Fort Visapur

This is my 23^rd trek. After planning, scheduling and canceling this trek time and again I decided to give it a try once again. I was waiting for baba to organize a trek somewhere. But as nothing came up I decided to give visapur a try once again. Planning for this trek began on Friday. Prasad and Ninad were all set for a trek anytime anywhere. Manali was the new entry to join us. I tried calling Akshay but the telephone exchange kept on replying in a horrendous fashion. The answers that I got from them were like “This number is out of coverage area”, “This number is switched of”, and “This number is busy on another call”. But the most ridiculous one was “This number does not exist”. I still tried to contact him but to no avail. Natasha- my friend from Raigad trek also replied in affirmative. But the worst news was of Tej not being able to make it.

I still carried on. Plan was relayed to everyone on Saturday evening as to where to meet and what to expect in this trek. In the evening, at around 7:30 – 8:00 Tej called up. I was expecting that he would say that he was coming. My expectations came out to be true and he was game for the trek. This meant that there would be six of us in all for the trek. Mayur also called up but he was unable to make it due to the early train timings in the morning. Tej again called up in night at around 10:30 to say he would not be able to make it. I was disheartened as he is a constant source of ideas and mental stability on a trek.

I met Ninad and Prasad in Thane at around 5:30am. We were to board 6:15am Indrayani Express. It was to take us to Lonavala. Manali reported at around 5:40 in the morning that she was at Dadar station and was going to board the train in around 15 minutes. But the most pleasant news was yet to come. My phone rang at around the same time and wonder-o-wonder it was Tej at the other end! He said that he was at Dadar station and was accompanying us. Prasad and Ninad were also happy on hearing this news. Tej and Manali boarded the train at around 5:50am from Dadar. Natasha called me up to say that she would be reaching Lonavala ST Depot around 8:30am. This meant that till now everything was going as per the plan.

Train arrived in Thane station at 6:14am. We boarded the train. The train was crowded but still it was manageable. We located Tej in the train and joined him. Greetings were exchanged and soon we were chatting and fooling around. The only dampener to our excitement was the huge crowd that entered the train at Kalyan station. We had not seen Manali in the train still now but it was good know from Tej that she had comfortably acquired a seat. The view from the train till we left Kalyan was nothing extra ordinary, but once Kalyan passed the picturesque scenes of mountains and greenery was enchanting. The cool morning breeze was soon freezing us. It was good that I was wearing a sweater and was comfortable with the cold. Ninad was sometimes complaining about the absence of “leg space” in the train but soon got used to it.

We reached Lonavala railway station at around 8:15am. A 10 minutes walk took us to Lonavala ST Depot. On enquiry we came to know that the bus to Karla was at 9:00am. We had to reach Karla fata by this bus. From Karla fata we had walk to Malavali and then to Bhaje village, from where our trek would actually start. Soon Natasha reported that she was stuck in traffic while entering Lonavala but would be there in around 10-15 minutes. Bus to Karla had arrived and was going to halt here for 10 minutes only. There was no sign of a Junnar bus- the bus Natasha was traveling in. Another call to Natasha and she said that she was just entering Lonavala Depot. I and Tej were waiting outside our bus while Prasad, Ninad and Manali were inside. Soon we saw the bus Natasha ad told us about. Natasha was accompanied by her friend Rishab. Once they got down from the bus we met them. Greetings were exchanged and we boarded our bus to Karla. Bus started quickly and we were heading towards our destination. Ride of 10 minutes more took us to Karla fata. Over here we got down and started moving towards Malavali on foot. By now we were comfortable with each other and having fun. Ninad and Prasad who had just watched the movie 3 idiots were telling us stories of it. We were pulling each others leg and ad mist this all had covered 2km walk to Malavali. From here we had to walk another one kilometer to reach Bhaje. We could clearly see Lohagad and Visapur by now. Our experiences about our previous trek to Lohagad were being recited by me, Prasad and Tej. Others seem to enjoy it. In another 10 minutes we were in Bhaje village.

From here the actual trek began. The route was clear and unambiguous. Heat was bearable but there was no wind at all. We were wearing our caps and sunglasses to beat the heat. Such route was fine for us but seemed hard on Manali and Ninad. Ninad seemed exhausted but this naturally happens at the beginning of any trek. Manali seemed to get giddy but considering this as her first trek it would have been a surprise if this had not happened. Natasha whose bag was being carried by Rishab took Manali’s bag and relieved her. But soon Rishab was carrying two bags. We decided to go on slowly considering present status and condition of our group. This strategy not only helped us regain ourselves but also provided the boost that we required.

By now everyone was comfortable and looked fit. Halts were readily reduced and pace increased. The new spirit among the team was endearing. It was 11:30am by now. We had reached the “Gaaymukh Khind”. Till this place the route was common for both Lohagad as well as Visapur .This is the place from were the routes changed. The one going right went to Lohagad while the one going left took us to our destination. Last time we i.e. Tej, I and Prasad were here, we had met and old lady. She told us that there were imprints of a “queen’s foot” and “A horses foot” over here. Now we decided to play on about it with our group mates. We told them the same story and awaited their reactions. Presence of some flowers and incense sticks only cemented our claims. Natasha and Ninad even ended up bowing and doing “Namaskar” to them. Seeing this we three and Rishab who had by now got to know about it, laughed to our hearts content. Having known their folly they were left red faced. Having some fun over her we continued with our trek.

