Trek to Korlai Fort,Alibag

Trek to Korlai Fort 

Since last few months the heat in mumbai is increasing day by day and the side effect of this is that my treks are getting all dried up. To brave this scorching heat and go for the trek in itself is a task perhaps this prompted me to take up something simple yet satisfying my exploratory urge.




Based on this premise I started to narrow down my choice to go for trek and ended up with Trek to Korlai Fort.

So suddenly the plethora of activities began with putting an update on facebook ,calling up friends ,counter calling and in the end we finally ended up with a small group of six people ( Vaibhavi,Swapnali,Deepali,Samarth, Mamta and myself).

Deepali Kamble, Samarth Narula,Swapnali Kamble,
Aashish Chawla, Mamta Chawla,Vaibhavi Gandhi

We left early in the morning and all of us met at Churchgate station at 6.30 am, fortunately for us as this was a small group so all of us were on time and from here we all started our morning walk to Gateway of India.

Early morning walk to Gateway of India.

We reached Gateway of India well within our required time limit and were able to catch 7.00 am launch to Alibag via Mandwa port. The sight of Gateway of India was just something out of the story book specially with dash of different coloured launches scattered around the Gateway Port.... UFF kya Nazar tha…Dekho to janoo

Uff !!! kya nazaara hai...(Pun intended)

As the launch came into the harbour  our  gang all jumped into the motor launch and dashed straight to the upper deck so as to have good viewing place. Aakir me Mumbai ki Local train me chadne ki aachi practice jo hai...so idhar bi kaam aa gayi.....

Fatafat upper deck per seat pakad liya gang ne....

As it was quite early in the morning so the heat of the sun was not so harsh as to bother us and the slight breeze made the morning all the more beautiful.

Enjoying the Sun and Breeze with Samarth and Mamta

Our journey of the sea began …. The water of the ocean looked like a golden sheet glittering in all its brightness. 

Golden sheet glittering in all its brightness. 

As we went deeper into the sea we were surprised to see Dolphins skipping and jumping... Oh ! what a sight it was !!! if only my camera was handy at that time I could have captured the moment. Our small bunch was quite a happy lot we were cracking jokes, pulling each others leg, Its surprising that  just a moment ago we were strangers and in just few minutes we all gel into a common unit.

Having a great time cracking jokes !!!!

As our boat was moving we could see a fast approaching Speed boat coming towards our boat, as the speed boat neared our boat I realized that it was a coastal guard patrolling boat and he was waving at us frantically. We were wandering now what has happened I was worried that as were clicking pictures of the ships around us that must have bugged them however it turned out that our boat has drifted off course and the Coastal Guard was shouting at the Boat driver to change his direction. Kaas usne agar warn nahi kiya hota toh shayad hum Goa me hote...(Ek wishful thought aaya tabhi) per hamari kismet kahan...

Coastal gaurds giving our boat the chase ( this pic is only for representational purpose)as I was too afraid to click the actual photo at that time...Marna thoda hai !!! 

Direction thik hua hi tha ki boat started to rock very hard !!!!... I joked to Vaibhavi ki ...Be ready for Titanic part 2 minus the iceberg. This rocking of the boat was because of the high waves and  this rocking was making almost all the passengers little nervous but thankfully our boat managed to reach the Mandwa Port safely where we all got down to take the connecting bus to Alibag

Mandwa Port our first stop

 but Lo! In our frenzy to click photos and bantering we missed our connecting bus to Alibag but were pleasantly surprised to note that the 8 seater driver called us and said sir please sit... it is the free ride for you from the launch service. We all jumped into the 8 seater auto before anyone else get a better idea.

Photo clicking frenzy

Swapnali shouting lo bus nikal gayi ...aur photo nikalne ka time pass karo....

This short journey was another high point of our trek because we suddenly discovered a new oldies song singer in Swapnali and our new found Rockstar in Samarth.The journey from Mandwa beach to Alibag got over with few hindi hits ranging from Devanand era to Ranbir Kapoor.

