Monday, October 5, 2009

Trek to Prabalgad – 2nd Oct ‘09



After scaling the wrong fort in the month of September, we decided to scale another fort in October; but this time we wanted to do it right! :) This trek, however, was more of a last-minute sort of thing and we weren’t even sure if anyone would turn up given a day’s notice!



1. The thought process behind the trek



It was Thursday morning when Milind and I realized that neither of us had anything planned for the weekend. Instead of rotting in our homes in front of our TV sets watching fixed cricket matches, we decided to embrace the outdoors. We both had plans for Saturday, so the trek had to be done on Friday itself. Though it was only the two of us, we were confident that the trek will take place.



We had images of ‘Kalavantin durg’ etched deep in our minds. We had seen images of this steep piece of rock on many an occasion on the internet. We were almost certain that this would be the best place to visit, but knowing that its neighboring fort ‘Prabalgad’ was bigger and mightier; we decided to go there instead. We also had the option of scaling both the places if we had time to spare (Was that too much? :P)



2. The participants






A few e-mails and phone calls later we had managed to amass a group of seven people who were quite sure they’ll come for the trek – Vish (that would be me), Milind, Roshan and Manoj – Friends of Milind’s, Sreekumar, Harish and Anand. Our regular members were too busy (Sathe, Arokia, Ashok and gang), too lazy (Glenn, Soura and so on) or had too many problems (Prashant, Smitha and gang).



Since it was going to be an “all-boy” trek, we decided to camp at Panvel station in the night. We’d planned to meet at CST at 11:30pm and board the last local to Panvel which would leave from CST at 12:43am. All of us would be at Panvel by 2:00am. The first bus to the base village (Thakurwadi) would leave Panvel at 5:15am. The plan was clear and simple. Anand had some work so he said he would join us at Panvel by 4:00am. Roshan was traveling all the way from Bhopal, so he said he’d meet us somewhere on the way.



3. Last minute changes



I was enjoying a cup of Gelato’s ‘flavor of the month’ at Oberoi mall in the evening when I got a call from Anand. He said that two of his friends would be joining us for the trek. The only catch was they were both girls. This usually isn’t a problem, but considering the fact that we were planning to spend the night on the platform was not such an appealing idea when we had female company.


I spoke to Kinjal first; she said that it’d be difficult for her to step out of her house after 10:30pm. So we had to change plans. We decided to meet up at Churchgate at 10:30pm now. Tara had some work at Hard-Rock café, so she said she’d turn up at CST by 12:00am. It seems she was busy auditioning some bands for college fest (Quite an interesting job!).



4. Boarding the train to Panvel






I’d to leave my place by 9:30pm so that I could meet Kinjal on time. I didn’t have the time to enjoy a good meal. I met Kinjal, Milind and Sree at Churchgate. We took a cab to CST. Kinjal bought some burgers for herself at McDonald’s. I was in no mood to eat any burgers or wraps at that hour. I called Harish and asked him to get me some curd rice. There was no curd at his place so he decided to get some Jeera rice instead.






Tara and Manoj met us at CST at 11:45pm. There was a Panvel local scheduled to leave CST at 12:16am. Since we were ahead of schedule (A rare occurrence!), we decided to board the train. Harish boarded the same train at Mankhurd and with Harish came the delicious Jeera rice which I enjoyed after reaching Panvel.



5. Spending the night



We were at Panvel by 1:40am. We decided to spend some time on the benches on the platform. There were few people on the platform besides us. No sooner had we placed our bags on the bench than the cops came charging towards us. They told us that we can’t spend the night here. I was all the more surprised when I saw a platoon of pot-bellied officers (some still in the uniforms) lying fast asleep on the platform floor. I guess it was ok for them to sleep there as they have the responsibility of protecting us from international threats!



We started walking towards the bus station which was a few meters away. We found a good spot to rest. Milind and Manoj slept like logs oblivious to the hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around them. The rest of us were up all night sharing stories and experiences. Before we knew it, it was 4:00am and we saw Anand coming towards us. We had some Bhurji pav and Bhajiyas at the stalls outside the bus station.



6. Reaching Thakurwadi






The bus for Thakurwadi arrived at the bus station at 5:25am. All of us hopped into it gleefully and dozed off without knowing what hit us! The bus made its way at seemingly top speed through narrow and dusty roads, finally coming to a halt after 30minutes of jerks and bumps. When we opened our eyes and stepped out of the bus, we were in the middle of nowhere. We had no clue how or where we’d reached, but this was definitely Thakurwadi!






We forgot to buy water at Panvel, but luckily a kind villager, who was up at that time, helped us to some water. We filled up our empty bottles and started down the path towards the closest mountain in sight.






It was very pleasant and we were really glad that we started the trek before 6:00am. The path was still wet with due and there were loads of big crabs running around the place. We walked through winding paths that seemed to lead us to nowhere till we came across the ‘Machi’!



7. Are we there yet?






The Machi looked like the entrance to the fort. We were all rejoicing thinking that we’d made it to the top. But what we didn’t know was that the Machi was the entrance to the base village. The top of the fort was a few more hours ahead of us. We decided to take rest at the village for some time.






The people at the village told us that the path ahead was through stark jungle and it would be advisable if we were accompanied by a villager who knew the path well. We asked a small boy named ‘Ram’ if he would come along with us as our guide. He gleefully agreed and led us towards Prabalgad.



The villagers said that Kalavantin durg was closer than Prabalgad, but we wanted to scale Prabalgad first. We decided to give Kalavantin durg a thought once we were back at the village from Prabalgad.



