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

Tak Mak Fort Trek:

Let me clarify at the outset of this blog that one must not get confused this Tak Mak Fort with the other Tak Mak of Raigad.

Takmak Fort near Virar must be one of the least visited Fort,But for me anything connected to history has to be explore,So this weekend the agenda was clear that I will be paying visit to this Fort despite the onslaught of heat wave.

As usual I left my house early and reached Virar station by 6.45 am. But unfortunately the other members of my group were not as enthusiastic as me so by the time everyone gathered it was way past 8.30 am.

To start this trek Virar is the nearest rail head and the connectivity is also better, One can also reach the base village from Vasai Station but my suggestion would be that its better to start from Virar Station.Upon reaching Virar station one must move toward the east side of the Virar station. Just outside the station you see the Local Bus stand. One can either take the VVMT yellow green bus to Shirsad Naka or can take share an auto till Shirsad Naka. 

Shirsad Naka on Highway

Buses are easily available till Shirsad Naka as this is kind of junction on western express highway where the staright highway road goes towards Palghar, Wada, Ahmedabad. while the road on the right side of this highway takes you to Bhiwandi, Varjeshwari.This junction has few shops and Food joints so one can also have breakfast here or can buy biscuits or snacks for the trek. 

Pvt Vehicles are easily available
from Shirsad Naka to Sakwar Village.

 From this Place there are pvt vehicles which ply towards Palghar side so one can ride on them to go to Sakwar Village. These Pvt vehicle may drop you on the Highway or at Rama Krishna Ashram.You are charged on per seat basis.As we had booked full Pvt vehicle from Shirsada Naka so the vehicle took us till the base village Sakwar. Just before the Sakwar village there is a flyover, the vehicle has to avoid this flyover and take a u turn underneath it and drive towards mumbai side direction for 500 mtrs and you see a mud road on left which will take you the Sakwar Village.

Dusty road leaving the highway
and going towards the Sakwar Village

Sakvar Village is a small village. The primary occupation  of people living here is that of growing paddy. The houses are typical of village . We were lucky to get local village kids as our guide from here.

Our Trek starts from this village here

Our trek starts from here , moving little into the village we come across a small school village(school will be on your left side)

Village School

 and just ahead of the school there is a Water hand pump our trek starts exactly opposite of this hand pump,

Water Hand Pump

 as we enter through the wicket gate onto the paddy fields, The top of the TakMak fort can be seen from here, Keeping the fort on your front -left side one should start walking towards it.

wicket gate

Here I want to make is clear please do take some guide from the village because the initial route itself is confusing as it is through the fields, sometimes even cutting across the paddy field.

Entering the Paddy fields

This initial trek through the open fields where so many criss cross villagers trails go here and there , finding a proper trail from that can be a problem secondly the initial trek of half hour being through open fields one is exposed to full furry of hot sun.

Cutting across the fields the team kept moving

Word of warning for the prospective trekker Please avoid doing this trek in summers or even in Oct/Nov heat, Monsoon is the best time to this trek or by the way of night trek.

Villagers working in torrid heat

After walking for over 30 minutes through the fields we enter forest region.

Entering the forest region

The vegetation is thick at places, one has to make way and go as this been lesser frequented fort.

Dense Vegetation at places 

and at some places you can see tall trees and the view it offers is amazing.

Tall trees make the view all the more beautiful.

 the sunlight filtering through them gives very good visual effect.
Thankfully walking through this forested region provide some succor from the heat that we had to bear. 

The effect of light filtering through the tree is simply amazing

 The ascent is gradual initially as we enter the forest.For the keen observer of nature the flora and fauna to be found here is amazing,

Taking the advantage of shade we took our first break.The walk through the forest lasted around 40 minutes. The ascent at some places was steep. The trail through the forest is not very clear and we didn't find any marker arrows to guide us here.

Forest walk

So here again I am reminding my trekker friends please take a guide, Don't try to be a brave heart. Walking through the forest at one point we were able to see the day light. I gave out sigh of relief, atlast the plateau must have come and we are on the top.But what was  this the moment we came out of the forest we saw this rocky section

Welcome ..... On the Rocks !!!

 and further steep climb till the start of first ridge.The trek is again through the exposed heat again.Warning: Please carry 3-4 ltrs of water especially if you are doing this trek in summers.

