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Published: August 11th 2013
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Finally, this was the one outing that makes me come back to the the blog after almost 4 years! I saw people comparing this place with some other places and calling it mini-swiss, but ask me, it's just our own India and I am proud of it - the serene beauty of Maharashtra, the ranges of Sanhyadri, favorite among the trekkers, known for the fog covered mountains, having several valleys and forts!
So, how did I landed there? I wanted to take my family out, especially had not taken my daughter anywhere in this monsoon, wanted to take her close to waterfalls, dams - now that she has started understanding what they mean! I was on search for something which is little different than regulars like Lonavala, Tamhini, Matheran and even the forts and I finally found "Bhandardara". The dam looked really beautiful in pics posted on internet, but only dam...no...i was looking for more. Little more time on search took me to "Amruteshwar" temple at "Ratanwadi". Yeah, those who have done that famous "Ratangad" trek, will now understand what I am going to say, the beauty that is beyond explanation and I am sure, they will also remember their
own visits to this place! There can be yet others who would know this place and they will be the people who have visited "Sandhan valley" at Samrad.
So what all to see? those who like, untouched villages, unending greenery, thick jungles, complete peace and fresh air with 100% Oxygen, the drive through those tiny roads that takes you to this place offer all once you start approaching Ozar (Ashtavinayak Ganapati), yeah I took the not-recommended road, and the road didn't disappoint me even for a moment. Here is the route Narayangon->Ozar->Otur->Bramhanwada-> Kotul->Bhandardara->Ratanwadi.
Ozar has a beautiful Ganesh temple, which you get to see immediately after you cross the bridge. The water on the either sides of bridge and tall buildings standing at one side of the river, will not let you go without clicking some snaps at this place. Reaching temple, one can also opt for boating after reaching temple.
Ozar-Otur, took us through the green farms on either sides of the road, all that our sight was able to capture was either sugarcane or banana farms spread wide until they were stopped by the ranges of Sanhyandri to enhance the beauty further, luckily the clear
sky was making the whole scene more beautiful.
Otur-Bhandardara -the drive through the ghats, thick jungles in some patches on either sides, and the other patches with lonely homes in those green belts, made us wonder how those families be staying-all alone. Yeah, we didn't find crowd at any of these places and that continuously kept me pleased!
Before we reached Bhandardara, we saw yet another dam, the sun-rays made the water flowing out of dam look silvery and more beautiful, we skipped a close visit to this one! Then came "Randha waterfalls" and this was the first place on our journey where we saw a lots of people, some tents offering eatables, garam Chai Bhajji and Maggie! As we were admiring several waterfalls at this place the rain started and then never stopped for us till we started our journey back from Ratanwadi.
Bhandardara-has a huge dam and those lots of people had come to see this dam. The dam's doors were open, as if inviting water to show it's power and you know the water, if anyone even dares to come close to it! We decided to move on from here quickly as my goal
was to enter inside the forest - "Abhayaranya".
After paying the entry fee for Abhayaranaya, we kept driving till Amruteshwar temple. The rain wasn't stopping for a moment after we entered the Abhayarana. The views here are just breathtaking, the views kept me distracting all the time. On the right hand side, we were seeing the backwaters of Bhandardara dam, the clean blue water, spread till our eye sight can see, interrupted by mountains at several places, and on the left side, the small and big waterfalls, as many as we could see from our car's windows. As per locals and authorities at the entry, this drive is a 60 kms drive and ends at a village called Shendi. On route there is "Amruteshwar temple - 1000 year old Shiva temple" at Ratanwadi, also the base camp for Ratangad trek, Ghatghar and Samrad - the entry point for Sandhan Valley trek.
We drove till Amruteshwar and decided to return back from there. Though the road is in a very bad shape, we enjoyed the drive, and this 20 kms patch till the temple is worth exploration. As we were driving , we were climbing up the hill, we
were taken away from the backwaters only to be treated with more picturesque views, the full blown waterfalls originating from the left side and descending on to the right side through those lonely villages, wide spread farms! Rare sighting of humans and the cars and the drive so amazing that we just passed enjoying it forgetting about taking any efforts for taking pictures.
We finally reached Amruteshwar, just stood amazed after we got down the car after we looked at all four sides around us. I think, it can only be experienced and is beyond description, so let me just leave it with that note. We entered inside the temple, the Shivlinga was almost gone under the water, the pandits there told us that they water level will reduce in October, however some part of the Shivlinga is always inside the water , we offered our prayers, spend some time around the temple and decided to start our return journey. During our return journey, we halted at Ozar for Ganapati darshan and then came home non stop!
What a day and what drive! 7.30 AM we started from Pune and we were back home at 10.00 PM.
And yeah, don't forget to check the snaps at the bottom of the page!
Some tips: Carry your own food and plan the trip so that you can reach to the nearest city if you need to stay overnight unless you book at Bhandardara in advance.
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swanand
non-member comment
Enjoy
Hi Raja I didnt know that you writes blog as well.....good to hear about your blog and your recent adventure.....enjoy.....plan something in december.......looking forward to it. swanand