8. Does anyone have Arachnophobia?






The path through the jungle seemed to be a wild one. Not animals or birds, but spiders! Some of them were bigger than our palms. They were extremely bright in color giving us the indication that they were probably venomous. The idea of passing under large spider webs with large spiders just a few feet away from you face was not such a treat for the girls. It was difficult to spot the spiders as they would blend with the background. We had calls such as “spider alert!” and “potty” so that none of us accidentally ran into spiders or animal shit :)


The path with the spiders was soon over and we were at the foot of the mountain. We could see the mist gliding across the flat vertical rocky face of the mountain. It was a divine moment to see the top of the fort from there.



9. Half-way up there


Tara seemed to be very tired by the time we were almost half-way up to the fort. It seems she forgot to carry her inhaler on this occasion, but that didn’t stop her from moving forward. I was really surprised to see such courage and will in her. She made me think about my lazy ass friends back at home who were too lazy to turn up for the trek.





The path ahead was rocky and steep. We had to proceed with a lot of small breaks so that we didn’t exert ourselves too much. We were running out of water too, but Ram told us that there was a small tank of potable water on the top. After walking through rocky patches, we came across a small field of colorful flowers. It was really beautiful.





A few snaps later we stated to plod ahead. As time passed by, we all had started to feel the heat. We needed a burst of energy to help us continue reach the summit. We had an ample amount of Electral powder and Glucon-D, but we were fresh out of water.





10. Reaching the top





We didn’t even know that we were at the highest point of the mountain till we came to the water tank Ram earlier told us about. The trees are so dense that once can barely guess the altitude. We filled our bottles at the tank and proceeded towards the best point of the place. The place from where one can see Kalavantin Durg!





On the way to the Kalavantin point one can see the takmok tok (a point from where criminals were thrown off!) on the right. Reaching this point would've taken more time so we decided to skip it.



11. Reaching the summit

The last point (Probably the highest one!) on the fort was the one from which you could see Kalavantin Durg. It is a spectacular sight. The fort is at quite some distance from the top of the summit, but it feels so close that you can imagine swinging to its top with the help of a rope! We could see other trekkers on the peak. The weather was so good that we could exchange words in spite of being on the top of two distant peaks!





We had our food and snacks at this point. We’d reached this point at around 11:30am. It took us almost 45minutes to finish off our eatables and get going back to the village. All this while there was still no trace of Roshan. He had just made it to Thakurwadi when we were about to leave the summit.





12. The descent


The descent was as bad as it gets. There was a lot of loose rock which made life hell for some of us. The steep descent caused our knees to buckle. Kinjal was very kind to rocks ‘cos she almost tripped on each and every one of them! We halted for some time on a small rock patch on our way down.





Milind got a call from Roshan at around that time. He had run out of water so he decided to wait for us at the village. We decided to meet him there and head back all the way down to Thakurwadi.


13. Back to Thakurwadi



We were at Thakurwadi at around 2:30pm. We met Roshan who joined us on the way back to the base. We were all drenched in sweat from head to toe. We needed a quick dip at any cost. We saw a small pond (Rather an excuse for a pond!) and decided to cool off in it for a while. We washed our faces with soap and changed into clean clothes. There is a small spa close by called the Zola resort (who’d have thought of having a spa in such a location and that an expensive one!). The girls freshened up in the resort after some smart convincing by Anand.



We were all back at the bus stop by 3:30pm. The next bus was scheduled at 4:15pm. We had enough time to kill, so we decided to have tea and biscuits at a nearby stall. We came back to the bus stop at around 4:00pm and took shelter in a nearby temple. The bus was bang on time! We hopped in the bus and came back to Panvel. We had some snacks at Panvel and watched the rains pour down on us.


Tara had to dash back to her hostel. She had to reach before 8:30pm else she'd have to spend one more night on the platform! :)


We all parted our ways at Panvel as we boarded different trains to head back home - with new memories and some new friends. :)


- Vish



3 comments:

  1. Lovely narration and beautiful photographs.. Looks like you guys had a whale of a time and also scaled the right fort :)

    BTW the spiders look quite big and scary.. Am sure glad they did not get too curious about some two legged species in their territory :)

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  2. good blog thnx. going there this weekend.

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  3. Dear Tourist,

    Machi Prabal is an ancient and beautiful village. It is situated half-way up a mountain (such a plateau or ledge is called a "machi" in Marathi) at the base of the fort Prabalgad. Because of the two forts Prabalgad and Kalavantin and the natural beauty of the surrounding regions, many visitors and fort-enthusiasts are attracted to this place.

    To fully explore this area, you will need at least two days. However, many visitors have had some difficulty in finding food and lodging near this village. Some visitors would return home after one day tour and others would spend the night sleeping outdoors on the grass and eating whatever they could bring or manage to obtain. It is also hard for ladies and children to stay here comfortably.

    In order to provide a solution to this problem, the Bhutambare family has started a Kalavantin Durg & Prabalgad Dharshan Guide, Lodging& Food Service to help visitors. We provide you a tour package including every service you would require. The Bhutambare family provides these services using their own home as the base of operations.

    Suggestions and feedback about the services provided by this venture are most welcome. Your suggestions will help us improve the service experience that we provide to other tourists like you.

    Website :- http://prabalgad.jigsy.com/

    Please e-mail your suggestions to: neel.nilesh0506@gmail.com or kalavantinprabalgad@gmail.com

    You can contact me through my mobile-phone at 08056186321 (Please remember to add the "0" at the beginning.)

    You are also welcome to read our blog to learn about news & updates from our side: http://prabalgad.blogspot.in/

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