SATARA TRIP

Day 1
We started from Started from Mumbai at 6.35am. Reached Expressway Toll Plaza at 8.00am and stopped for breakfast. Started at 8.15am. The Vashi toll fee isRs.30 and Pune Expressway toll fee is Rs.195. We crossed Pune at 9.40am with lot of traffic due to Ganapati festival. People were rushing home to participate in the biggest Maharashtra festival. The Satara highway toll fee is Rs.80.Crossed Nira River at 10.30am. The bridge gives the start of Satara district. After driving through highway towards Satara, we have to take right under a flyover to move towards Wai which is about 9km from there. A small hill ghat to cross to Reach Wai from there to Panchgani and them to Mahabaleshwar. Reached Panchgani at about 12.00 noon. Paid entry tax of Rs.50. Stopped at Mapro gardens. Purchased some stuff. Had some fruit crush milk shake. Clouds everywhere. Driving through cloud. Visibility is very poor. Entry fee for Mahabaleshwar is paid at Rs.50 for car and Rs.20 per person. Total Rs.130 for 7 days. Reached Mahabaleshwar at about 1.00 pm. Checked into Room 6 Krishna Cottage. Rooms are not good and not maintained properly. Had some food tasteless food, thanks to my wife and our cook Baby. Gave leftover stuff to Monkeys. A mid-sized monkey first had his bite and then big one came and snatched away everything. Many joined but had to sneak away something scattered here and there.

Started for seeing Pratapgarh fort at 3.15pm. Full cloud on the hilly road. Visibility is poor. Many waterfalls on the way. Stopped at all waterfalls. Less crowd and hence no hurry. Among the waterfalls Pratapgarh waterfall is the biggest. Stopped here for snaps and tea. Tea cost 15 per cup. Paid Rs.60. Crossed Koyna River. On our way saw lot of flowers. A small bridge over the river. Fort is 20km from hotel and 4km from main road on a small hilltop but complete green cover. Grand fort but not well maintained. Fees Rs.50 for 5 people. A small walk from parking. Guides are available for a fee. Steps to climb. A grand entry door after 50-60 steps. Right side will lead to a place where Afzal Khan was killed by Shivaji, the grand Maratha King. Right side leads to Bhavani Mata Trmple and Statue of Shivaji. Suddenly started raining.

We came down as we have about 1 hour drive to reach our MTDC Hotel. Very low visibility while coming back. We have to drive very carefully as we were driving uphill. Reached Hotel at about 5.30pm. Had some chatpata Samosa and cake which I made previous day night. Went for dinner at 7.30pm. Tried to go outside Resort for dinner but very low visibility and hardly anyone on the road. Totally ghostly atmosphere in the night. Came back to Resort after 5 minutes of driving towards city. Order food at Resort Restaurant- Nan,chapatti,paneerkadaiand navaratan korma. Food was good. Paid bill of Rs.420 and a tip of Rs.20. Returned to room at 8.45pm. Very poor network inside Room. Retired to bed at 9pm. Beds were hard and pillows were really hard. Sleep quality was poor.

Day 2
Got up at about 6.45am. Looked around. Fully cloudy covered with poor visibility. Monkeys jumping around. Breakfast at 8.15am. Dosa, uthapam and sheera. Paid Rs.385 plus Rs.15 for tips. Started at 9.40am for our trip to Kasplatue. Drive first to Satara which is 50km from hotel. Drive through picturesque ghat section of about 20km to reach Madera. Road is serpentine and zigzag. Passes through few villages. Students were going to Colleges and schools – some were walking while others were on their motor bikes and cycles with their friends. Weather was very pleasing for a long drive. Reached Satara at 11.00am. The road we took is state highway 140 and condition is good. Stopped at various places to see the valley from top as well as waterfalls. Kas is 21km from Satara. Road is good with small ghat section. Drive was through clouds at many places with low visibility bug no rain. Just before Kas, stopped at place to enjoy the beautiful view from meadows of both sides of the road. Reached Kas at 12.00 noon. Flowers have not bloomed – only white flowers. Few other coloured ones. But the plateau was a beautiful walk through flower bushes. Entry fee Rs.50 for 5 people. We had paid earlier for the entry. Flowers generally blossom during August end remain till September end but due to late monsoon they are yet to blossom. Only white Hill Banana flowers have blossomed in full and they were everywhere.

Then we drove to see Brajrai waterfall at Bhambavli. This is tallest waterfall of India of about 800feet. Little difficult walk of 15 minutes from the car park in a small village – a little drive from the main road. The lady who provided space for car park also guided us to show direction to Bajrai waterfall. Her name wasKosbai and her young grandson Samarth was playing with her. The view was superb. Walked till the end of the plateau to see the waterfall. Walked back as it was raining. Purchased 5 desi eggs for 25 to take to Mumbai as temporary souvenir. Stopped at Hotel SahadriPuspha before 15km to Satara for lunch. Purchased two kg of Indrayani Rice – best variety at Rs.100 per kg and the usual one at Rs.60 per kg. Total bill Rs.900/- with tips. Started raining and visibility dropped drastically. Booboo fell sick and took little rest and started at about 3.45 pm from hotel. Food was okay with bhakri roti, chicken handi. Reached Satara at about 4.25pm. Filled petrol. Took out some money from Axis Bank ATM. Started from Satara at 4.30pm. Raining. Huge water reservoir with a dam. Stopped at a place to collect couple of flower plant branches (jaswant) from one house near the roadside. Reached Mahabaleshwar at about 5.55pm. Stopped at market for tea and roamed around the place a little and purchased few stuffs. Visibility was very poor. Complete cloud covered. Drive back to hotel. Dinner was chicken fried rice and Hakka noodles with chilly chicken and pahadikabab. Bill for Rs.660. Returned to room at about 9.30pm. Watched One-day cricket between India and England. Raining since evening and likely to continue throughout night. Retired to bed at about 10.30pm. The next day we had to check out at about 9.30am.

Day 3
Breakfast at 8.30am. Dosa,poha,sheeraand tea. Bill Rs.400 with tips. Checked out and started from Hotel at 9.40am. Collected Rs.200 from counter for deposit they collect per room at the time of check in. The rain was still continuing. Clouds were at ground level and visibility poor. We took the Poladpur route which is 39km drive towards Goa Highway. Stopped at various places to take snaps. After Mahabaleshwar hills, we reached the small village near the entry point to Pratapgarh village. A beautiful river runs on the way which needs to be crossed at various points on our way. The village is on a flat land. After few minutes drive, we have to cross another Ghat section to come down to Poladpur. Stopped on our way in the Ghat section to take photographs. Reached Poladpur at about 11.15am. It was drizzling a bit but the road was good. The distance between Poladpur and Mumbai is 197km. Starting from the hotel, we started counting Waterfalls. We counted 118 such waterfalls tillPatalganga/Panvel area. Stopped at various places for snaps. Saw a huge water reservoir on our way. Badly raining. Saw peacocks on our way. Road condition was not very good and the traffic was heavy as many holidaying people returning after long weekend trip. Reached Vashi at about 3.30pm and stopped for food at Navaratna in Sector 16. Idliwada, pizza, sandwich milkshake, missal pau and tea for us and roti rice sabji for Indrajit. Paid Rs.800. Roamed around the place and picked up few stuffs. Reachedhomeat5.55pm. Trip was memorable and drive was excellent. Decided to make one more trip sometime in October as we missed the flowers.