Over here I, Tej and Prasad had a small discussion as to how we should proceed. No one from our group had been to this fort before so planning the route properly was of utmost importance. I had read about the route in a trekking manual. It was decided that we would be going by the book. The route was fine but very dusty. The sun was at its best and sweat was embedded on our brows. Keeping the fort on our left hand side we were moving parallel to it. There was a dried stream of water that came down the fort. Over here there was a 90 degree angle between the broken walls of the fort. It was through this stream that we were going to climb up. But the start of this stream was very much hidden among bushes and we just passed it.

Tej and I were leading with Manali and Ninad just behind us. Then there was Prasad and Natasha with Rishab bringing up the tail. After watching the corner pass behind I sensed something was wrong and told Tej and Prasad about it. They were of the opinion that the route would bend and start ascending soon. We played on but still the route was plain and there were no signs that it would ascend any time soon. Now I held my position strongly while Prasad and Tej went ahead to check as if anything turns up. They returned, but with bad news that we had passed and had to go back a few distance. There was another group who were behind us. We thought of asking them as to if they anything about the route going up, but they ended up asking us the same question. Getting a negative answer we moved behind. Soon we reached the stream. Tej and I went ahead to check it and were relieved to know that this was the right way.

When everyone else arrived we took a small halt here and then moved on. There were huge stone in our way. They were rounded due to the water of the stream. There was dense green vegetation around us. The shade of the trees was endearing. The route was fine but physically taxing as we had to be careful on such route. The stones sometime dislodge and we end up twisting and spraining our ankles. Having Manali and Ninad only made us more careful. Manali perceived that as this route had many stone and rock this was called a rock patch! On letting her know what a rock patch is she thanked god that there was no rock patch to do here. But I was more concerned of Ninad than Manali as he has a knack for breaking his feet and twisting his ankles on trek. We completed half of our way and took a breather. We had no casualties till now, at least. Over here we even saw bones of some animal and fooled around that this was the way of death. Cool shade of the trees was left behind and we were below the blazing sun again. Tej was on the lead with Manali and Ninad behind him. I was the connecting link between those three and Prasad, Natasha and Rishab who where behind. Somehow the other Ninad stopped for something and I moved ahead of him. During this time stopped and said he was feeling giddy. This was a surprise as he had never said anything like this in previous treks. We made him sit down and have some water. After he became normal and was ready to go, we moved on. This time we strictly followed the climbing order and reached the summit in 15 minutes.

From here we had a clear view of forts around us like Lohagad, Tung, Tikona, Korigad etc. The walls of the fort- “tatbandi”- are still in fine condition. There are many caves on the fort. After walking for around 2-3 minutes we came across an ancient water tank. I was very pleased to find water at such height too. The water was crystal clear and we could even see the bottom of the tank. Presence of crabs and fishes in the water indicated that the water was potable. We washed our tired faces here. Natasha and Prasad even got inside the water for photo sessions. Ninad and Manali sat at the edge with their feet in water. Ninad again had a doubt that the tiny fishes in there would eat his legs off. After spending some time here we moved on towards a tree were Tej was waiting for lunch. No one was ready move from this place so I decided to start the proceedings. I along with Manali started off towards Tej. When we reached there, Tej had gone towards the “tatbandi” for photography. Soon others joined us and decided to move towards another tree as we had ants over here. Soon lunch was laid and everyone was enjoying the open air meal. The atmosphere around us was fine. There was cool breeze flowing. I happened to look at the sky and couldn’t help notice the pattern of clouds above us. It was as if someone had painted the sky with a paint brush.

We had our lunch for around an hour and then moved on to see other things in the fort. We seemed to be only people on this fort. It was almost like our private fort. The first thing we saw was the ancient flour mill over there. It was just gigantic. We had snaps around there and moved towards the “tatbandi”. Over here we again had some snaps. We could see the “ekveera mata mandir” from here. We also had a group snap which left everyone pondering over ideas as to how it should be. After successfully having a group snap we moved on. We noticed that there are numerous water tanks on the fort. Many of them have water springs in them too. So the main problem i.e. water shortage during treks was not our concern over here. We saw a huge idol of lord Hanuman, which had its feet immersed in water of the water tank. This appeared to be the cleanest of the water tanks on the fort. Some distance ahead we saw two structures which resembled store rooms. Inside it there was dirt and garbage left behind by some other people. It was so bad to see something like this over here. I took some of the plastic wrappers and other plastic items to dump them outside the fort in some dustbin. Others also took few things but it was just a tiny little part of all the garbage present over there. Leaving it behind us we went ahead. By now it was almost 2:30pm. We decided that it was time to move down. On our way we found a small family who told us that there is another way going down the fort which is nearer to Malavali. So we took that way and moved ahead.

No trek of Ninad would be complete without one ritual-twisting of ankle- and he continued it over here. Just when we were about to start our descend he twisted his ankle owing to a stone nearby. After rubbing it for a while and making him a bit comfortable we continued. The route was nice and easy. The sun was on its way to go. We reached the base village in around an hour and half. Another 45 minutes took us to the Malavali station. Over here we boarded the 5:55 pm local to Lonavala which arrived at 6:05pm. We reached Lonavala station in next 10 minutes. From here we split to go towards our respective homes. Greetings were exchanged with Natasha and Rishab who went to Lonavala ST depot. They were to catch their ST to Panvel from there. We boarded the 6:30pm Koyna express to Mumbai.

Train was crowded and we again had a bad time in the train. Now even Manali was standing with us unlike in the morning. Prasad, I and Tej were fooling around. Ninad and Manali seemed tired. I was tired myself but still the day’s events were enough for me forget all the sufferings.

My trek ended on Thane station at 8:30pm. On this trek I missed some of friends a lot. This trek was so good that I could say that this was next only to Saurkundi in respect to the excitement and the fun we had. Thus my best trek in Sahyadri ended.