Champaner Series | The journey | part 1

This is how it began.....

It all started during my trip to Jodhpur (you can read from this link about my Jodhpur Series) last month, when a co passenger in the train dropped this name Champaner near vadodara, a sucker that I am for any new off beat destination I was kind of all ears to him. I could see the joy on his face as he was describing the place to me.

Sir this place was lost to people for more than 500 years !

You must see this wonderful confluence of Islamic, Hindu and Jain culture in the construction of these monuments and

above all this Champaner was declared as UNESCO world heritage site !

It was then and there I knew that I won't be able to sleep peacefully if I don't visit this place. Well I asked few of my friends if they could join me but every one  was busy , Friday night I decided that I'm going what may come , so I packed my backpack which consists of bare necessities and of course my love my camera and I was off to Mumbai central station to catch late night Vadodara Express which departs at 11.40 to Vadodara.

All set to go on a night train to Vadodara

Due to unreserved journey I had tough time managing to sleep and when I was all set to go to sleep Vadodara Station has arrived. It was 6:30 am when I reached Vadodara station. I quickly had khaman for breakfast at the station and then moved on to the Vadodara Central bus station which is very near to the Railway station. 

Vadodara Central Bus Station (Pic source internet)

Catching bus from ST stand are the real challenge, Though I enquired at the bus counter for the bus to Champaner I was told to take pavagadh bus from platform 16,  Upon reaching the bus  platform 16 when I saw the name pavagadh I asked the conductor whether this bus go to Champaner he said no, but you go from there to Champaner, so all confusion.

Platform no 16 at Vadodara Central Station( Pic source internet)

Just then I saw a Rajasthan roadway bus and people jumped from the bus in which I was sitting to the Rajasthan roadways bus going to pavagadh, I too jumped and got in it. When I asked for the ticket to Pavagadh ,the conductor told me that this bus will drop me to Halol and from there I'll have to take an auto or bus to Pavagadh. I was like Hey Bhagwan, Meri maddat karo. Anyways this journey to Halol lasted around an hour and luckily I found a bus going to Pavagadh from there. This time I didn't take a chance and kept the GPS On, on my phone and as soon as I read Champaner I told the bus guy to stop he said Arre saheb, Bus stand 1 min hi door hai . So I quitely sat down and indeed realised that the Pavagadh ST bus station is just opposite the Champaner World heritage.

Pavagadh ST bus Station( Pic source internet)

 See the irony that Vadodara station have this large poster in their waiting room and yet the locals are unaware of this treasure in their back yard.

Poster at Vadodara Waiting Room

At last this topsy turvy journey of mine came to an end and I was all set to step into the world of Ancient era of UNESCO World heritage site of Champaner. So what is this Champaner all about well here is little info you can use.

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park

It is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th-century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.

Justification for it been a World Heritage site

Criterion (iii): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park with its ancient Hindu architecture, temples and special water retaining installations together with its religious, military and agricultural structures, dating back to the regional Capital City built by Mehmud Begda in the 16th century, represents cultures which have disappeared.

Criterion (iv): The structures represent a perfect blend of Hindu-Moslem architecture, mainly in the Great Mosque (Jami Masjid), which was a model for later mosque architecture in India. This special style comes from the significant period of regional sultanates.

Criterion (v): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is an outstanding example of a very short living Capital, making the best use of its setting, topography and natural features. It is quite vulnerable due to abandonment, forest takeover and modern life.


Criterion (vi): The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park  place of worship and continuous pilgrimage for Hindu believers.

 Aren't you excited like me to know the history and explore the grandeur of the past era consisting of some of the amazing Mosques,Jain Temples and cenotaphs.

Well then stay tuned till my next blog on amazing Shaher ki Masjid.

Thank you

Gadgada aka Ghargad Fort

My mobile rings and I see it's my friend Shashi calling and I say to myself Lo... Aa gaya trek ka invitation and true to my thoughts it was indeed an invitation, because I could hear the voice at other end saying "Apne ko yeh Saturday chalne ka hai"  Thanks to weak mobile signal Shashi mutters something like Gadbad hai trek which leaves me bewildered and I blurted "Arre Ghadbad trek hai toh kyo karneka hai, aapan doosre trek ko chalte hai" Shashi must have thought I am crazy because he said "Arre sir woh trek ka naam gadbad hai", Now I lost my temper and said "Arre yaar pehle naam properly dekh le", Shashi was now all into shouting mode and in high pitch said "Sirji its Ghargad not Gadbad.... Arre aap barabar sunte hoi nahi". I sheepishly gave in and said "Dost sorry for the Gadbad....I am ready to come to Ghargad"

All set for Ghargad or Gadgada Trek

It was decided that we shall be travelling by train till Kasara and from there we had arranged for the local transport to take us to the base village So on Saturday night I caught Kasara local from Dadar at 11 pm, rest of the guys joined me from Kalyan and it was 1.30 am when we reached Kasara Station.Luckily for us our jeep guy was there on time and 15 of us boarded the poor jeep!!! But then trek ka travel me yeh hi toh maja hai.... AC car me travel kiya toh kya travel kiya. 

