Date : 1 Oct – 2 Oct, 2012
This post continues from where I last left it at Part-I
Day 2 – Mulshi Lake > Kaas Pathar > Overnight @ Nivant Hill Resort, Kas Road
Day 3 – Kas Pathar > Thoseghar Falls > Mumbai
After the relaxing stay at Malhar Machi resort, the next morning, we left late at 10 am, after a good breakfast. The drive to Chandani Chowk was uneventful but peaceful. Roads, of any kind, now started to look butter-smooth as compared to the one I took earlier. Navigation helped with the confusing u-turn at Chandani Chowk to get onto Pune bypass and thereon, it was an awesome ride through new Katraj tunnel and then the Bangalore highway. Had a funny moment when it took me some time to realise that “Khambatki Ghat” is one-way (first time on this route for me) – return is through the “Khambatki tunnel” – as I was wondering how the vehicles were blindly overtaking at turns and there was no oncoming traffic.
The right at Satara got a bit confusing as I forgot some valuable advice from Ashish, and was too late to realise. Did get under the flyover and take the right turn, but, for some reason, the traffic police did not allow any cars to take that right and asked us to take a U-turn, instead and go via the canal (whatever that meant). Here, Navigation came to the rescue and quickly re-routed, taking me successfully through Powai Naka and then the fork for Kas.
The first 4-5 kms on this road (after the fork) is real bad for your tyres – things get much better after that. As we climbed the gradual slope, we could see some buildings in the distance, and it was easy to spot Nivant Hill resort.
We checked-in real quick and had a yummy Dal khichdi (leaving better meal plans for the night) … It was 3 pm when we set off for Kas. On the way, we could see a lot of cars on the grass on either side of the road, making us wonder if this was the actual plateau – but a milestone showed it was still 10 kms away.
Soon, we reached the entrance to the plateau, where the officials were ready with the entrance-fee booklets. They didn’t care whether you have previously registered or not, if you have no printed evidence of prior payment, you had to pay to enter. Moreover, cameras (except basic point-and-shoot) are charged at Rs 50. I asked them where the parking spot was, and there was no answer. I drove ahead and found a lot of cars parked by the side of the road, with none of the authorities chasing anyone out. People were entering the plateau through the barricades and getting themselves clicked amidst the flowers.
The heavens were again about to break loose and overall it made a disappointing sight – so much that I just took a couple of pics. Soon it started raining very heavily and we were forced to move out of the place. That explained the careless nature of the authorities – coupled with it being a working day. The rain and wind got wild and it felt good to be back at the resort. The rest of the evening was spent indoors. It poured all night, I caught a cold and fever, could not satiate my taste buds, the wind was noisy, the taps were running muddy water – all in all – a perfect recipe for a disastrous trip. We retired for the day with all plans ruined, the only positive, being – the hope of a decent waterfall at Thoseghar tomorrow.
It was a new day now. The morning was very pleasant. Awesome cloud cover over Satara city. Rains had stopped and there was a decent breeze – no signs of rain clouds in the sky.
We had an early breakfast and set off for the plateau – but there was still no hope of any flowers. Today was a bank holiday – a different day for the authorities at Kas – visits from nature conservationists and senior officials. So there was strictly no parking all along the road – right from the cabin at the entrance till the Kas lake. I did steal a few moments of parking along the road, but was soon driven away. One of the officials suggested me to park before the entrance to the plateau, if I promised to move out before 10, as a lot of groups were expected.
I had 2 hours (I know it’s too less) to explore the plateau and, therefore, decided to take the left route. None of us were allowed to leave the barricaded path, except near the lake, but I still managed to get some pictures of flowers. We walked some distance beyond the lake and since my daughter had started to tire, had to return. Lots of buses had arrived by them with heaploads of tourists. A local told me there were 25000 visitors on Sunday. I was sure I missed a lot of flowers, especially the Kumudini (no idea if and where they were) – but was happy with whatever we could see.
The next stop was Thoseghar falls, and we got through the famous “Bogda”, Navigation guiding us all the way, thereafter. Saw some sunflower fields, and the Chalkewadi windmills on the way. Wife desperately wanted to get close to them, but I wasn’t aware we could. The landscape surrounding this route is simply awesome, green covered mountains, winding smooth roads and blue skies with puffy white clouds, it was very scenic – pictures really don’t seem to do justice.
At Thoseghar, there is a pay and park (Rs 10) and then an entrance fee (Rs 5 per head). You then walk down some steps to the viewing platform, from where the three waterfalls are visible – the main one to the right along with another thin waterfall and another bang opposite the platform. There were small circular windows in the walls of the platform, and for whatever reason they were done, were surely a positive for kids, as you need not risk picking them up to show them the waterfalls. There was another “Chota Dhabdaba” on the map, but didn’t bother to view it. We walked back to the entrance, picked up some wild brinjals from a villager and got back onto the return journey. They sure made a yummy sabzi as I discovered later.
Topped up the fuel tank in Satara city, picked some “Kandi pedhas”, stopped for lunch right after hitting Bangalore highway and thereafter a nonstop drive of 5 hrs with a solitary break at Foodmall on the expressway. Mini traffic jam was caused by an overturned trailer that blocked all 3 lanes one-way and had to be picked by a crane. We were home by 8 pm and that was the end to an eventful trip – another most awaited destination ticked off the map (surely warrants another trip).
Kas location on Map
[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.in/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kas+Pathar,+Kas,+Bhambavali&aq=4&oq=kas+&sll=19.169089,72.937897&sspn=0.022943,0.038581&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=Kas+Pathar,&hnear=Kas,+Bhambavali&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=425&h=350]