. Some good hearted people have constructed railings on the rocks which helps a lot while climbing. The patch we made in next half hour and very happily reached to the first door of Torana which is built in Hanuman Buruj.
Getting through this door,next we climb some rock cut steps to get to the main door of the fort.
We clicked some snaps from here and started ahead towards the Khokad take to get some potable water. We got our water bottles filled and again started towards the citadel without resting much. The citadel is easy to climb and hosts Megai Devi temple which is a main temple on the fort. The local people from base villages visit and worship this temple in Navratri festival.
As we reached the citadel the view of surroundings from there was breath taking. From here we got the first look of a giant fort of RajGad.We reached the temple, after having darshan we got sited outside the temple and had lunch, by that time it was around 4 O’clock.
The food was tasty and it was brought by all the participants. I had got some Parathas with me. By 4.30 we finished lunch and rested for a while. Then we headed towards the Budhala machi from where we were supposed to start our descend towards the ridge connecting to the Rajgad. In front of Meangai Devi temple there is a small temple in dilapidated condition. It must be a Shiva temple as there was a small Nandi in front of it.After bowing our heads there we proceeded ahead.
By this time we started getting splendid view of Zunzar machi of Torana. The fortifications of this machi are still intact and while looking at it, I got very much convinced for why its name is so. This is really a tough place to reach from base of fort.
As Torana is highest peak in Pune district the view from top was fabulous and breathtaking.
Without wasting much time we kept walking towards Budhala machi, as once Sun start setting it would had become difficult to get down from the machi as descend was not easy at all!
Slowly and carfully helping out each other we started getting down towards machi. By this time we got bonded like one team. In front of us we started to get view of Budhala machi. It is named so because when you keep the oil bottle upside down how it will look,the shame of this machi is similar to that,that’s why the name is. ”Budhala” in Marathi means a special kind of container made for storing oil in it.
While we where descending we got across the first rock patch. It was scary as from there it was a straight fall of around 3000 ft. you need to be very careful at the rock patches if you are getting down from Budhala machi,as you will not get another chance to correct your mistakes if you commit one
We cleared the firt rock patch and then several others. We were asking the leader ‘How many such rock patches we need to cross?’ and he kept only laughing silently, which meant that ‘Be ready there are quite many ahead!’
While we everybody was scared enough while crossing rock patches and we got to see the next adventure waiting for us ahead! There was a big ladder kept down to cross a straight fall of approximately 20 ft. that ladder was installed by “ShivDurga Sanvardhan Pratishthan” to help trekkers doing this trek.
The ladder was aligned very straight to the rock, it was shaking, when you will turn back and get down to get down, you will see upside down view of 300 ft deep valley…isn’t it scary? Yes that is the real adventure (even though you pray to all Gods in mind for escape)
One by one, encouraging each other got down from the ladder. There was not enough space to land your feet once you get down from ladder!
That was the last and most difficult part of the descend and from there to started to get the view of ridge connecting to Rajgad which we were supposed to cross on that same day (even though the adventure we had till that time was enough for the day! :-))
We got down on the ridge and took most deserved rest for 15 minutes. When we saw back the Budhala machi of Torana was standing tall and I forced myself to believe that ‘yes we crossed this series of giant rocks named Budhala machi!’ :-)
By this time it was close to 6.30pm and sun started setting. We saw the sun set from Budhala machi and made our mind to start walking towards Rajgad.
It was a walk of around 4 hours from there (12 kms approx), which means we were planning to reach the base of Snajeevani machi of Rajgad by around 10 pm. It was completely dark by this time and we had to cross the ridge in dark. We got our torches out and started walking ahead.
The way next was trough small bushes initially; however it became thick after some time, and we got entered into thick forest and were unable to view the both side of valley.
