Naneghat Revisted

Naneghat Revisted !!!


It is not very often that I repeat my treks however some treks are so endearing that your heart yearns to revisit them, Naneghat is one such place which I would love to do over and over again. Perhaps this was the reason that the moment I received  invitation from Mask Group to trek to Naneghat without thinking for a second I confirmed my reservation with them.

Who needs an invitation to be here !!!

 Rains since last few days has been playing the game of hide and seek,suddenly it starts to pour and one gets the feeling that monsoon has arrived but then suddenly the days become hotter with sunlight making its uninvited presence.But still overcoming all these dilemma I said to myself rain or no rains I am going to Naneghat. So finally I was on my way.

Aaj kal pao zameen per nahi padhte mere...dying to be here

So Sunday morning as usual brought the whiff of excitement of new trek. We left our house quite early. The daylight has still not broken through the skyline and it was dark , aur hamara sath dene ke liye sirf galli ke kutte hi the. This time the rendezvous was not Railway station but 

on the Western Express highway because the organizers had arranged for Pvt bus. Once I reached the highway I called up the organizer to know the position of the bus but to my dismay I was informed that the bus is late by half an hour. Abe ek  bomb se recover kar raha tha ki doora bomb gira I was informed that some of the participants are also running late.

Trek Bus journeys are something to be experienced ...Crazy Man, You'll go nuts !!!

Ek toh bus late upar per se bus ke yatri bhi late now that’s what I call Double  Whammy. Anyway Sadhak ki footpath per baitha hua mai aur mera parivar…My what a comic sight it was ..per yeh sab to trek per chalta hi rahta hai….

The bus arrived and we moved on and just like BEST bus it kept on picking up participants at every stop and the best part is that this pick up activity went on till the Shahad Station.

The happy faces tells you all...

What I like about this pick ups is that that at each stop there is many a time the suspense that at the next stop who will be the new participants and if we are lucky many a time we meet some of our past co-trekker. School ka re union saalo bad hota hai per yahan to almost har Sunday is as good as reunion. Whenever a new trekker boards the bus he/she brings with them new happiness.Har chere me ek nayi khusi mahsoos hoti hai..one can feel the positive vibes oozing.

Everyone has a Tale to narrate!! we call it Trek Tales !!!

Once everyone was aboard the real fun began. Mask Group who were organizing this trip was very buoyant after all it was their Anniversary Trek, Some guys were cracking jokes, Om sir and me were catching up on our trek stories. The Mask gang as usual were making merry singing songs . one thing I always wonder how this Mayank and Kapil Gang manage to sing Thrash shit song and convert it into smash hit songs… crazy atmosphere ..If someone ask me how I felt I would simply say I am loving it !!!

Our team and we all are loving it !!!

We took a small break to have snacks and tea. sometimes these break also allows you the opportunity to break the ice .As there is nothing available at the base village so some of the guys packed their lunch of parathas from here.

Naneghat entrance is very much visible from the highway on the right side of the road.

 Once we reached the Naneghat entrance which is very much visible from the highway on the right side of the road.Everyone huddled into a circle waiting for the instructions and introduction round

Introductions which everyone always forget....mostly

 but what was this ..oh!! Mayank suddenly conjured a plastic bag and out appeared a cake out of it . Yes Mask was celebrating their anivearsary trek in style par yeh kya ….Breaking news !!! Cake ka full circle me se i/4 portion gayab…ek pal aisa laga jaise Mantralaya me aag lagne se files gayab ki gayi thi kahi Mayank aur kapil ne hi to nahi cake gayab kar diya..lolz.

Arre cake pura round kyo nahi hai !!!
 Ask the Mask...Golmaal hai bhai golmaal hai

After finishing with the cake cutting ceremony and introduction round we started our trek. The initial portion of the trek is quite simple it is plain walk for about 2kms with green carpet of grass all around you and Nanecha Anguta towering above you .The climate was overcast till here.

Morning walk at Naneghat!!!

 Once this morning walk gets over we come across a small stream (which was dry this time ) crossing it we entered the forest  and after little walk through the forest we come across another stream( again dry this time too) from here we took little left and again walk into the forest. The trail is well marked so however hard you try you cannot lose your way here.

Frequent Breaks !!! highlight of this trek 

From here onwards the climb consist of mild ascent and then you come across a small clearing and after this another Plateau ( which was very fondly nicknamed as Platuuu). As there were lots of first time trekkers with us so the group was very generous at taking breaks. We were all suppose to take break at the platuuu but this elusive platuu aata hi nahi.and atlast when it did arrived everyone crashed out and relaxed as if they have made it to the top.We all broke into impromptu photo session. 

