Vairatgad Pictures

Lady working in the groundnut field...

Fort Pandavgad ..the distant square'ish peak ..

The guide ...

Fort Vairatgad..taken during climb ..

Looks like some variety of Dahlia..

Pachgani Tableland to left ..Thin white line is Dhom Dam...

Fortification..Fort Vairatgad ...

Temple atop the fort...One of the water tanks atop ..Fortification ..Fort Vairatgad ..Another view..looking west..Fort Vairatgad..Sunset..at Tableland..

Vairatgad

Managed to hike Vairatgad this weekend. This fort was something which always figured in the plans although was dropped couple of times due to various reasons. The team was bunch of guys from Paxonet and yours truely.

Way to reach from Pune -
1] Travel by NH-4 towards Satara, take a right turn towards Wai-Mahabaleshwar on NH-4. Just before Wai, take the left turn to Satara. Reach this place called Wyajwadi/Vyajwadi at the base of the fort. Climb is easy, takes around 1 hour.
2] For the more enthusiastic ones, on NH-4 take a right turn towards Bhor. Reach Bhor. Take a left turn towards Wai [ 35Kms from Bhor ] via MandharDev Ghat and reach Wyajwadi/Vyajwadi. You pass by the base of Pandavgad and you can also cover Mandhardevi if interested.

There are couple of water tanks and temples on the top. From the top one can get a view of square'ish shaped Pandavgad across the plains, Dhom Dam, Wai town and Pachgani tableland. I couldnt gather much about the history, guess I need to catch hold of those references mentioned by Harish Kapadia. Pachgani is pretty close so sunset at tableland is something that can be tried. Bikes are allowed on the plateau.

The fort is pretty insignificant as such, not as mesmerizing, rather dull. But for a fort collector like me, especially ones which arent frequented by the mortal populace its another one in the kitty.

Check out the complete imagestation album here.

Kamalgad Pictures

Dhom - Wall !!

Pandavgad in clouds - Taken from Banks of Dhom !!

Navra -Navri of Kamalgad !!

Kamalgad at 12.00 - Taken from Tupewadi !!

Dhom backwaters from Tupewadi

Lunchtime...

Paddy at the base.

The way up

Waterstream - Deux

Taken while getting down

Kamalgad

It was a long weekend but we still decided for a one dayer. We decided on Kamalgad. We left quite late, and a breakfast break at Natraj on Satara road cost us more. The way to reach Kamalgad is to reach Wai and then proceed to Jambhli then cross the Walki river [ a tributary to Krishna ] and reach a place called Tupewadi. The drive is scenic and the road is good too. On the way to Jambhli one can spot Pandavgad to right and Dhom to the left of the road and is an amazing sight.One can also spot Kenjalgad to right on your way and I belive one can climb it from this side as well.

We stared our climb too late [ at about 1.00 in the afternoon ]. The climb is a bit lengthy one and even from Tupewadi one cant get an idea about where the fort is. One can spot the Navra Navri as well on the same mountain range. The way up is through thick forest and waterfalls. After getting lost couple of times and getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, the dirty and muddy eight reached the top. A shephard guy stays here. The clock showed 3.30 by then. The fog made it impossible for us to see anything. We gave ourselves a deadline of 4.00 and proceeded thorough the thick forest till we reached an open area. We could see the fort real close to our right from here, and some house or something 100 mts ahead. But we were running out of time. The factors to be considered were the heavy rains and the news about a cat sighting the day before. We decided to head back.

Epilogue :I realized that time management here was critical, but there always is a next time. Heavy rains meant little photography. More pictures are here.

Pandavgad Pictures

Another wild flower

Main "Darwaja"/ Entrance.

Wild Flower

Water tank on Pandavgad

Dhom dam and Kamalgad

Pandavgad entrance

Taken on the way up

Forest cover on the way up

Getting down to Wai

Taken from Mandhardev

Wai ahead and Pandavgad to right·

Dhom Dam

Ambade Ghat·

Rohida·

Find more details here.

Pandavgad

I managed to convince AB that Pandavgad isn't that far for a bike trek from Pune so he agreed to come along for this weekend. Unfortunately he called me up on Saturday night to tell me that he was unavailable. But I had company. Note that the company is an essential ingredient of a good trek. If there is lack of good rapport then it could be a torturing experience. Anyways so enough of this, we are here to go over the actual details.

We started a bit late for reasons I wouldn't want to explain and you would be bored to read. We reached the Nasarapur corner at about 7.35 am and had breakfast there. We took a right turn to Bhor, [12Kms from the turn]. From Bhor you can take a left to Wai [ 35Kms from there] via Ambade ghat.
So this road actually saves a lot of distance and the ghat is an interesting and scenic place. Although don't expect an expressway kind of road. It's like a typical monsoon Pune road at places.

On top of this ghat is a place called Mandhardev which has a temple of Mandhardevi. Due to one pious individual with us, we took a turn to this place from ghats [3.5Kms from here]. This ghat separates Pune and Satara districts. The Wai taluka on one side and Bhor on other. Mandhardev is most of the times in clouds and attracts lot of pilgrims on Navratri. In February 2005 there was a stampede which claimed 300 lives.

So anyways from the top of the ghat, the descend to Wai starts, this section is called as Mandhardev ghat. From here you can see the Dhom dam to right, town of Wai to the left and Pandavgad right ahead. To reach Pandavgad one can either go to Wai and then reach Menavali and start climbing.
Another route is as you are getting down Mandhardev just as the ghat ends, there is a place called Gundewadi, you can climb from here as well.
We chose the second option and it is the best option. The climb from this side takes less time. From Menavali side you have to go round the fort and join the same road to top. Menavali and Wai have lot many interesting places to visit. Menavali was the home base of the famous Peshwa minister Nana Phadanavis. His residence [ wada ] there is worth a visit.

From the top you can see table land and Pachgani ahead. Wai to left, Dhom / Kamalgad / Kenjalgad to right. Words fail me to describe the view one gets from here.



Another interesting development :

As we were returning one guy just popped out from somewhere. He said he was the watchman here and the landlord wanted to see us. So that was our encounter with Mr. Sher Wadia. This gentleman stays alone on this fort for past 22 years. There are lot of things we got to know from this gentleman. He bought the fort in an auction from Satara bank in 1983 for Rs. 40000. Now his friend owns it.

Edit: Found some info about this chap here and here.

Ajinkyatara / Pratapgad / Raigad and Pandavgad are all private properties owned by few royal families or auctioned like this one. He told us that Kamalgad in records called Kattalgad. Kamalgad was was used by the british to execute prisoners of war.

He told us that he tracked the history of fort in documents but they were all in Modi [script] and he hired a guy to interpret that and all he could go back to was 1892. He talked about his encounters with tigers [ one with stripes] etc. Offered us some coffee. If one wants to stay overnight one would have to write to Mr Vora at Mapro and seek his permission.

I have a lot to write here but then lengthy reads are boring. You can check out the pictures, they are not as cool as some of my earlier ones but enough to give you an idea. More pictures can be found here.

Epilogue :

We took a longer route from Wai in hope of a better road.
My bike gave me some trouble on the way back. So had to change the engine oil [ my own diagnosis ]. It worked. My left knee is hurting for past two treks. I need to get it diagnosed.