Tandulwadi

Tandulwadi Fort           तांदुळवाडी किल्ला

Height                       : 1900 Feet                                      Date           : 19th Jul 2014

Nature of Trek       : Simple                                          Duration     : 1 day

  

Author - Alpana

Yesterday 19th Jul 2014 we went for a trek to Tandulwadi Fort.

Trekkers - Amol, Kaustubh, Bharat & myself.

I started at 5.28am when I received a call from Kaustubh. He has already reached his pick up point i.e. below the mulund east bridge just before the Thane Toll naka. As such I was suppose to leave from Govandi at 5.15am and reach there to pick up him by this time. But I was late.

I quickly geared up and drove to Tilak Nagar to pick up Amol. Amol came near the Sahakar Theather circle. From there my next stop was where Kaustubh was waiting...  I reached there by 5.47am i.e 17mins later than the planned time :) But that was ok.

I introduced Kaustubh to Amol, and Amol to Kaustubh ;-) because to both of them I had mentioned that they seemed alike to me... though after they met each other... they didn't find anything similar :P
Anyways...

Next pick up was of Bharat from Thane east station. So within no time we reached Thane east station, where Bharat was already waiting. From there we packed breakfast - 2 upma & 4 pohe. And started to our journey to Tandulwadi Village in Palghar area.

On the way in the car, Amol told us the story that he had read of a person who had been to Tadoba. The story in short was that this man who went for Tadoba trip, he went to a temple inside that Tiger Santury. He was at the temple praying for about 15-20mins and then he spotted twinkling eyes in the tress around the temple. When he looked carefully there was a movement also. There were 2 eyes looking at this man from behind the dense trees some feet away. As the movement became obvious, this man identified it was a tiger staring at him. The man got goose bumps. Though he had noticed now, he was quite sure that tiger was there and looking at him from quite before. But for his good grace the tiger did nothing and walked away after some time. [Now what is the point in me telling this story here? You will understand as you read further :) ]

While on the way, right at the point on a bridge in thane, where I was suppose to take a left turn, I got busy in a conversation with Amol and..... I took a right turn instead :) which went on the Nashik highway.... But I did realize immediately. We thought there will be U turn soon, but there isn't any. I drove until we reached Karegaon Toll naka. Paid the toll and went ahead & stopped there. There Amol was saying that we will follow this same road and go ahead as we have already came so far. It seems that thru that road also somehow as per Amol we could reach NH8. But after discussion of sometime, I suggested that we rather take a U turn and go back to ghodbander road only rather than exploring new ways and losing on time. So all agreed and I took a U turn which was right after  the Toll Naka. This time to the Toll wala we mentioned that we had missed our way and bla bla bla... and he very soon agreed and let us go w/o paying the toll again.

So with this 1st quota of missing our way while on trek was completed :) which is the tradition of DHs.  (And I am always thankful of completing the missing the way quota while driving rather on the actual trek route after we start trekking :) because here the cost is fuel and there the cost is stamina. And the most costlier for me losing the stamina rather than the fuel :P )

So ! now we were back on our way to Thane and then soon on the correct way i.e. Ghodbandar Road. As such this missing of way approx. added 10kms extra.

The drive to Tandulwadi village was nice. Rare traffic on the road. No rains as such. Nice cloudy weather. (Of course the car windows though weren't open and we were still driving in AC ).

On NH8, we took the left turn at Varai. And from here until we reached Tandulwadi... the road, the drive the weather was simply awesomeeeeee..... super country side tar road, fresh white strips on the black road... greenery and farms on both sides and amazing weather to compliment it.

Here the way was so empty and tempting that we had to stop the car and get down. The road was like pulling us out of the car :) So finally I stopped the car. And we took some pics.
  

Here when we got out we smelled the pure air. And kept the windows open and drove further. Our next halt was at the bridge over the Vaitarna river. This is a bridge in very nice condition w/o any pits. Don't know if it was recently built. And here is from where you start getting the view of the Tandulwadi fort across the other side of the lake. We clicked some pics here. The river looked quite muddy and brown in color. Surprisingly it is the source of water for Mumbai. Villagers were digging reti (river sand) out of it and carrying it in boats. No wonder it was brown.

 

Above you can see the Vaitarna river in left pic and straight across the other side the view of the Tandulwadi fort hill. And right pic shows the bridge over Vaitarna.