Photo at platuu

Once everyone was over with this break we all moved on. The climb from here gets steep and the stone way makes it more rigorous . Overcoming all the fatigue we halted midway to have Bird eye view  of lovely valley and from here our next halt was at the water tank. We all filled up our bottles here and moved towards the top. After trekking for another 20 minutes we reached the top. Here there is a big cave which can shelter around 50 people.Last year when I had come here the caves were in natural form but this time around they have converted it into Central jail. All natural beauty is totally screwed   up in the name of restoration.

Our hangout for the day...Naneghat caves
(should I say prison now)

We all enjoyed our lunch and then went through the famous Naneghat Pass where in earlier days of empirical raj the traders used to drop a coin in the large pot so as to pass from this route( aaj ke zamane ka toll tax) 

Man made grills and fencing..I am hating this !!!

 av

Now this is the trade route where you pay your toll

View from the caves

Toll collection Pot of olden days

 Once you come across the pass the view in front of you for a second could puzzle you because after trekking for almost 3 hrs and reaching the top if you see a bus or a car at the top you may almost utter WTF . 

WTF from where did car have come from !!!

The reason we see that bus is because there is a way from junnar which is motorable and takes you right at the doorsteps of Naneghat. There is a small hill from this point

this is the hill we have to climb to reach the topmost point or on the tip of Nanacha Angtha

 The view from this top is beyond any description of words .Each photographs has a story to tell

Do I have to say anything

Everyone enjoying the breeze at the Top

Naneghat You made my Day !!!

After enjoying and freaking out we skidded down this hill on the top and finally the time came to say good bye to naneghat and we all started our descend. While descending it started to rain heavily due to which the way became more slippery

Slippery Stone Walk

Akshita and Ketaki
( I liked Ketaki  fb update Naneghat me Nani Yaad aa gayi)

For me getting down almost became a non event because I had a wonderful company of Jay Karia and Ketaki Ambekar. and my daughter. We kept on exchanging stories and in no time reached the base. In the meanwhile there were few casualties too , though of course of minor nature. Whereby Mayank knees were giving him pain and Arpit twisted his ankle but somehow ek dusre ko sambalte hua they made it to the base.

All in all Ma(a)sk kasam bada hi awesome trek tha

Thanks to all 

Special thanks to Jijesh Nair,Kevin Disilva and Praful Patne for the wonderful photos.


How to reach:

Our bus followed the simple route from Andheri to Thane via Dahisar –Kalyan- Murbad-Saralgaon-Tokawade and you are there at Naneghat Entrance.

Another way is that one can take local train to Kalyan Station from there one can take ST bus or Private jeep. Naneghat is very easily accessible as the board of Naneghat can be easily seen from the road.

Trek to Tandulwadi

Life has its own ways at throwing different stress at you sometimes it could be work pressure  and sometimes it could be personal pressure however Life also throws in a long rope of hope for you in different forms, for me the first whiff of succor came in form of this first monsoon trek to Tandulwadi.


Monsoon was getting delayed now for quite sometime and it was irritating to know that coming weekend could again be trekless (My new english vocabulary don't mind). As man is a hopeful animal (Akhir Umeed per hi duniya kayaam hai) so I decided, what may come I am going for this trek rains or no rains. Saturday night the Gods went crazy literally because it started to rain cats and dogs. I too was damn ecstatic now and my heart almost sang out...Sawaan ko aane do.


Sunday morning with the usual excitement of trek I along with my daughter left the house to catch the 7.00 Virar local it was 6.40 when we reached the platform and to my dismay I noticed that the trains are late. 6.06 Virar local had just come in( Thanks to local train accident at Andheri Station last night). Anyways I jumped into this train. Why bother for 7.00 train..jaldi Virar pahuncho...warna yeh trek miss ho jayega.

People on the tracks side of the train all ready to jump into the train. 

Upon reaching Virar what I saw left me flabbergasted Aisa laga ki puri Mumbai Khali ho rahi hai....not a place to stand on the platform and that too at 8.00 am in the morning...sach me this city is going nuts!!!


It was here I met our organiser Sameer and few of the other members of the trek group. we proceeded to catch the train for Saphale. Here too the scene that ensued was something beyond explanation, there were people jostling on the platform to get into the train and then there were people on the tracks side of the train all ready to jump into the train. My daughter panicked as to how are we suppose to get into this train.But we Indian have true grit and enough courage to overcome all obstacles and the result of that was we were all in the train.Happy journey to all... we are on our way to Tandulwadi.


As there was no place to sit so we all traveled standing near the foot board . Aur aage hamari himmat dekho ki we managed to have our impromptu standing breakfast of idli-chatni ( Thanks Pramila).It was a 15 minutes travel from Virar to Saphale. We all got down and proceeded to east side where the organisers had arranged for Tumtum to take us to Tandulwadi. 