Trek Teasers

We left Kasara station by 1.45 am and we took the Mumbai Nasik Highway road. Drive on the kasara Ghat is always a pleasure provided one do not encounter heavy traffic. Our jeep driver has this self earned notion that he is appointed to fly jet fighter so he was upto the task of flying the jeep, weaving and crisscrossing among the lorries, cars and tankers. As I was sitting on the front seat so despite it been 2 oclock at night I didn't dare to close my eyes for a second Itna Darr toh scuba diving karte time bhi nahi laga tha.


We crossed Ghoti and a further drive of 16kms we saw this sign board of Wadivare Police station from where we leave the highway and turn left after taking the left turn from the highway our jeep moved toward the Gadgada Sangvi Village. Dark night and empty road made the travelling little fast and after fifteen minutes drive I saw this Gadgada Sangvi Village sign board, one needs to drive little 50 mtrs ahead from this sign board and take a right turn in order to reach the base village Gadgada Sangvi.

It was 2.50 am when we reached the Gadgada Sangvi Village. Sign board told us that that the population of this village is 491 people. It was pitch dark as we entered the village and was given rousing welcome by the stray dogs. Upon entering the village we saw this temple so it was an assuring thought that we wont have to spend the night in chilling cold. It hardly took 5 minutes for everyone to pull out their mats, newspaper and bedsheets and next moment all 15 of us were lying on the cold floor of the temple. The worried dog of the village kept barking non stop and adding to that was the lion roaring ...oops I mean few of our friends snoring made simple sleeping a herculean task. finally at around 4 am the dog who was vociferously barking got tired (I wanted to yell Yaar is kute ko ek Vicks ki goli dede koi..kitna kich kich 😄😄😄 and we all heaved a sigh of relief that NOW when can go to sleep and what happened exactly a second after this silence had us in splits, Yes it was now the Rooster turn!!! because now he started crowing at the top of its voice. Ab choti choti jagah per aisi choti choti pyari baate ho hi jati hai bahi....so enjoy.

Karvate badalte badlte raat kab guzaar gayi pata hi nahi chala It was 6 am in the morning when we goy up, It was still dark and the skyline was changing colours every minute.As we were getting ready for the trek to start we met one of the local villager who armed with his lota was coming from the fields. I had all the intention of telling him Bhai Amitabh ko nahi sunte ....Khule me kahe shoch kar rahe ho. But situation demanded diplomacy as we have to gather the information from him. He told us that we better take our jeep till the base of the Gadgada Mountain rather than starting on foot from here as our base point is still 2 kms away from here. Hence all of us again jumped on the jeep and this must be the most bumpier ride of my life as the road was in pathetic condition...I am sorry it was not road I think vehicles passing over the mud have made it look like road.

A little bumpy and we finally reached a plateau where there is a temple, 6;30 am and we could hear the blaring sound of bhajans from the temple loudspeaker. (Arre swamiji Pahado me toh shanti rehne do).


 The first thing that we notice is two separate platforms with idols on them

Idol no 1

Idol No 2

 and next to that there is a small temple, and just little further we see this Hanuman Idol under the tree.These idols have be re shifted because few month back this Hanuman Idol was near the above temple. (Kamaal hai Bhagwan ko bhi shift karte rehte hai)

There is another temple being contructed here.We made our first stop here and requested the swamiji at this place to boil some water for us so that we can have Tea. We soon prepared black tea and were refreshed.The view from here was very beautiful.

Amazing views

 All of us were ready with our cameras and mobile phone to capture the early morning bliss.The wide stretch of mountains,floating clouds 

and the rising sun was peeking out from the horizon slowly, the time simply stood still for a second and we were all waiting with baited breath to see the sun rise.

Finally the orange burst of colours happened, making the moment almost magical for us and the icing on the cake was the chilling climate of winter... Dil bole boom boom

Standing at the base we could very prominently see another temple on the top of the mountain and the stone carved stairs to reach that.