On reaching Alibag the next task for us was to arrange for transportation from Alibag to Korlai Fort.There are various options to go to Korlai either you hire a eight seater or you take ST bus. As we were coming for the first time so it was a journey of discovery for us.Swaying like clock pendulum kabhi idhar toh kabhi udhar ( in our case kabhi ST stand toh kabhi Auto Stand) We asked the auto guy and he said he will charge us Rs 300 for a trip so we told him to go for a walk .In India on seeing a tourist the attitude of the locals are generally always .. ki Loot lo saale ko…Kyo ki kaal yeh ho na ho....hearing these auto fare hum ne aaw dekha ha taaw..seeda ST stand ki taraf mu kiya .....and we decided to check out the ST Bus option . We searched for our bus station Maharastra ke ST stand per apna Bus dondna konsa aasan kaam hai  even an educated man becomes like dumb bimbo asking like fool Murud ka bus kahan se jayega.. but  finally we managed to know that there is a bus to Murud on which we can go.

Waiting for the Murud Bus at Alibag ST Bus Stand

And luckily for us within minutes the Murud bus arrived Deepali lept into the bus first and we all followed her lekin sab Dhaka dhaki turned out to be a waste of time… Conducter bola chala khali uttara bus cha tyre puncuttar aahe.He bus aata pude janar nahi... Dejectedly we got down, we were worried that as the time was passing on the heat was gathering strength perhaps this prompted Vaibhavi to ask me to again try the 8 seater and This time around we were little wiser(atleast thats what we thought) and decided that we will haggle and get a deal for us . So off both us went to Rickshaw stand and started all over again this time someone quoted us 350 to drop at Korlia Village and 500 rupees to drop till fort. I felt like telling him to F…k off per kya karu Vaibhavi sath me thi… we came back to ST stand but this time were lucky the bus to Murud had just come in and as you all know India ki halat ek annar sau bemaar  ek bus aur us me safar (Suffer) karne wala anek… again like circus people we jumped into the bus lekin yeh kya bus to pehle se hi bhari hai…not a single seat to sit aur khade rahane ke liye bhi competition. Later I came to know that this bus was coming from Mumbai. This bus journey took around 45 minutes and we touched down at Korlai Village Bus stop.

Entering Korlai Village

Here we met a very interesting Character his name was Jai Hind he told us that he is from this village and he will lead us near the fort. Korlai village had a distinctive look of coastal Village 

Korlai Village Alibag

Korlai Village , Alibag

We were happy chalo bach gaye jyada search button nahi use karna padega google map hath me aa gaya hai..LOLZ

As we were walking we got into a small conversation with this Jaihind Guy who very sweetly invited us to his house we readily accepted his invitation because we were feeling very thirsty and wanted to conserve as much water as we can. His mother provided us with chilled water bottle which we all drank heartily and Swapnali and Vaibhavi also filled their water bottles.

On the way to Jaihind's House

 Just behind his house we could see the lovely sea so all of us just dashed to the sea shore and began to enjoy Mamta , Deepali,Vaibhavi started to enjoy the sea 

meanwhile Samarth, Swapnali and me got engaged in a photo session. 


Just because this was not a organizer driven trek so our itinerary was quite flexible. Everyone was enjoying with no one pushing to move forward. We started to walk along the beach and reached the main road which takes you to the light house.

The walk from the Village beach to the  light house was very interesting because the sight of the sea below looked mesmerizing, the breeze was so inviting that you forget that you are on a trek in the middle of April. We all again went berserk again jumping

Freaking Out !!!

 And shouting. It was this weird enthusiasm which was making this whole trek more and more enjoyable.

Road leading to Light house

Road leading to the Light House

We entered the light house where we were introduced to new form of bribery the gate keeper at the guest house greeted us with a warm smile (a rarity from a security personnel) Lekin asli baat to baad me samaj me aayi when he informed us that if we want to visit the light house we will get a guided tour of the light house but in return we must pay unofficial fee to the caretaker of Rs 10 per head and Rs 20 for the camera if you are carrying any. I thought sahi hai boss jab ministers log mal bana rahe hai to neeche wala ka to param hak banta hai…Ab bechara anna bi kya karega…. Anyway lets not get political,

Inside the Light House

View from the Light House

 after visiting the light house we moved from rear of the Light House to the farthest end of the fort.

beautiful landscape like background

As we made our way the beauty of the surrounding locales were overwhelming us. The splash of water on the rocks and beautiful landscape like background is a sight which I cannot still shake off. 
We entered the fort from the sea side and Korlai Fort  being a sea fort it is indeed very beautiful.Something the words cannot describe.

The splash of water on the rocks

The moment we enter we see a big courtyard with cannons at various vantage points.

