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