Canian Valley a.k.a. Khandala Valley Trek -- B - E - A - UTIFUL

Hi,I, Shridhar Purandare, am back with one more trekking and admiring journey for travelers i.e. Khandala Valley or Canian Valley trek.

Best thing is its very close to Pune and connected will with road and rail. It was just exploring for me as I was going in there for first time. I, Seedalya, Bonbon and Adishri left Pune by 7am to reach Lonavala by 9am. With heavy breakfast we were ready to enter Canian track.

There was no place to put our helmets so we carried them with ourselves.

Now few things to know about Khandala Valley :

Popularly known as Khandal Dari or even Canian Track for some. This is the only place which is advised not to be visited in rainy season. The place is favorite of all trekkers. This place lies in between Rajmachi Point and Rajmachi fort. You come across Ulhas river in this valley. Easiest way to reach the bottom is to first reach the Kune point and then walk to the bottom.

Our group ... Very fine people with very fine attitude ...

View of the valley is awesome ... Isn't it??



The base of this waterfall was our aim !!!


We helped quite a few to descend down ... With helmets on our head we were looking quite funny ...

Closeup of the waterfall ... It was huge .. and Challenging us ..


Cloudy weather is very good for treks .. less dehydration .. so less water to carry ....

At some points it was tough and slippery ...
Finally we were there at the base .. It was only river crossing left to reach our destination.
These guys from Hadapsar crossed it by help of Human chain ...
I tried too !! but reached half of distance ... Nobody of us was ready to give it a try ...


So after chilling I came back .. Hoping to cross it next time ..

As always you can contact me for queries and information. Comments/Suggestions are expected. :)

Regards
Shridhar Purandare

Bhimashankar Trek via Shidichi Vat

Hi All Trekkers,


I was planning for Bhimashankar Trek via Shidichi Vat trek since long but was never successful until 18th of July when finally it came true for me.


Bhimashankar Temple is located in the village of Bhorgiri 50 km north west of Khed, near Pune, in India. It is located 110 km away from Pune in the Ghat region of the Sahyadri hills. Bhimashankar is also the source of the Bhima river, which flows south east and merges with theKrishna river near Raichur. The other Jyotirlinga shrines in Maharashtra are Parli, Tryambakeshwar and Grishneshwar. Regular pilgrims near Mumbai visit Bhimashankar from Karjat via Khandas. The Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary located here is a popular weekend getaway from Mumbai and Pune.

I and Rajiv planned for this trek on Saturday 17th July. Abhijeet joined us later. Rajiv came to Karjat from Nerul while I and Abhi took Sinhagad Express to reach Karjat by 8.15am on 18th July.

We reached Kashela by MSRTC and Khandas by a six converted to unlimited sitter. Half of mine and Rajiv's body was hanging outside for that 12km journey.  

We planned to go by Shidichi vat but all villagers and trekkers around fooled us by saying it is dangerous and could not be completed in Rainy season. We thought to give a chance. We found one group from Pune who knew this route and followed them as guide was charging too much.

Apparently group leader was confused about the way and started   asking every villager in the way. So we took decision making in hour hand and took help of one villager and headed towards destination.

Abhi and Rajiv were little conscious about us finding wrong way. But I was confident about finding correct way due to previous experience. One more time villagers threated us about the risky way but still we continued.

We met two people on the way who knew the route exactly so now we were relaxed. As we progressed , we found that it is the steepest way to top. We did find first Shidi after half an hours trek. Fortunately it was new and was replaced recently.

Few tricky rock patches and two more Shidi's took us to top and we realized that we just covered half way. :( Now the other route to top i.e Ganapati ghat also joined our route and number of trekkers increased a lot.

We took breakfast break and then continued towards new discovered top. Due to lack of stamina I was slowest while Abhi was very fast ( We knew afterwards that he was chasing someone ;) ). Within 4 hours we reached the Bhimashankar temple. 

We ate lunch(Misal,Bhaji and Tea),took Kalas darshan, bought some Prasad and boarded return bus by 3pm. MSRTC safely( only Abhi got some ST prasad on hsi right ear) dropped us at Shivajinagar.

After all this hectic trek I saw Khidakya play in Sudarshan Rangmanch from 7-9 pm and the went to Relatives home for rest. Hot water bath was never felt that beautiful :).

Hope you liked our journey. Now enjoy the pictures.