 The locals have painted this stairs so the route from the base to temple can be easily seen.

The steps are uneven and too steep so one must be careful while climbing.

 After climbing these stairs within 15-20 minutes we were at the Bhavani Temple. A little climb on the narrow stairs with a creaky steel railing for support.( tip: don't depend on the railing, too risky)

Stairs with the creaky railings

We paid our respect to the gods, sat there was few minutes and got down from those creaky railing stair and started walking towards the right from the base of the temple.

Basically the main door of the fort is on top,next to the temple, However due to the overhang in between its not possible to climb from here. 

The original steps I was told earlier used to come down from there but were blown up by the Britishers. In order to reach the top we have to go towards the right of the temple and traverse till the back and from there we need to encounter 3 rock patches to reach the top.

Traversing from behind

Following the trial we started to traverse from behind. The walk till the first rock path is narrow, One has to thread carefully as there is clear drop. I too walked the route keeping my body weight towards the mountain side and reached the first rock patch

Walking carefully keeping the body weight on the mountain side 

The view from here is amazing, one can see the blue coloured backwater nestled among the mountains with overhang of clouds in the distance.

Backwater nestled among the mountains.

The First Rock patch is very simple. one may or may not use the rope, One big hop and you are standing at the second rock patch. This second rock patch is quite challenging and precaution must be taken to ensure that not more than 4-5 people stand at the base of this rock patch. The holding area is too small.

Ravi Sir and Vinayak Sir with ropes

 Ravi Sir, Yogesh Sir and Vinayak ji had set up the ropes for this section of rock climbing.As we were gearing up to climb this section when suddendly someone shouted Arre sambhalo udhar samph(Snake) hai , Samph ka naam sunte hi sab ke chehre dekhe wale the.We noticed there was this black snake. everyone froze, Shashi who was suppose to click our pictures for climbing was so scared that he almost started to retreat. We were in a catch 22 situation." Jagah itni kam thi ki hum bhag ke peeche bhi nahi aa sakte the aur snake ke darr se aage bhi ja nahi sakte the.....socho aisa ho toh kya ho....." 

Snake or No snake Boss! chadna toh padega !!!

Luckily for us snake was kind enough to go back into its crack in the rock and we started to do our climb. As due to absence of exercise on my part I have put on lots of weight Aaj ek ek kilo ka hissab dena pada jab mere ko yeh climb karna pada, Huffing and panting I completed my climb, my throat was dry but I was very happy that I finally made it to the Top.

Final struggle to reach the top 😜

Our climber team ensured everyone was safely pulled up and we celebrated this by clicking the group pictures and selfies.

Time for group photo after reaching the Top

Itna struggle ke baad ek photo toh banta hai...Kyo theek na !!

Now the time had come for us to move on from here to explore the top. A little walk on the top and you come across these water cistern. I don't know whether the water is potable or not.There are 5-6 stone steps which go down. Today only 3 steps were visible rest were under water.

Water Cisterns

Shashi and me were left behind as we were busy clicking the pictures. So both of us started to explore the top on our own. As this fort is less frequented hence there was lots of overgrowth of bushes on the top.

Overgrowth of bushes on the top.

Walking little ahead we came across some damaged structure of ancient times. 

Ancient damaged structures.

Basically nothing much is left to be seen and just ahead to that there was another set of water cisterns.

Another set of water cisterns

 After exploring this Shashi and me moved towards the west side of the plateau.The view from here is simply amazing because One can see several mountains like Anjaneri and Valadevi, Danfya Pinnacle, Aundha and Bitangad and one can also see Kalsubai range.

View of glorious mountain range

It was now time for us to move back to the main entrance of the Fort. Surprisingly the main entrance is quite damaged,One has to imagine how it would have looked in its hay days and from this entrance door there are carved stone stairs which get disappeared abruptly because I was given to understand that Britishers had destroyed the steps which earlier used to come down from the top. In order to descend from the Fort

Main  entrance gate in ruined state

 One has to rapel from this doorway and land near the Temple top of Bhavani Temple. Climbing from Bhavani temple to this gate is not possible because of the overhang which comes in between.

Rappelling down is the only way to get down

Another thrilling session of rappelling for us to get down from here added all the fun. I enjoyed every moment of suspension in the air .looking down at the valley below

Rapel and watch the valley

 In no time all our team members reached the Bhavani temple. Now the descend down the stone stairs was the next in agenda, Few of the first timer were feeling jittery while descending but I found it to be fun and in a jiffy we were at the base where we regrouped and had our lunch under the shade of a tree.As our Jeep was waiting for us so we jumped on to it and bid final adieu to Ghargad where thankfully there was no Gadbad....Snake episode not withstanding.


