Kondana Caves (Kondane Lenya), Karjat 5 Times Already!

08:45 am Karjat station

My college buddies can be crazy sometimes as honestly I was fed up of visiting Kondane caves for for the 5th TIME!!! Arghh!! But never made a video about it so taught to myself that lets just this time be the final time I visit this place just for the sake of my Youtube channel ;) 

The tum-tum ride

  As I said they convinced me into this and I was like "Okay whatever" and forcibly woke up the planned morning.SO we took the 07:14 am train to Karjat railway station and then it was just a matter of time of us reaching there which takes approximately 1 and a half hour. One funny thing when one of my mates was going to show up late as she woke up late which made my other friend rage out of frustration...Lol!!! But luckily she was able to get on board.
  Reaching Karjat around 08:45 am we had some tea and breakfast (Vada pav, Bhaji pav) and packed some more for lunch(Later on checking that the vendor forgot to add Samosa Pav in it :( and was too late for that...but that's the latter part).We walk towards the ST bus stop to hire a tum-tum(rickshaw) and the charges have gone up...sigh...But we have no other option as it takes 20 minutes to reach the Kondiwade village of Karjat by a vehicle.

When you don't have a car

  After reaching the village there is a 15 minute distance to walk till you reach the base from where the trek starts.Kondane caves trek is short and easy difficulty level and you can clearly see Rajmachi Fort atop which takes more 2 hours from the point where the caves are located.

The 'Gaonwale' pose

  When I previously visited this caves there was a small Emu birds farm at the base which is just not there now or maybe due to rainy season they sheltered them somewhere else.So some photos with friends and a gushing river by the side of the road. Even though i don't like to travel in rain the scenic views balance out those uncomfortable feelings....Huh..
 
 So you will come across many minor waterfalls in rainy season and there's one halfway in this small trek. And we go there to have some fun and get soaked.  
  Moving on further after some more trekking you can see some plateau like areas in between with great view. In rainy season it becomes really messy to trek in the mud as my friend just didn't care and all her feet was huge pile of mud so walk carefully guys..
     The first glance of this caves is really what catches my eye like you see some secret hidden ancient civilization visible amidst the dense trees although its just caves but anyways...there is also a waterfall near the caves. You can see the steps towards the caves.
  Here's my link to this youtube video below

  

   In the video you can see the scenic water falling from above and the caves having a super huge roof of rock.and my friends abandon me while shooting it and decide to go in another waterfall...crazy friends man! 

   Seeing the difference from my previous visit I could tell that they have started to reconstruct this Buddhist caves, the pillars etc. Place is super crowded with people on weekends as it is the nearest picnic spot for people to hangout from Mumbai.
   And now at around 01:45 pm we had our lunch and sadly the vendor just forgets MY Samosa pav...man it was too late.So ate the extra plate of Bhajis that we bought and had an apple brought by a friend.
  So after spending time and drying up after being drenched in the waterfall we walk to our journey of return and sit by the river and play skipping stone. We were just throwing stones in the river like crazy....
    And its started raining... 
   Getting a tum-tum rickshaw is a real task when it comes to going back to the railway station so make sure that you note down the contact number of the previous rickshaw driver in the case you are not able to get any of the vehicle.... But they charge big...sigh...
   Hopping back up on the train and we share out memories with each other via 'Share It' app and deciding on our next venture.

                                - Thank you

Kolad Water Rafting A Thrill Worth One Try Atleast! Tamhini Ghat Waterfalls And Shree Ballaleshwar Ganpati In Pali (Raigad District)

Leaving the easy route Rasayane

This time a totally new set of friends from my office (or should i say just colleagues....Lol just kidding) decided this adventurous activity since don't remember how long because like others we also heard about the famous rafting in Kolad and went with a firm decision (except some people who later on opted out of this plan). Well they missed out on the fun we had. No hard feelings though... So one my friends arranged for a car and we all were going to meet at Thane station East (Kopari) and started our journey at 06:15 am approx.There were other friends also but they arranged a different car from Kharghar as they stayed in Navi Mumbai. And off we started our journey to Kolad. Well not to mention the time that we were given by the adventure sports team of 08:30 am sharp we got a little behind and took the long route which gave us the beautiful nature ride for some extra kilometers (the roads did give us a hard time....phew!)