Large courtyard of the  Korlai Fort

Cannons are Vantage points

As the time was 1.30 pm so we thought of taking a break for lunch. We all sat down under the shade of the tree with lovely cool breeze and in the lap of nature had our lunch . My wife felt so comfortable here that she just lazed and was ready for a short nap. 

Caught Taking a nap..
Lekin kya kare the breeze was so enchanting...boss ek nap toh banta hai

No one wanted to move now as the pleasure of food,sea,breeze aur friends was irresistible so we all took a small break here and after ½ hrs started our further exploration of the fort.

Getting ready for Lunch...

Well Deserved Lunch break

The fort is maintained quite well, matter of fact some restoration work was also going on. I have not dealt much on the history and geography of the fort which  most of you are intelligent enough to check on Wikipedia I presume...Right Boss !!!!

Check out the glimpses of Korlai Fort 

Inside Korlai Fort

Inside Korlai Fort

After going thru the  fort  one realises that the fort quite long in 


length The fort is 2828 feet long, and its average breadth is eighty-


nine feet. The enclosing wall is  5' 3" high and has 305 battlements 


for guns. It is entered by eleven gates - four are outer and seven are inner. ..
Aaj ke liye itna gyan bahut hai...kyo ki is ke aage yaad rakna bii bhari kaam hai

There are different Portuguses inscriptions on the fort walls and stones ...meri samaj me toh ek bi nahi aaya phir bi maine pics nikal liya...koi na koi intelligent prani is ko samaj hi lega....Doosra as a wanderer and tourist yeh sab photos bi zaroori hota hai....

Portuguese Inscriptions at Korlai Fort 

Portuguese Inscriptions at Korlai Fort 

we moved on to descend from the other side of the fort which took us to the village 

Old Church in the Fort and on the left hand side you can see stairs, we took these stairs to reach the village while returning.

At the Village we had refreshing chilled ...don't get excited it was not beer but just a cold drink and then from here we started walking back to the bus stop, Just when we were nearing the Bus stop we were dismayed to see that the bus has already reached the stop...However Samarth ran like wild as if his life depended on this to stop the bus because missing this bus could have delayed us by atleast half an hour. Anyway we managed to halt the bus and all the member of the gang was onboard ...Hurray!!!.

It was almost 4.00pm when we reached Alibag but here we were in for a shock because when we went to buy our return tickets of boat to Gateway of India we were informed that the launch service has been suspended because the sea is windy. Dil se awaaz aayi...lo lag gayi ab toh  Actually when you are confronted by such unexpected situation you learn new things and today it was our turn. We again went to the auto stand and again they started quoting astronomical fare and again we rushed back to ST stand because right now it was the only alternative for us for getting out of Alibag. We saw one Panvel Bus coming in, so one more final battle of pushing and plodding we all managed to get into the bus …Pura safar standing me kiya …Pen(it is a name of a place) tak ka pain and Finally reached Panvel.

Despite all hiccups and sudden change of schedule all of us enjoyed the trek immensely Each pain was sweet each delay a break for enjoyment and each journey was a moment to cherish.

Finally Thanks to Vaibhavi Gandhi for been such a wonderful support, Swapnali Kamble and Deepali Kamble for there mischiefs , Mamta Chawla and Samarth Narula for been a supportive companion.

Thanks to the entire team!!!

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KedarkunthaTrek Part1-by Aashish Chawla

Part One of Kedarkuntha Trek

21st Dec,2011, Time:5.30a.m.


 It is 5.30 am in the morning and I am wide awake, despite my sleeping very late last night. I could feel the pitch of excitement, Yes the feeling of utter estacy that I shall be venturing to the mighty and beautiful himalayas.

Beautiful Himalayan range

Few months back even in my wildest dreams I would have not imagined that one day I would be on my way to do the Himalayan trek."Sach me pucho toh apni itni aukat hi nahi thi " A lazy slob like me who nurtured himself on regular diet of junk food and TV set to keep company it was indeed a giant leap. So kedarkuntha here I come.....

Kedarkuntha Here I come !!!!

As planned I took the train to New Delhi and from there we were to catch the late night train to Dehradun. As most of us were on this train we gathered at Delhi station , Had a quick intro which most of us never remembered and split into groups to catch their individual compartment.


Dehradun Station:

Winter morning at Dehradun station

Someone jolted me out of my deep slumber to make me realise that Dehradun station has arrived. I  quickly picked up my things and made a dash to the SBI ATM centre where we were all suppose to meet......