Trekker Tips:
1. This is a technical trek
2.Please carry 100 feet and 30 feet rope.
3.It is not possible to climb the fort from the temple side as the steps are destroyed and the rock             section has a overhang which makes climbing or ascend from here almost impossible.
4. one can only descend from the top by rappelling.

Travel Tips:
1. I was given to understand that there are ST buses which ply from Nasik every hour but these buses go only till Vadivhire ST Standand not till Gadgada Sangvi Village. After that one has to walk 4 kms to reach the base village or alternatively one can wave some local tempo.
2, Best option would be to hire a jeep from Kasara station and reach Gadgada Sangvi Village.
3, Please carry your food as I didn't see any shop at the base village.

Arnala Fort

My niece had come from Delhi to visit me and she wanted me to take her for a trek.Knowing that she had never trekked before and with mercury hitting at 40 C plus I was wary of going to trek with her, So I suggested the middle path and decided to visit Arnala Fort.

There are very few places which are near Mumbai and yet offer you the peaceful bliss of country side's natural delight and Arnala Fort is one of them. Arnala Village is hardly 10kms away from Virar station and the best part is, as it is a sea fort, so one need not worry about the trekking hardship. In my opinion any new comer who wants to get acquainted with the History, Forts and trek and in this particular order should start from here.

picture taken from internet

Our Journey:
Once it was decided that it's Arnala Fort this Sunday, I called up few others also in case if they want to join me, However in the end it was me,my niece Sunisha and my friend Pooja who ended up for this trek.We took an early train to Virar Station and on reaching Virar station we got out of the station from the west side and walking for hardly 2-3 minutes we arrived at the Virar ST stand. We were given to understand that the frequency of the buses going to Arnala Village are good (Almost every 15 mins) and luckily for us the Local green coloured bus going to Arnala was waiting. we quickly got hold of the window seat, the bus journey lasted around 30 minutes and we reached the Arnala Market stop.

Crowded Arnala Market

After getting down from the bus the first thing that hit you big time is the smell of fish and the din of the crowded market place.My niece was quite amused and confused, She had this big question mark on her face " But chachu you said its a silent and serene place, yeah toh pura meena bazaar hai" I chuckled and said "Jaise Toofan se pehle shanti hoti hai , waise hi shor ke baad Shukun (peace) ... Bacha thodi Thand Rakho"

Fisher-women selling fishes at the fish market

 The Arnala Market or Naka has this big fish market and just opposite to that moving slightly toward the right side is a narrow road , a simple walk of 5 minutes  from here will take us to Ferry wharf or jetty. Yes friends one has to take a boat to reach this fort because this fort is located on an island !

A little walk through these narrow lanes and you reach Ferry Wharf

History:
Arnala fort is also called Jaldurg (Seafort) or Jangire Arnala , at one time the Portuguese who owned this fort had it rebuilt and named it ilha das vacas. In the year 1516 a local chieftain from Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begde constructed this fort on the Arnala island ,but in 1530 Portuguese  gained the control of this island consequent to that the Portuguese nobleman tore down the old fort and did a new construction of 700 by 700 feet (210m x 210m) fort, since then for 2 centuries the control of the fort remained with the Portuguese who used it to control shipping and navigation along the northern Konkan coast. 

During the late 17th century, the then Peshwa Baji Rao I , sent his brother Chimaji Appa to take over the Bassein Fort from Portuguese, later after winning the battle of Vasai, on the insistence of Shankerji Pant, Chimaji Appa lauched an attack on Arnala Fort but it was a disaster, as the Maratha forces under the naval command of Manaji Angre was routed by the superior Portuguese naval forces, but however during the second attack on 28 March 1737 the Marathas caught Portuguese by surprise and forced them to abandon the fort. The Marathas rebuilt the fort and constructed 3 bastions Bahirav, Bhavani and Bava later this fort was lost by Marathas to the Britishers in 181. The Arnala and the Bassien Fort were returned to Marathas in the treaty of Salabai but yet again the fort went back to Britishers under the treaty of Pune.