While we were walking guiding each other about the route and hurdles on the way, the next adventure was waiting for us. On that dark way going though forest we lost our way towards RajGad! And started getting view of Pali route going towards Rajgad through ‘Pali Darwaja’, which was not expected to get to see on the route. By mistake we were on the way to getting down into the Pali village. We stopped for a while and our leader got ahead in search of the correct way. By this time everybody was very much tired and exhausted.
By the time we made sure that we have lost the way towards Sanjeevani machi,few dogs from the base village down started barking in our direction and few people started shouting from down asking us whether we have lost our way. They saw the batteries are moving randomly at the same place the forest and they thought that some people have lost their way and might be need of help.
We were still trying to find out the correct way, however looking at everybody’s tried and exhausted condition our group leader decide to take help of those local people.
Our leader started asking them whether they can come up to take us to their place, they agreed to come up to help us. Within next 15 minutes the two local people along with her daughter came up for our help. They were very much used to the hidden routes in the forest and didn’t took much time to come up on the hill.
We were now hoping that we will get some rest soon. We followed them and they took us to their home. Latter we realized that it was not avillage, it was a small ‘Vadi’ of 2-3 houses. They allowed us to spend night in front of their house. It was a typical village house made up of ‘Gobar’ .
We had dinner and went to sleep. It was getting very cold there and I had single shawl with me, which was not sufficient at all for that cold and because of that I could hardly sleep.Rest everybody was snoring. :-)
We wake up early in the morning at 6 am, had tea and started our journey towards Rajgad.Actually according to schedule ,by this time it was expected that we should be at the base of Sanjeevani machi,however to reach to Sanjeevani machi from our halting point was a matter of 2-3 hours! And we were much behind the schedule! Now I got the idea that might be we won’t be able to explore the citadel of Rajgad because of lack of time!
With this worry in mind we started trek towards Rajgad without taking much stops on the way.
By this time it was around 9am and as those were summer days Sun started his job early morning! We gains started getting dehydrated and stared feeling tired. At last we got the first look of Sanjeevani machi and also got the idea of the rock patch we had to cross a thought came to my mind “No not again I want to do adventure” however we somehow pushed ourselves and crossed that rock patch. That was the last part and we reached the plane just below Sanjeevani machi.this was the place where we were supposed to take night halt! I tried to remember how we could have done the rock patches in the night! And didn’t forget to Thank God for losing our way last night! :-D
We took rest for 15-20 minutes there. A lady from base village came there to sell her buttermilk. We had buttermilk there and started walking towards the “Alu Darawaja”.
It was my dream to explore the great fort “RajGAd” and I was just few minutes away from my dream coming to reality! I was so excited!
Thoughts started coming to my mind “this is the same place where great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj spent half of his life, most important years his life. For every Maharashtrian this is a place to be worshipped.
The fortifications of the fort are surprisingly in very good condition. As you started walking towards Alu darwaja one can start getting idea about the hugeness of this fort which is constructed beautifully.
The way going towards the Alu darwaja was so narrow that at a time only one person can walk.
We entered into the fort through Alu Darwaja.As we went ahead and climbed few steps and we got to see around 15-20 water tanks constructed and all the tanks had enough water even though it was summer time.
Now as we moved back we got to see the awesome view of Sanjeevani machi running beautifully like a snake on that gigantic hill. By this time we had started getting view of Citadel.
We rested for some time near the water tanks, had breakfast of biscuits and energy bars ,got our water bottle filled. After having enough rest we stared moving towards the most graceful machi of the fort “Padmavati Machi”. This machi used be the most happening at that time as it used to bear the castles of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,the place of Darabar,the Rani vasa,the famous temple of Goddess Padamavati is also on this machi. The temple of Rameshwar is also on this machi.the tomb of Rani Saibai is also on this machi. The most beautifully constructed “Padamavati lake” is also on this machi. Is contains very tasty potable water all over the year.
We visited Padmavati temple,Rameshwar temple,the lake and Saibai tomb. There were many trekkers we had came to the Padamavati temple for night halt and temple was fully occupied by the trekkers. It is recently renovated by local people and can accommodate around 30 people at a time.