Regards

Shridhar Purandare

Malvan bash

Hi All,


I am back after long intermission with my next travel blog. This time its about the best beaches in India. I am not overstating. I have seen Coastal Karnataka, Goa and all of the Konkan but hardly found such a fine coastal line.Here I am talking about Malvan.Malvan (Marathi: मालवण) (also written as Malwan) is a town inSindhudurg District - southernmost district of Maharashtra. The pristine water, Malvani Hapus(Alphonso) mango, best in class hospitality, luxuriant sea food, snorkeling and corals are few of the attractions in Malvan.


Malvan is about 460 kms away from Pune. Journey started from Pune with Kolhapur,Gaganbawda and Kankawali stops to reach Malvan city. Its completely non commercialized city. Malvan ST stand is at the center of the city. From here you can get to Devbag,Tarkarli or Sindhudurga.


Devbag is a narrow land portion having river on one side while Arabian sea on other side. Its 12km south of Malvan. Its enough of description in textual format. Now believe what you see ...





For any information or bookings related to Stay, Snorkeling,Tour planning you can contact me.


Regards
Shridhar Purandare
9423872319
shridhar.purandare@gmail.com

Dhak Bahiri Trek -- Easy but Tricky

Hi Trekkers,

From long time I was suppose to do Dhak trek. Due to misfortune and bad luck I always missed it. This time I decided to do it in any cost. The date 6^th March was fixed. Hrishya told me that he will join me. I was happy because he has done Dhak 4 times before, removing need to hire any guide. J

Some details about the fort

Trek	Dhak Bahiri
Alias	-
Type	Hill Cave
District	Raigad
Height above mean sea level	2300 feet
Base Village	Jambhivali ( From Pune) Sandashi (From Mumbai)
Minimum Duration	1 Day
Region	Karjat
Transport	Kalyan to Karjat by road/rail, Karjat to Sandshi by bus. Pune to Kamshet by bus, Kamshet to Jambhivali by jeep
Time to reach the top	About 3 hrs from the base
Water Availability	Water cistern are available at the top
Best season to visit	October to April
Sights to visit	Cave
Difficulty Rating	Tough
Shelter	Caves at the top

Our Route and Timing

Talegaon (6 am) – Jambhivali (8am) – Dhak Cave (9.30am) – (Rest for an hour) – Back to Jambhivali(11.30am) – Back to Talegaon( 12.15pm) – Swimming in Indrayani (12.30 pm)

Trek details

The path to the cave is amazing, presenting views of Dukes Nose and Rajmachi. We do pass one small pinnacle on right as we descend last time to deal with tricky rock patch. One fatal mistake will be the last mistake of your life on this patch. Adequate safety is provided on the route. But if you have Acrophobia (fear of height) then this is the place where you can conquer it!!!!

Fall of 100 feet is on you left as you do the traverse and rock climb. Hardly few inch of ground to make contact and take grip. Be careful and you will enjoy the patch. We completed it in 15 minutes while ascend and 10 minutes while descend.

I am dying to do it in Monsoon!!! Enjoy the pics now ...

Tip: You can chant "Dhakachya Bhairiche Changabhale" while you cover the rockpatch which will make you feel safer.

For any queries or suggestions you can contact me on:

9423872319

shridhar.purandare@gmail.com

See you with next adventure!!! Very Soon ….

Canon Photo Marathon 2009 - Mumbai

Hi All,

I have been doing trekking and adventure sports since long time. With that I also developed interest for photography a bit. Mother Nature provokes you to snap the amazing things she has created. With time it became my hobby. I used to see the picture in very different manner. It does not mean that I am professional. It’s just that a lot of photography make you look at things in different manner.

I thank Shrikant Shimpi and Sameer Phanasalkar to provide me valuable inputs on how to handle camera’s different features and Dhawal to introduce me with this event. I was first thinking not to participate. But then it was something new that I could do. It will also give me opportunity to look at photography in different way.

I finally decided to go for it as there was no trek on that weekend. I registered my name online. Canon representatives called me for confirmation. I was give with Id number. It was going to get interesting for me. I started spending time in looking my camera features, asking friends about photography and searching on internet about Canon photo marathon. I looked at previous winner’s snaps also. Through this time I have learned that photography is all about timing.