Journey Continues :
I hope now that you have brushed up little history let's move back to our journey, After getting down the bus we walked and passed through the narrow lanes which housed fishermen houses to reach the Ferry Wharf. The earlier boat had just left and the next boat would be coming in 15 minutes so we spent our time clicking pictures 

Photo session at the Ferry wharf

One could see lots of hanging fishes being dried up in sun. It was like fishes all around you. The smell of the fish was now becoming a constant companion and we were getting pretty used to it.

Drying fishes

Soon our boat arrived and here there was another shock awaiting Pooja and Sunisha when they realised that they will have to wade through the water to get into the boat.Quickly we removed our shoes,our mobile,cameras etc and put them in our bag. and before we could realise we were almost deep in water till waist level. I was all prepared for the shrieks of my lady companions but to my surprise and relief both of them very sportingly and bravely climbed into the boat and heaved sigh of relief.The boat was rocking as if it would drown anytime,

The rocking boat

Just imagine rush hour crowded local train, same was the plight on this small overloaded boat. Luckily for us our fears were unfounded and we survived this sweet and small journey of hardly 5 minutes and reached the other shore. Getting down was another another task, jumping into the waist high water was now order of the day so we were well prepared for it, In fact we had started to enjoy this adventurous experience. 

Uninviting hot sand

Getting down in cool water was a delightful experience in this hot weather but once we started walking on the beach to our despair we realised how hot the dry sand was, As we were bare footed so the burning sand had an impact of what a person must have felt walking on hot coal, running in despair we broke into unintentional tap dance to save our feets and dived into the shelter of the nearby fishermen's house.Catching our breath we started our walk to the fort.

Walk through the village to the fort

The walk from the beach to the fort entrance is hardly a 5 minutes walk through narrow lane with the fishermen folks houses on both sides of lane and as we reached closer to the fort entrance we saw few abandoned boats and Fishermen folks unloading the mud bags for the reconstruction of the fort.

Fishermen folks unloading the mud bags

Few abandoned boats

The Fort entrance has this beautiful carving of a tiger and an elephant. I had read about this carving of Elephant and tiger so was very keen to capture it on my camera 

Carvings of Tiger and the Elephant on the main entrance

but I was shocked and saddened by the state of the gate, Some voyeuristic people who I never understood, as to what pleasure they get in proclaiming their love on the walls of heritage site,had defaced it.

Shameful destruction of heritage site

 Hey man you have a Living room in your house Please go and put that graffiti on the living room wall,Jab baap do Jhappad lagayega sab hosh thikhane aa jayega spare the historical sites.

Another thing on entering the gate I noticed was the stack of sand bags, which meant that the restoration work is going. 

 Stack of sand bags meant for the restoration work

As soon as we entered the fort from this gate , I noticed that one can see almost the entire wall of the fort.as the fort is kind of rectangular in shape.We saw few broken walls of old quarters, 

Broken walls of old quarters

Lovely sea view from the fort

The moment we reach the top wall, we get the lovely view of the sea ahead,with small boats all around and bird's eye view of the entire fort.

Bird's eye view of Fort Complex

we started walking on the fort wall with the intent of circumventing and this is possible because the entire Rampart wall is interconnected.

Walking on the interconnected  Rampart of the fort  

walking along the way we noticed secret doors,Passages going down at some places,small windows along the wall of bastions, which in earlier they must be using to look out for the enemy. But today this small windows provided excellent location to click beautiful pictures.

Some pretty sights from Fort windows

 The portion which consists of bastion had passages going down which could take you out of the fort.However thanks to the onslaught of modern civilization which gives two hoots for maintaining the historical places these passage were blocked due to the mud,dust and the plastic waste thrown by the visitors to the fort. How I wish someone takes the initiative to clean up these passages. If this kind of initiative will be undertaken I would love to be the part of same.

Passages at the bastions

 Blocked passage due to the mud,dust and the plastic waste thrown by the visitors to the fort

Once we completed our exploration of the entire fort wall we moved down from the same stairs from which we had come up and moved toward the center of the Fort. Arnala Fort has a fantastic combination of 2 different cultures with a Shrine and a Temple in the Fort complex. we first decided to explore the Shrine of Hazratshah Alishah Baba,

Shrine of Hazratshah Alishah Baba,

 Its  a cool green coloured stucture and next to that there is a grave. Next to shrine there is a nice resting place below the tree which offers cool pleasure ,after spending some peaceful moments here we started to walk towards the Shiva Temple nearby.

On the way as we were walking we noticed this Banyan tree where we couldn't help taking some swings as they say Dil toh bacha hai ji !! 