But what is this ... a sudden shock of chill hit me...."arre yaar idhar kya baraf gir raha hai kya...so cold... I thought " Maar gaya " "wrong decision to come for trekking in winter." I was literally kicking myself at this stage... Something was ringing in my mind...
" logo ne bahut samjhaya par mai samaj na paya..." anyway I moved ahead " akhir me kya mu lekar jata...ki Dehradun station se hi bhaag aaya" ( You can get me to trek anywhere but cold weather is something I really dread like hell)

Our team waiting at the SBI ATM 

Anyway I somehow pushed myself( against my will ) to the ATM centre where everyone were waiting like lost cows koi idhar dekh raha toh koi udhar...As they say Safar  me suffer na kiya toh kya maja kiya.We got our first shock when we found there was no bus for Sankri  I could literally see the thought bubble on each head..


"local co-ordinator kidar hai" " bus kidhar hai" but friends "kabhi kabhi asi confusion bi bahut aachi hoti hai..."because strangers become friends...simple..both are facing Common problem and suddenly this splinter group evolved into a common unit with a common cause... to find the bus....

we are just like lost cows!!!

Certain team member frantically started calling the organisers and in the amidst of all this commotion certain wheels began to move and loo!!! there we saw the mini bus all ready to take us to Sankri.


As it always happens in local trek same thing happen here also "Koi na koi late ho hi jata hai" kabhi trekker toh kadhi usko lekar jane wali ghadi. In the ,meanwhile someone had a bright idea that we should have our breakfast so dumping our bags in the bus dicky we all fled to the nearby royal hotel and had a royal breakfast (which royally screwed up my bus journey )
just like the north Indian people the north india food is also very inviting. I could still feel the fragrance of the steaming hot Aloo Parathas with Volumptous  butter floating on it. we were told that the lunch could be late so Chaitanaya, Amit,Sapna and me stuffed ourself with parathas,butter,Curd. We literally hogged and with no more space till the neck we reluctantly moved away for these inviting delicacies.

Ice breaker impromptu photo session

The excitement was building up , everyone was in good spirit cracking jokes, calling out to each other  and breaking into a impromptu photo session at royal hotel itself. This is a small way of breaking the ice. I always love to make friends and what better way then to have few clicks together.


we finished our prolong breakfast and the bus contractor was pulling his hair shouting at us to move fast as we will be late for sankri our base village.."lekin saab masti me...sunta koon hai..."Poor fella has to literally pull us out from there.


we all boarded the bus and we were informed that 2 sumos with other members of our team  will be following our bus as the bus do not have sufficient seats. Meanwhile 2 Bangalore ladies Radhika and Deepa joined us enroute but as our bus was full they opted for the best seat ...yes the seat next to the driver...a full 70mm full screen sight....believe me they enjoyed it immensely..."trekker of future aap log try kar sakte ho..you too will be loving it"

Bus journey From Dehradun to Sankri

Atlast the time to move on has come and our bus started to move gently through the bazaars of Dehradun  and on the way to Sankri.
the route was Dehradun to Mussorie-Damta Village-Naugaon-Purola-Mori-naitwar-Sankri.


As it was quite cold so most of the members had kept the windows closed aur agar koi photo lene ki liye window open karta toh bechare per sab log tut padte....Window Band karo. many a time I was the victim as I was trying to capture the beautiful scenery which was whizzing past my eyes.

Whirlwind roads

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

 whirlwind road with dusty mountains ,iron bridges, beautiful yamuna river to give company through out it was indeed an enchanting journey. 

On the way to Sankri .....Dusty mountain roads

On the way to Sankri .....Dusty mountain roads

On the way to Sankri ....iron bridges

Very rarely does it happens that what you see matches with the travel photos given to you but in this case what we saw en route to Sankri superseded whatever was given to us in information booklet.
 By the time we reached Sankri it was already late evening and whole of the Sankri was enveloped in darkness.


Our bus stopped in front of the GVN guest house where we were greeted with steaming hot Tea and biscuits by our organisers Arjun and Sandya. In the dim low voltage light of the guest house the brave group of trekkers landed ready to crash into the inviting beds.


Tomorrow will be another day with another story.......


Friends I am taking a break here...akhir me kal ke trek ke liye tayari karni hi....

Our Team for Kedarkuntha Trek