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Published: June 26th 2023
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Konkan - January - 2023
1: Alibaug/Nagaon, Janjira, Harihareshwar
Konkan is not very common on the bucket list of most of the tourists especially those who are from outside Maharashtra.
Konkan is the coastal region of Maharashtra, between Sahyadri ranges on one side and Arabian sea on the other, extending south of Mumbai up to Goa.
Mythology says that Konkan is the land reclaimed from the sea by Lord Parshuram as he had donated everything that he had and had nowhere to go. Some say that Kerala is the land of Parshuram. Whatever, there are a lot of similarities between the ‘Konkan’ - ie between Mumbai and Goa, and Kerala - terrain wise.
Idea of going to Konkan occurred to me after watching ‘Konkan tour’ by Harish Bali (a You-Tuber). Of course we did not do exactly the same itinerary. Ours was a shortened version, the reason I will tell in a short while.
Road travel is the only way to travel into the Konkan region. Road journeys can typically start from Alibaug (about 50 Km south
of Mumbai) and can extend all the way up to Goa. We planned to cover only half-way to Goa, i.e. up to Ganpatipule because we were to self-drive, and further south you go, the return journey would be that much longer to return to Gujarat. As such, this was our second trip to Maharashtra by car in two months, and that would require the most boring (and risky also) segment of Gandhinagar to Mumbai, which is about 550 Km (~ 12 hours).
Our itinerary was not fully pre-determined as we wanted to try home-stays and night-stays in road-side highway hotels. Idea was to keep the whole tour as flexible as possible.
Our tour went like this:
Day-1: Gandhinagar to Vapi (NH)
Day-2: Vapi to Alibaug / Nagaon (NH)
Day-3: Nagaon to Harihareshwar (NH) via Janjira
Day-4: Harihareshwar to Raigad fort to Guhagar (NH)
Day-5: Guhagar to Ganpatipule to Velneshwar (NH)
Day-6: Velneshwar to Vapi (NH) via Chiplun
Day-7: Vapi to Gandhinagar
Originally we had planned to spend an extra 1-2 days (totalling 9 days) beyond the Raigad part,
but we decided not to do so mainly because of non-availability of good quality vegetarian food!!! Keep plenty of food with you.
Heat - even in the month of January, and the monotony of visiting so many empty beaches with practically no variety, also contributed to the shortening of the tour.
Day-1: Gandhinagar to Vapi (NH)
Started from Gandhinagar after early lunch to reach Vapi by dinner time. 380 Km, 7 hrs. Stayed in a road-side hotel.
Day-2: Vapi to Alibaug / Nagaon (NH)
260 Km, 6½ hrs. The worst part on this route is crossing Mumbai (Ghodbundar to Panvel - 60 Km, 3 hrs).
One can also take a ferry from Mumbai port to Alibaug. 1 hr. Must be great fun. But then you have to get to the southernmost part of Mumbai. Not a pleasant idea considering traffic conditions.
We had heard that Alibaug is usually busier and 10-12 further is Nagaon which is less congested. So we proceeded to Nagaon. It was Tuesday. Everything was so quiet and empty! Gradually we realized that in the
entire Konkan strip, tourist traffic is seen only on the week-ends. During week-days, everything remains closed as if in hibernation. No homestay or a hotel was keen on even showing us the rooms - when they saw that we were only two, and required only one room! This was another finding. People visit this area in large groups! With some difficulty and driving around several times we found a homestay. They were not ready to cook vegetarian food for just the two of us.
Evening at Nagaon beach. Some activity seen at last. In the entire Konkan region, continental shelf is very shallow and one can walk quite a distance into the sea. Some have white sand while the majority have blackish sand. The beaches are long and often connected with each other. Alibaug beach can be seen from Nagaon beach. Many locals use beaches as shortcuts to go from one place to another driving two wheelers on the beach itself - rather than taking longer tortuous roads in-land.
">Nagaon beach video link.
Again with difficulty, found a restaurant serving vegetarian food.
Started from Nagaon homestay around 8 in the morning when owners were still sleeping. Left the keys on the desk. No possibility of getting breakfast. No restaurants were open at this (unearthly?) hour.
Down south from Nagaon is Revdanda beach and Revdanda fort. Skipped.
Reached Murud - 45 Km, 1½ hr (also has a beach) from where a boat ride is available for
. The Janjira fort is built on a small island about 500 m from the mainland.. First boat was at around 10 am and we were in time for that. Or else one has to cool the heels for about an hour. The boat started after sufficient passengers were gathered. The most interesting part of this boat ride is that the larger boat that starts from the mainland cannot go all the way up to the island, and about 50 m from the island we have to shift to another smaller boat! Scary. Changing the boat in the middle of the sea! Although not legal, smaller boat wallah will ask for additional Rs. 50/-. As an additional service he will
explain what to see on the island fort because there are no guides at the fort. We are allowed about 45 min to move around the fort and then take the same smaller boat to board the same larger boat! Quite chaotic!
The smaller boat will land you on the (slippery) steps of the main entrance gate of the fort. The island is a huge rock jutting out of the sea and there is no jetty or docking point. From the boat you have to jump onto the steps. Lower step will be in 8-10 inches of water and the upper step is just 1-2 inches out of the water. Quickly move onto the next step or the person behind you will push you (and most likely you will fall into the sea!) No mishap occurred and we climbed the steps and entered the main gate. There, you stand in the queue for an entry ticket.
Janjira fort is also known as Ajinkya fort. Ajinkya literally means - in local language - undefeated. The fort built by Siddis some 400 years ago, has remained un-conquered till date - the only undefeated fort in India.