Primary school at Tandulwadi

 Tandulwadi is a around 5 kms from Saphale station, there are ST buses and autos which go there so one can easily reach this base village.

View from the gram Panchayat office Tandulwadi

Enjoying morning breakfast Packet  or should I say surprise packet !!!

Tandulwadi base village has a large school on the left side and garam panchayat office in the middle and a small shop on the right side of the village.Here the Organisers surprised us with a royal breakfast of Pizzas and cake.

Walk through the Village and look closely to see the Band on the  left side.

As usual we had an introduction and instruction round.After this we started our trek from the Village and immediately we came across a small band(Dam),

back water of the band adjoining the village

 from here we take left and immediate right.There is straight way from here and you can see the Tandulwadi top from here on the right side. Keep following the trail and the best part is through out the trek almost all the detours are to the right only. But mind you let this not misguide you to wrong confidence because this trek is notorious for many trekker losing their way in past. Luckily we had hired a guide so no such chance for us.

Initial ascent is gradual and easy

The ascent is gradual and easy.Turning back one can see the Vaitarna river flowing in the background. 

 Lovely Vaitrana river flowing

After walking for 30 minutes we came across Plateau. From here one gets very beautiful view of the top as the conditions were overcast so when we looked at the top it was immersed in the fluffy clouds, one moment you can see it and the other moment it disappeared. 

One moment it is there and another moment it disappears !!

The Plateau I presume during proper monsoon must be having a large water stream which we noticed on our way back.

Plateau where one could see small stream

From the Plateau we had the option to take shorter route to the top by taking left turn and doing the climb but as it has began to rain the route was becoming marshy and slippery  so the organiser opted for the longer route from the right through the forest . Here the initial portion was a walk through the large stones lying in the forest and after sometime the climb to the top started. The ascent was little steep and due to rains slippery and above all the new phenomena that I noted in this trek was crabs. while trekking there were so many crabs running helter shelter and the possibility is very high that one may trample them by mistake or they may bite you out of  fear. We had enough photographers on our team who were chasing insects and crabs to capture them on the cameras.

Pouring rains,clouds and breeze...Picture Perfect

It was pouring very heavily. Almost all the cameras went into the bags and we were all enjoying the magic of nature. Ignoring the fatigue of climb,crabs,thorns everyone moved on and finally reached the top.At the start of Top plateau there are 2 water cisterns we moved to the left from there and was on the top or should I say Top of the World. I was almost at the loss of words because the climate was a killer here Rains pouring very hard as if giving your back a massage, Rain drops were nothing short of guided missiles. The breeze was so furious that it could fly you out and then the clouds yes naughty clouds they were all over us making us feel chilly.
The is not much fortification at the Top. It was explained to us that this place was at a vantage point therefore there was no need to fortify it.there were only few water tanks here which we didn't go to see as the climate was simply too awesome for us to move."Thand se fati padi thi toh hilega kon..."
As usual some one called out to start with lunch.Here standing in the pouring rain with no shelter to stand under I was wondering how the hell we will have lunch. But then an incorrigible trekkers can do anything so naturally we had one of the most craziest and out of the world lunch under the open sky , pouring rains and whole body shivering to the hilt. I simply could not put away the memory of me holding the stuffed paratha and eating with the rain drops hitting me all the time. Lunch in clouds,rains and so strong breeze that holding your sandwich itself was a task with every possibility that it could fly to your immediate neighbor's mouth and mind you it is no exaggeration.
The only unfortunate part at the Top was that due to clouds and rains we were not able to clearly see the confluence of river Surya and Vaitarna river flowing across and secondly a very very big loss that we were not able to capture all this fun on the camera. But then these things are really very difficult to capture on camera because that environment,that smell of the breeze and the ambience of the nature around you is to be felt to be believe which I hope lots of my trekker friends will agree too.
Fighting rains and wind we finished our lunch. Sameer called out for Know the history session at the Top..Lekin sunne ki himmat kahan thi...we were only hoping ki yeh jaldi se finish kare and we now move to some better sheltered place. Shivering in rains we attended our history lesson quite informative though. We finally started to move down. Coming down was lot easier in spite of the rains and we quickly reached the base village where we were provided hot black tea kicking all the cold out of the system.


We took tumtum back to Saphale station where the next train was expected to come at 6.15 pm . Luckily for us the train was on time but yet there was another bout of push and pull to get into the train to Virar.


 However we survived to live another day for another trek !!!


Given below is a video link of our entire trip to tandulwadi top  I am thankful to my friend Sanjeev Tankaria for capturing the mood of the trek and allowing me to use his video.

Thanks to the entire team of trekkers

Thank You