Finally the day arrived. I was on the train for Dadar. Canon photo clinic is situated in shopping mall in Varli. I changed to local from Dadar to Mhalakshmi. I took help of BEST reaching final destination. The mall was huge, having showrooms of almost all types of great brands. Rolls – Royce, Bose, Canon and Haka were few of them. There were almost hundred photographers present to make an impression. Almost all of them were having SLR cameras with different lens attachments.

With my Canon S5 IS, I was feeling so outdated!!! Still I decided to give my best.The competition was theme based. There was one hour to take snap for that theme.

Themes given to us were

1. Freedom ( I snapped eagle flying high)
2. Standing Out ( I captured 100 year old building in Varli standing out of other modern infrastructure)
3. On the Job ( I caught an eagle catching fish)

Satisfied with all the pictures I was very happy at the end of the day. I was very happy trying few new things which I did while clicking those snaps. I literally went into Varli slums. I almost scanned it. I also climbed on top of Mandir to get rid of 100 year old tower. I waited patiently for eagle to catch the fish.

It was nice to have many friends from photography domain (Use of IT language is must for me J). I returned to my sister’s home in Thane and next day to Pune.

Overall its very nice experience and I intend to appreciate in all similar events in future.

Now enjoy all my snaps throughout my tour. Hope to see you there too!!

Regards

Shridhar Purandare

9423872319

www.inventuretreks.com

shridhar.purandare@inventuretreks.com

Diveagar -- Konkan Feast

Hi All,

It's long ago since I wrote my previous blog. I apologize for that.

I visited sea-coast long back in Nov last year. Thrust of enjoyment on beach was now unstoppable. So I decided to do a coastal ride on bike. Biking in Konkan was always my dream. With this trip it went real. Seedalya and I decided to do something new on this trip. After long thoughts we finally agreed on tented stay and camp fire on beach of Diveagar. We felt that there should be no one in between sea waves and us. Adi's tent made it really easy. All this planning was done on Fri evening.

Trip Details:

Total expenses : 1000 Rs per head which includes ( Petrol for bike and all eatables)

Total kms 600

Route:

Day 1: Pune (5am)- Chandani Chauk - Tamahni Ghat(6.20) - Mangaon (7) - Veer - Mhaprat - Manddangad(9.30am) - Anjarle(11am) - Kelashi (12pm) - Bankot - Harihareshwar (5pm) - Shrivardhan(5.30) - Diveagar(6pm)

Day 2: Diveagar (11 am) - Shrivardhan - Diveagar (3.30pm) - Mhasla - Mangaon (4.15pm) - Tamhini Ghat - Pune (8pm)

Stay at Diveagar beach (tent was carried)

On Sat 13th Feb, I woke up at 4am. After 30 minutes of packing and revising I was ready to go. I did not think of winter though and moved with just T - Shirt and jean . Seedalya join me at Chandani Chauk by 5am. Within next few kms I felt as if I am travelling in Jammu and Kashmir. It was very cold till Paud passed. I wore double layer and went ahead. A tea stall open at 5.30 am, made me happiest person on earth. After few cups of tea I was now recharged. Now I was able to sense my hands a bit ,which were frozen by the cold. Seedalya was wearing gloves so he was comfortable.

We stopped in Tamhini to snap Konkan from good height. Then we took breakfast break at Mangaon on NH17. Now it was time of skilled driving. Next 80 kms to Anjarle was complete Ghat road. Very risky and lots of u turns. Madangad fort was on the way and we managed to drive bikes to top. Not much to view on the fort though. We left for Anajarle. We visited Kadyavarcha Ganapti which is believed to be very old(From Peshawe era). It was time to chill now. Avala, Karvande, Mango, Jambhul sharbat was on cards. After visiting the beach we went for Kelashi.

Kelashi is very small village with a clean beach. Its totally clean and lonely. We took lunch on beach hotel and went to peek the beach. After some time we left for Bankot from where ferry will take you on other side.

Next destination was Harihareshwar famous as holy place. Lord Shiva and Kalbhairav temples are present here. We did Pradakshina to temple while looking at rock formations.

By 5pm we left for Diveagar hoping to see sunset at the beach. Road was very good and we drove into Diveagar in no time. Sunset at beach is very special and beautiful.

We were very much excited to setup the tent. But I can not do with empty stomach. We had booked our dinner at Suhas Bapat. He provides excellent pure veg dinner at Rs 60. You can get Ukadiche Modak for Rs 8 each. I took lots of them with me and went to Surve's home where I ordered Surmai and Paaplet(Pomfret) fry. With authentic Konkani recipe they tasted delicious.