    Around 10.30 am ( yes 2 hours late but adventure sport people were good) we reached near Kundalika river but super confused about the start point A(from where your rafting journey starts) and we just ran in circles there and an awesome movie scene happens with the other set of friends when we see them driving towards us on a one way and just stop and think "hey that car looks familiar?" Laughing out loud!!!

The movie scene........ O.o

 So together we go to find the point A and we see the river besides us with some people already rafting in it.... Adrenaline pumping and nervous as never dared to swim in a deep river. One of our friend drove the car to point B where our rafting journey was going to end (it was pretty far) and then we wore our life jackets,raft paddles, helmets and we started....Yayyy!! :)........

Chivalry is ready

The nature's awesomeness

        I seriously wanted to shoot a full on video in the rapids with everyone's reactions but just couldn't ....guess it was for the best....listening to the instructor and sitting on the edge of the raft...especially when you are sitting in the front and you know before all you have to go through the rapids is thrilling and scary at the same time. But no regrets as I felt never such adventurous before. The instructor told us that the speed of water currents depends on the number of gates the government decides to open. so the more gates open the more water and more fun....... Lucky! so after some rapids the instructor just throws you into water....lols just kidding !!! he tells us that there is a patch of river with no rocks and safe to swim and he is there if something goes wrong. I almost though this is it for me as when I went to swim I was so exhausted I just couldn't kep my feet moving and when the river to its force I was like.....man I m drinking a lot of water!!!
       On a serious note if you never swam then take the opportunity to swim here with a life jacket on as it helps but even though it can get risky and when you feel so just call out and try to get towards your raft for some relief.OH! by the way It was Kolad White Waters Kundalika River Rafting a cool team. So after my resurrection..Lol!! we had a phase of still and silent river water where we just swam endlessly  almost getting near to Point B the end where we were called to our rafts and do the hard work part of rowing the boat till the end.

Tamhini Falls

            Here after having some some pictures,snacks and changing we parted from our Kharghar friends as they had a curfew of time. They drove back to their home. But we saw something on the mountains and starting asking nearby locals about the waterfall that was visible from a real far distance. It was Tamhini falls.
          It took about 1 and a half hour more to reach there but man it was woth it as you drive in the ghats and upfront is this huge water fall which was visible from a far away distance. We took some time to enjoy the view and take some picture near the waterfall

Shree Tuljabhavani

Shree Swami Samartha

         Moving on around 02:30 pm we decided to have our lunch so on our way to returns we went to Shree Swami Samartha Temple  and  Shree Tuljabhavani Ani Shivaji Maharaj Temple in Kolad which was devotional as one of my friends really wanted to pay a visit to them.

Shree Tuljabhavani ani Shivarai Mandir

 So had our lunch after visiting this temples and drove towards our last destination which was Pali in Raigad district approximately taking 2 hours to reach we were witnessing the grasslands and villages and the hill ranges which was nature at its best although it rained though i don't like rain but things were pretty scenic. 
  And we reach near the entrance of Balleshwar Mandir one of the shopkeepers told us to pay a visit to Dhundi Vinayak Ganpati as it is a common practice to do before you visit Shree Ballaleshwar. 
         So after visiting Dhundi Vinayak we went into Shree Ballaleshwar temple. The temple has ancient importance and there since the time of Peshwas.....haha !! History..... 
        There is a pond behind the temple with a large bell hanging on the door which is since the time of Shivaji Maharaj as it is said that he offered the temple this bell. And here we completed our journey in the name of Lord Ganesha! :)

Shree Ballaleshwar (Pali cha Ganapati)

   So this is how we started our return journey but trust me Google Maps are necessary.....Music while driving. Endless chats with friends and more relief is when you find the rightway to home Mumbai- Pune Expressway. And you start thinking you will reach home on time but the traffic just catches up to us...Lols!!!

 Yet I would say there much more to explore.....!!! 

    You all can check out my youtube video of the above places

                                                                                              Thank you!!!!