Swinging times ..Dil tho bacha hai ji

One very hilarious incident happened here , my niece got a call from her mother and she asked my niece how is the fort and she very innocently replied " Mom yeah Khandar jaisa hai " I was aghast to hear the word Khandar I said ' Beta tune toh Dil hi thod diya,I find solace in these kind of places and tune toh ishe Khanhar bol diya." 

Ruins or Past National Glory

As they say the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, same goes here,because honestly speaking it actually is ruins but we Fort lovers see it differently because we connect and try to live the history that has happened here.On her part she had a valid point because being from north she has seen Red Fort, Hawa Mahal and few other forts So I must have smashed her fortwala dream. She kept apologizing profusely to me and I kept pulling her leg for this faux pas.

After finishing our swinging session at the Banyan tree we moved to the Shiva Temple.

Shiva Temple with the octagonal well opposite it. 

The Shiva Temple on the fort is just next to the unique octagonal well. The temple offers such peace and serenity that one would simply like to sit there and meditate,

Perfect place to meditate 

 Despite the harsh sun-rays the breeze was quite cool within the temple. the sight of fort wall looked quite interesting from the temple so I took few pictures.

View from the Temple

Just outside this Shiva temple there is this unique Octagonal water well which has steps leading down the well and on the periphery of the well wall there was this Ganapati Idol. after offering our prayers to Ganpatiji and Shivji we started to move out of the Fort 

Unique Octagonal Water well

Steps leading to the well

Ganpati Idol on the periphery wall of octagonal well 

This time we decided to use the rear exit to go out of the Fort, Its a  a small door through which one or two person can go out at a time. The reason we exited out of the rear door was that when we were on the top wall of the fort I saw this stand alone Stone bastion behind the fort at some distance which I wanted to explore.

Small rear exit door of the Fort

Moving out of this door we started walking through the fields and the local fishermen house.Keeping the Bastion in our sight we moved towards it,our little walk along the coast brought us near the Stone Tower,

Walk along the coast brought us near this Stone watch Tower

We could see the Stone watch tower almost at the corner of the island with few abandoned boats scattered near it.

Stone watch tower with scattered abandoned boat around it

 While exploring this Stone Bastions /watch tower I couldn't find any entrance to it so I encircled the whole watchtower and ultimately my persistence paid off when I noticed a small passage which allows the entry into this watch tower,

Small entry passage to the Stone Tower

 The problem was that it was blocked due to growth of vegetation and the passing local fishermen who saw me peeking through the narrow passage, warned me not to try any stunt of entering through this narrow passage as there could be snakes so I dropped my frivolous idea and moved on for the return journey back to the ferry wharf or jetty.Walking along the island coast we reached the point where in the morning the boat had dropped us, Now standing in the middle of nowhere its little difficult to know whether you are at the right place.

Is it a deserted Island

 Not a soul was in sight and only the small boats lying around. we were worried as to when the boat will come, just then I noticed a woman sitting under a shadow of an old boat. I asked her when the boat will come she said as the boat guy is gone for lunch so the next boat will be at 3 pm. The time on our watch was 2.30 and sitting on the hot burning sand under equally hot sun was not on our agenda so we decided to go and check out the temple which was just at a distance from where we were standing.

Mata Kalika and  Shitla Mata  Temple

The freshly orange painted temple looked too tempting to be missed so we walked through houses and reached the temple complex within 5 minutes. This was as we came to know Mata Kalka and Shitla mata mandir,We had our darshan and in the court yard of the temple we had our packed lunch of, Parathas,Theplas Puran polis and biscuits

Kalika and Shitla Mata Mandir with it's large courtyard where we had our lunch

 and just before 3 pm we were again standing at the Jetty when we saw the arriving boat, It was the same adventure all over again of getting we,,climbing the rocking boat for our return journey. After crossing the sea and reaching the Arnala side we walked back to the fish market we saw a ST bus going to Kolhapur, On enquiring as to whether the bus will go to Virar Bus stand, we got positive response so we all quickly hopped into the bus and in 25 minutes reached the Virar ST stand and from there back to Virar station and finally home.

Points to Remember:
1. Carry your own water and food as the fort is on island so you may not get the stuff.
2. Once you reach the island please do enquire when the last boat will leave.
3.While alighting the boat ensure all your belongings  like camera,mobile etc are in your bag because the possibility of their getting wet is very high.
4.Bus/autos are easily available to go till Arnala Naka.
5.If coming by car , remember that the Arnala Naka is a very crowed place so parking could be a big headache in that case you may have to park your car near Arnala Beach.
      

Our Team