Steep climb after the rocky section

Just climbing this section you will come across the vast long ridge. Walking in the heat was now becoming a big pain.the breaks were becoming more frequent. one of the group member gave away the trek. She was feeling very drained out and insisted that she will sit near the ridge. So keeping one female companion with her rest of us continued our journey.

The ridge and the imposing TakMak Gad behind me

The sight of towering peak of Tak Mak seems very imposing and can break your morale. But we knew we have to do it , so onward we all moved. crossing this ridge the trail dips downward for few metres and we find the trail over rocks, making walking little tedious especially if the terrain below your feet is not even.

Rocky Trail

 I walked carefully so as to avoid getting my foot twisted. This uneven patch first declines and then moves upward,once when it gets over you come across another ridge

One must walk carefully on this rocky uneven trail

Somehow this trek was giving an impression of never ending trail kind of thing. Throat was getting dry, Sun was hitting hard that I was feeling dizzy. I kept hydrating myself in such a manner so as not to consume all my water and simultaneously keeping my throat wet.

Another Ridge

By the time the walk upto the ridge gets over you realise that your woes for the day are not over because the real steep ascend toward the top starts now.The climb is quite steep and at different points you have to encounter rocky patch.

Torturous rocky patch

 These rocky portion were becoming torture due to heated rocks,Keeping our palms on them was giving us frights,this climb toward the top was quite arduous and tiring in this heat.One look behind and you realise how many ridges you have crossed to reach here.

Bird eye view of Ridges we crossed

This arduous first climb through rock patch and Scree bring us to the first sign of fortification.Yes you see a wall which can be easily missed as there are scrubs gronw all around it.

Fortification wall

For a moment I was overjoyed that the top has come. but my joy was short lived because I soon realised that this is not top but the pinnacle that which we were seeing from the ridge. It is also known as Lingi. This is kind of small flat spot with lingi on right side and further trail on left side.

Lingi or the Pinnacle that we see from the ridge

From here we have to climb another 10 minutes  through scree and rock patch.Enough dry grass can be seen here and it indeed looked beautiful perhaps that must be reason that I couldn't resist clicking my picture.

Ek Photo break toh banta hai bhai

 A little climb from here brings us to another flat portion with cactus-tree and Orange flag in that, I again thought that we have reached the top  but when I saw pravin waving at me from the top I realised that Delhi abi door hai There was this little further climb of 5 minutes on rocky path and finally when you see two big rocks and twin water cistern you realise that you have reached the top.

My first sight on reaching the top

  My first reaction on reaching the top was simply to drop dead but couldnt do that , simply becauseI was standing exposed under the hot sun. I was so happy to see few of  our team people sitting far ahead under shade of a tree. Despite my thirst I just walked past the two water tanks and crashed into the shaded portion.

Thank god for giving me the shade to lie down

It almost took 3 hours and 15 minutes for us to cover this trek . One by one swaying and dragging rest of the members came one look at them and you question was it wise to trek in this season. But we trekkers as everyone knows are incorrigible breed. For us more the pain means more the pleasure.

Pleasure in pain

Quickly we all had our lunch , rested a while. Filled our bottles from the first water tank which we were told is potable. October end the tank still had water in it. But don't take your chances guys come with enough water, you never know you may find dried cistern.As usual we did some photo session and moved from there to explore the top. Not much is to be seen other than these two water cistern, One will find 2 old cannons 

Two old canons

 Moving ahead from here you walking through thick vegetation we come across a series of cistern

Series of Cistern

 but the water in them is not potable.

Water is not potable

And few other water cistern contained algae covered water. 

Algae covered  cistern 

 Moving forward from here you come across a rocky section but flat in nature 

Flat rocky section on top

walking on it ahead from here one can have  closer look of twin top which is behind Tak Mak Gad.When I enquired from The local guide what is the name of that twin peak he said Navra -Navri. I simply smiled and asked him why not Suresh and Ramesh. I would like to summit and explore that twin peak some day.

Twin Peak behind the Tak Mak Gad

It was now time to move back. Getting down was again a task because of lots of scree and loose stones. I slipped number of times and during one of such slip landed on my palms and in the process damaged my shoulders. ADVICE: Do not try to hasten your descend . Move slowly and carefully when getting down.It was 4.30 pm when we touched the base village. Luckily the Pvt vehicle came quickly as we had taken the drivers mobile no and return journey was smooth.