Next after crossing this bridge, we took a right turn for Tandulwadi. The landmark is a police chauki which is at the very beginning of this right turn and its a kind of checkpost.

From here in few mins we reached the Tandulwadi village. At the beginning there is a plan ground outside the 'Amchi Shala' school, where I choose to park the car. We got down had the breakfast which we had taken packed from outside Thane station. Each one of us had pohe and half of upma. And then we started getting ready for the trek. While we were doing that it started raining all of a sudden in full force. I rushed inside the car, while Amol, Bharat and Kaustubh took shelter under the car's trunk which was open. I wore my wind cheater and got ready. Amol & Kaustubh were shocked as I had not got my SLR. Amol was looking forward to hands on my new Nikon D7000. But after giving a complete thought I had decided not to carry the SLR. Because
1. I didn't want to get it wet by any means. (as I have damaged my earlier canon 550d in prev Kamangad trek rains :) ]
2. D7000 body itself is heavy on the top of that I put on it heavier 18-200mm lens. So it would have increased the weight on my shoulders while my stamina was already very low.
Having said that, I was carrying  my small pocketable Sony wx300.

Now it was 8.45am and we started our trek.

In full energy and enthusiasm, I was clicking while crossing the village. We passed across a small pond (Bandhara) which was created to collect rain water. A duck was swimming in it. It was a very picturesque place. The water, the duck, the muddy track, the huts and the Tandulwadi Hill right across.

From here, we went to left of the pond and then started the climb.

The trek started. The last patch to reach the top did look steep. From the base village where we were standing I could see 2 levels of this trek. Anyways.

As soon as we started it was climb upwards. But not very steep. Doable and track was also goodie goodie. With continuous doubts in my mind about my own stamina, I was constantly monitoring by when will my stamina get over....  After 20mins of trek up I started breathing fast, so took a break. Though the terrain was not steep, habit was lost of any cardio exercise. Not a problem. After a little break I was ok and resumed the climb. I was already having my pil of energy i.e. orange goli in my mouth :)
The rains had stopped so I removed my windcheater and walked further. By now we were at a good enough height and got the view of Vaitarna Lake.

 

 On the way there were many crabs of different colors - brown, yellow, white, magenta ...

If you keep your every open and observe carefully, you will also spot disappearing arrows in "few" points on the route .

But, at one point we were searching where to go. At that point the direction which Amol chose seemed to go away from the Hill. I was not positive about it. I was worried that we will go wrong way climb up and then find it was wrong and then again will have to do double trek. And by now I was already panting. But I just followed like always :)

And now were amidst of the jungle and mosquitoes had started having nice treat over us. So I wore the wind cheater again. I forgot to take the mosquito repellent.

After walking straight in a direction opposite to the target hill for some time, then we again started ascending upwards. Here at a point Bharat also started creating doubts. So I finally took out my S3 and in maps I started looking. I had already star marked Tandulwadi fort. And I remembered that in maps it does show the trek route pretty prominently. Thankfully the maps loaded and GPS also tracked our current location nicely. Now we found where we were from the actual trek route.