Now with full stomach we went ahead to setup tent and camp fire on the beach. We carried head torch as light source. Tent was setup within moments and then fire was also on. I stolen few timber sticks from compound of one Villa near beach. Finally we were converting our dream to reality. I felt 100% satisfaction as I felt asleep hearing waves which were few meters away. Seedalya was busy gazing stars and clicking few of them with his Canon 1000 D.

See at the end for how can you make camp fire.

Next day I woke up late. I was enjoying surroundings of my bed a lot. Tourists started flooding the place by 9 am. We entered sea to taste power of waves and play with them. After an hours enjoyment we were packing our belongings. Within half an hour we were off to do Breakfast. We went to Surve's home for breakfast. Tea, Pohe and Upma was on cards. We requested them to use their Bathing facility.

It was fun to discuss the Konkan condition in general with the locals. They told us stories about different guests they attended to. After cleaning ourselves we went for Coconut and Mango ice-creme. It was fresh and tasty. As our lunch was planned at 1.30 pm we decided to ride towards Shrivardhan. The route accompanies coast and provides amazing views. We spotted lots of migrated birds on the way and decided to catch them in our cameras. We parked our bike on road and walked a short trail to rocky area where birds were in huge numbers. As we tried to go close they used to fly away. So we sat down at one place and tried our zoom power. It was awesome to see them flying in huge numbers. After 100s of pics clicked we were off again to Diveagar for lunch. This time we were at Potnis's home for lunch. As always Seedalya ate veg food while I enjoyed Surmai Thali and Solkadhi.

Now it was time for fun ride on the beach. We drove our bike through sand to take into the waves. Riding along the wave was immense fun. We found birds here too and clicked few cool shots. With complete gratification we started our journey back to Pune. With two tea stops at Mangaon and Tamhini we were back in Pune by 8pm.

It was very different trip for me with no trekking at all. Just fine biking through Coastal Konkan.

Few important numbers:

Everyone can also arrange for residence.
Suhas Bapat(Pure veg) Diveagar : 9423837967
Potnis (Veg & Non Veg) Diveagar : 9422497300
Shubham (Veg & Non Veg) Kelashi : 9271661215
Surve (Veg & Non veg) Diveagar : 9421167551

Thanks for reading. Now enjoy watching. See you soon :)



Regards
Shridhar Purandare

Sinhgad -- Pune's Favourite

Hi, Welcome back. Here I am with photo blog for Sinhgad - The Lion's Fort. Enjoy. It was my first trek through company. We arranged it and completed successfully.

For history of the fort :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhagad

Its pretty interesting .. Do read it all ... Read bravery of Tanaji Malusare and Shelarmama .. Enjoy!!!

For any queries feel free to contact me :)

Regards

Shridhar Purandare

9423872319

shridhar.purandare@gmail.com

Paris and Munich ... Outstandingly beautiful, disciplined and clean

Hi, Welcome back .. Here is my first ever foreign trip. It was for 22 days to Germany. I was pretty lucky to get my first ever project from Germany.

Within Germany what you will observe is amazing cleanliness and discipline. Germans are best at it. Apart from that engineering and science is applied to fullest.

In Germany ,people are very warm in hospitality.They enjoy and respect what they do.I loved whatever I have seen of Germany.

Now what I can say about Paris?? The dream city for those who love art work, paintings, monuments and culture. You will enjoy more when you see the pics below .. Now enjoy the journey to Munich and Paris.

First we will see Paris .... You will love it ...

From L to R Saurabh,Vishal,Sandeep,Mohan and I. We were standing at Louvre museum Paris. Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument.

Where Monalisa painting is Preserved !!!

Here I am the camera man and Rohit is standing in middle

What a fine pic ... All of the pics are taken by master photographer Rohit ... Thanks to him .. we can remember all this again ..

This is just few square inch artwork... amazing ???

This one too ...

Dining table of Napoleon the great .. Really gr8 one ...

Just one more brilliant artwork... They are at least thousand such ...

Very beautiful artwork captured beautifully... ;)

Picture in Picture ... You should get this one...

Glass work is terrific over all the windows ... Rather than terrific its legendary ..

Seriously every part ...every part of this museum is wondrous...

The multimillion crown everyone would dream to wear ....

Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BCE, it is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Nike of Samothrace,is a third century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory). Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.

London dreams , James Bond .. and lot more movies has this famous background ...

Open air double daker is just treat for tourists in Paris ...

Paris have electricity, wifi and many other things underground ... Well maintained .. You can view the documentary on Discovery to get fasinated with it ...

This is similar to green tunnel in J&K ... I loved this road...

Admiring one more building structure ...

Tourists get earbuds which give information of all the important places around the bus in different languages.... What good use of technology !!!!

Finally the wonder !!! Amazing,Astonishing,Huge,Beautiful such many adjectives fell short describing Eiffel Tower...

The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel, [tuʀ ɛfɛl]) is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris,^[1] is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair.

The tower stands at 324 m (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. It was the tallest structure in the world from its completion until 1930, when it was eclipsed by the Chrysler Building in New York City. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France, behind the Millau Viaduct, completed in 2004. And while the Eiffel Tower is a steel structure, and weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes, it actually has a relatively low density, weighing less than a cylinder of air occupying the same dimensions as the tower.

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend either on stairs or lifts to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is only accessible by lift. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants.

Finally everybody is tired of walking .. admiring .. watching .. so we decided to stop for few moments...

Night view of Eiffel tower is breath taking ..We couldn't able to stop us clicking it ...

Views from top (First floor of Eiffel tower) gives beautiful view of city ...

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris, France that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, also known as the "Place de l'Étoile".^[1] It is at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The triumphal arch honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought. Underneath is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I .

Limo's ... Wow ... Rohit's camera let us catch them easily ...

The Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. In fact, in terms of area, its 86,400 square metres make it the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.

The Seine (French pronunciation: [la sɛn]) is a slow-flowing major river and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France. It is also a tourist attraction, with excursion boats offering sightseeing tours of the Rive Droite and Rive Gauche within the city of Paris. It terminates in the Bay of the Seine region of the English Channel and is navigable by ocean-going vessels for about ten percent of its length, as far as Rouen, 120 km (75 miles) from the sea, while over sixty percent of its length, as far as Burgundy near the Swiss Alps, is negotiable by commercial riverboats and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating.

Boat ride is just what we missed ... :(

We are on France boarder eating French fries .. :)

Highways here truely represent highways .. They connect whole Europe very well .. We drove around 2500kms in 26 hours or so .... Mohan was driving one car while Saurabh other one...

We are at Bhupender's Friend's house in Colone .. It was our intermidate stay on the way to Paris ..

Now we start with museum in Munich .. it was huge museum covering most areas like engines,boats,ships,music and what not ...

The Deutsches Museum (German Museum) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science^[1], with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) as an initiative of Oskar von Miller.

The Uptown Munich building (German: Hochhaus Uptown München) in Munich with a height of 146 metres (480 ft) is currently the highest skyscraper of the city.

Munich features a wide and diverse array of modern architecture, although strict culturally-sensitive height limitations for buildings have limited the construction of skyscrapers to avoid a loss of views to the distant Bavarian Alps. Most high-rise buildings are clustered at the northern edge of Munich in the skyline, like the Hypo-Haus, the Arabella High-Rise Building, the Highlight Towers, Uptown Munich, Münchner Tor and the BMW Headquarters next to the Olympic Park.

The Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Found in the area of Munich known as the "Oberwiesenfeld" ("upper meadow-field"), the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, and religious events such as events of worship.

The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, arguably the most famous beer hall worldwide, is located in the city centre. It also operates the second largest tent at the Oktoberfest, one of Munich's most famous attractions. For two weeks, the Oktoberfest attracts millions of people visiting its beer tents ("Bierzelte") and fairground attractions. The Oktoberfest was first held on 12 October 1810 in honour of the marriage of crown prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

Its coke ... They looked at me as a child when I ordered Coke... "No Coke here only Beer !!!"

Munich has also hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics and was one of the host cities for the 2006 Football World Cup which was not held in Munich's Olympic Stadium but in a new football specific stadium, the Allianz Arena.

Indians will be Indians ... JJJ

Cruising at 180 ..

I hope you have enjoyed the journey ... It was dream come true for me .... Singing off and waiting for your comments :)

Regards

Shridhar Purandare

9423872319

shridhar.purandare@gmail.com

(Information source : Wikipedia)
(photos : Rohit Tendulkar)