So we were on the level 1 ridge now. And we should be moving now to right towards the target hill. walking at the same level now we reached joined the track which was marked in Google maps. Moving ahead, walking at the same level, we reached a point where it was a plateau and next level i.e. the Tandulwadi Fort top was visible. Here, very care freely we walked and were taking pics. We saw there were 3 buffaloes grazing. Nicely we moved ahead, that all of a sudden we saw the mood changed of one of the buffalo. I got scared and warned Amol that the buffalo was not in a good mood. Amol said don't worry just keep walking. We walked ahead towards the buffaloes as the route passed from besides them. But something was wrong. The buffaloes got mad and they started running towards us. They were actually attacking us. O God!! yes they were looking at us, making that maaooo maooo sound and running towards us...O Man!!!! First time ever in any trek.. or for that matter in my life ... some animal was actually attacking me. Never even a dog did that me till now. We brisk walked backwards. The buffaloes speed was not very fast and there was quite a distance between us and them. So brisk walk was sufficient. And all the more by running we didn't wanted to urge the buffaloes more. Bharat picked up a stone. But we warned him that not to do anything of that sort as that will probe the animal more and we will increase the trouble for ourselves. We walked fast and hid inside the trees and bushes around. The buffaloes didn't reach us. And tried to take another route. But Amol saw that the buffaloes came from other direction. O man... so we didn't proceed in other direction and just waited where we were. At the back of my mind I had started thinking what to do if they actually came here where we were .... only idea was to climb up a tree. While Amol was keeping a watch on one side and Kaustubh on another side, Bharat was searching a stick and he did find one, and I was standing still looking at the trees around n gauging which one of them I can climb up :) After some 15-20mins halt and silence, were spoke to each other in whispers. Amol judged that the buffaloes might have gone down from other way. Kaustubh towards right also said that they were not there on his side as well. So from right (from where we came in) we came out bent, walked silently w/o making noise and spoke in whispers to each other. Gauging if our enemy (the buffaloes) were still there... Amol was ahead, then Kaustubh, then Bharat and me in the end. When we came out quietly back to the plateau, we saw the buffaloes were no more there. So were walked fast but silently to cross that patch as early as possible. But we also had another doubt - What if there were more buffaloes in the forest from here on :P
But by God''s grace - Khatra Tal chukka tha... and there were no more buffaloes ahead and we crossed the patch safely. HUshhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... what a sigh of relief.



Level 1 Plateau

The Angry Buffaloes

Amol Keeping a Watch over Buffaloes

Silently and in full alert getting out

Chupke se Dushman se Bachkar Niklo!!!



Next patch was again inside the jungle. We were at the base of the  Target hill now. Walking across the periphery of the main hill that were to climb. At the back of my mind I was thinking... O man.. I am already exhausted and now we are yet to climb this final patch. I looked upwards as we walked ahead at the same level in the jungle. We now finding the route that will go upwards to reach the top.
At one point we stopped. Took a break. Sat over a stone. Drank some water. Now here!!! Bharat saw something some feet away behind me. He said, can u see some animal there? Kaustubh and Amol looked in that direction and they were not able to spot what Bharat was showing. I also turned behind. Bharat showed me that he can see something sitting there. When I looked in that direction... I got goose bumps... because I spotted what Bharat was showing... I spotted the ANIMAL! Sparing no second, I turned behind and said quick quick move... lets move... I can see there is a Tiger sitting there looking at us. Bharat also said Yes... in those tress there he saw the same. Kaustubh and Amol looked there and they couldn't see that and they laughed. I know it cannot happen that there could be a actual tiger actually sitting in that position calmly the position in which I and Bharat saw it. So I took out my 20x zoom camera, zoomed in to see it clearly. And below is what it was :)

Can you see what Me and Bharat saw???  :)

Yes, above is the pic. It was a log. Doesn't it look like a Tiger sitting? The front portion is his face?  It does :) Hehehe this was all because of the story told by Amol about Tadoba jungle lingered in our minds :P

Huh!! a mind game. And we moved one. We were still walking straight at the same level and we came across a place where we saw a pond formed around trees. There were really nice reflections created.

From opposite of this pond, we started climbing up the final patch. This patch was pretty steep. I looked upwards. O man! This was certainly another 45mins continuous climb. And it was already past 2hrs since we started from base village. On this patch I stopped and took break almost after every 10-15mins. It was definitely a 45-50degree elevation climb. I knew this was the last patch and we will be done once we are over it. But still I was over my stamina. I was at a 0 energy level dragging myself. pessimistic thoughts started coming to my mind as to
1. why do I do this to myself, when I am not physically fit anymore.
2. Why do I don't do exercise
3. Why didn't I climb staircase till last floor of my office building atleast that will help.
4. I m sure gone. This is my last trek. [Since last year this is my thought while in ascend in every trek]

But there was no option. I had to move on. Though slowly. In between we saw a stone with a message, which was totally suitable for me :)  [Pic below]

We climbed on and on and on... and it was not getting over. I asked Amol... - ' Ajun kiti baki aahe!!! Kadhi sampnar!!!'' This what we usually ask Amol :) heheheh  And Amol like always answered - '' Aray aala hey kay jarasach rahilay"

I again stopped at a point. breathless. Bent down and was controlling my breathing. All of us stopped there. Here again we stopped for good 10mins.

[Disclaimer** - Please do not get scared of Tandulawadi trek. The track is nice. Not easy but not very difficult as I am portraying. It is of medium level difficulty. It was just that my stamina has decreased and it was becoming difficult for me. Because Kaustubh, Bharat were totally fine with the climb. And Amol need not to mention, he climbs like a rocket.]

So, after the last break, and a 15mins  climb up after that.. we were finally on the TOP!!!!! Yepieeeee!!! It was 12pm. So we took 3hrs 15mins to ascend. And definitely this can be done in lesser time probably in 2-2.5hrs. It was only because of me that we took this time.

On the TOP.... It was a different me! :)  O man.... I forgot all strain, pain and breadthlessness!!! It was sooooooo windy... cloudy... rainy...greenyyy.... it was simply SUPERB!!!

The Wind was blowing at such high speed, that we were actually getting pushed back. And the rains also came. It was simply WOW!!!!

We could here some people's voice. There were some more other than us on the top. As we walked ahead, we saw there was one more group. We came at the point from where we saw the confluence of Surya and Vaitarna rivers.

Post which I sat on a rock, from where I could leave my legs in the valley and enjoy the view.

It was enchanting. I felt recharged. I was there in my all 6 senses. Meaning no sense of mine was thinking or feeling or sensing elsewhere. It was right there absorbing the surrounding and recharging self. That is the power of nature. It will make you forget everything. It makes you forget all worldly matters.

What office? what home!
What Internet? No network in phone!
Just you and the winds,
The clouds and the greens....
Get lost in valleys for not to be found,
Close your eyes for a moment & you will feel GOD is there around!   :)

Its no exaggeration... actually this was the first trek of this year. And hence this effect.! :) And this trek came as a complete package, absolutely fulfilling. No matter what pessimism came to my mind during ascend. Once you reach the top its all paid off and worthwhile :) So its a matter of having the will and the right push by yourself and by your trek leader (Amol)  :)

So - moving ahead.

After spending quite some time at the point from where we see the confluence, we moved ahead to explore the rest of the hill top i.e. the Tandulwadi fort.

As we walked ahead we saw 2 water tanks. Then we came across a big enough pond. Inside the pond there is a tip of a submerged stone on which "Om" is written

   

Near the pond we saw many butterflies. Overall on the hill top at many places we saw many butterflies and bees. We also saw a rabbit. Then we saw many spiders and crabs of course.

We also saw the 7 water tanks about which its written on many websites on internet. [Pic below] Here near the tanks it was most windy and rainy. To the right of these tanks is a valley. and the wind was blowing upwards from the valley. Bharat did an experiment. He threw a Rs 2 coin in the valley and each time it came back up. That was interesting. He did it several times, and each time it came up back on the grass where we stood. He did it until the coin finally went and landed at a spot from where we couldn't get it back. And then we moved ahead.

Then from here we moved ahead and completed our PRADAKSHINA... i.e.1 round from where we had started.

Now it was time for lunch. We found a place where it will be less windy and dry and sat down to have our lunch. Post lunch Amol told his experience of the 1 month mountaineering training (or rather self paid harassment) that he had just been through. We didn't realise when time passed by and it was 3pm. So it was 3hrs that we spend over the hill top. Now we started from the point where we had for lunch for our descend. It took us about 15mins approx. to walk back to the point from where descend starts. Now I was leading the group. :) as I was fully charged up.

We reached down to the mountain periphery and then back to the point where there were nice reflections. Then we crossed the Tiger point, then the plateau and the buffalo point :)

Post this plateau we took a different route. Not the one from where we ascended. This was the actual trek route which google maps showed. Which was a steep descend. Thankfully we didn't climb up from this way, else I would have lost my stamina quite earlier. Descending it was fine. Only Bharat had problem as during ascend he had at one point sprained his left leg muscle. But we soon reached down in 2.5hrs.

This is the trek route that we approximately followed. Yellow shows ascend, Blue shows descend. Pink shows the common track followed during ascend and descend.

I had read on the blogs that there is a rock patch in between, but we did not come across any rock patch on our ascend or descend.

We started return journey at around 5.45pm. Drive back from Tandulawdi to Varai was again amazing.... We reached Thane east station to drop Bharat. Had tea and bhaji pav and wada pav. Then return back. After dropping Kaustubh and Amol, I reached back home by 8.15pm.

And a wonderful trek was over. Thank you to Amol again for initiation and executing it.

Keep Treking!