Malshej Ghats - the House of the Waterfalls

Monsoon and Sahyadri - this is always a killer combination, in terms of beauty of the nature. The whole of Sahyadri gets dressed up under a coating of an eye-pleasing greenery. A thick fog engulfs you within a minute making you complete blind and in the very next moment, the fog disappears, like a trick performed by the best of the magicians. If this is not enough, silver blazes of waterfalls - various sizes, ranging from the tiniest ones to the gushing and roaring water - run through the greenery to make it look the picture perfect.

Malshej Ghat in the Pune district is one such place. It houses countless number of waterfalls amongst the vivid greenery with nature at its very best.

Barely 130 Kms from Pune it can be visited as a single day trip. One has to take the Pune-Nasik Road and drive towards Nasik, all the way to Alephata. From Alephata, there is a diversion towards the left through which Malshej Ghat is barely a drive of 40 kms.


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On one fine Saturday, we took our venture to visit Malshej Ghats in the monsoon. We were a bit doubtful initially, since the monsoon was delayed in Pune and we didn't know what to expect from the Ghats.

Started at 7.30 in the morning, we were quickly on the Pune - Nashik highway due to less traffic on a weekend in early morning. We had a quick breakfast at a roadside dhaba and then drove on. Around 10 am-ish we were at Alephata but we did not see the beauty of the nature we badly expected. Moreover we also did not cross a single ghat section which also added fuel to fire in our dubious minds.

After quarter to an hour, suddenly the hills appeared with its whopping beauty in front of us. Amazing greenery, smooth road through the hills and the Pimplegaon Lake were visible besides us. The nature unfolded.

All doubts cleared so we drove on further to catch the glimpses of the famous waterfalls of Malshej Ghat and it did not disappoint us. Very soon the waterfalls started appearing with the fullest gorgeousness.

I started experimenting with my newly bought Tripod. There was a gushing milky-white fall at the close vicinity.

My experiments did not last long as the rain started pouring in heavily. So Tripod had to be packed up. The mist engulfed the whole place giving the place a look full of secrecy.

Again, even the fogs did not last long as the weather cleared up. Only the change seemed to be constant up there. The surroundings looked heavenly with all those green meadows, valleys and the silver linings at distances.

People flocked to one of the best waterfalls I had ever seen. Two different streams coverging and becoming into one to look like a surreal beauty of nature, no man could ever create this scene.

There were other waterfalls in area - countless as I stated above.

We drove further on to find out some more.

The etherreal scene mesmerized and captivated us.

We started driving backward now, we went to the only resort in the area - the MTDC Malshej Ghat, the restaurant was completely jam-packed. We managed to grab a table and devoured the much needed food, served smoking hot.

Spellbound and speechless we started towards Lenyadri caves, the abode of one of Ashta Vinayaks. The rain started pouring down mercilessly at this time.

On the way towards Lenyadri

The Lenyadri caves are situated on top of a hill, one can reach after an arduous climb of around 300 stairs. Under the heavy rains it was difficult to climb but we survived. One has to beware of the very very naughty monkeys there, we saw a couple of them literally snatching food items from the visitors.

Quickly we came down from the top after the 'darshan', we started for the last destination on our way back.

Shivneri Fort is famous because it is the birth place of Shivaji, the great king spent his childhood in this fort. So naturally the historical significance of this place is out of the question.

Another climb awaited us.

After the initial stairs, an untarred earthen road led us towards the inner sections of the fort.

Though the fort was undoubtedly of tremendous historical value, the preservation was really below par. Apart from the stairs and a few fortifications, most of the constructions at the top were under ruins or in a pathetic state. Sometimes it felt like we were just strolling inside a park, not a fort. Though some of the doors remained intact.

The view from the top looked great. All the villages and the farmlands were covered in green.

Seasonal flowers were at full bloom.

We were indeed thrilled to see the birth place of great ruler, but most of the area lacked preservation.

It marked the end of the day for us. We now started towards Pune and reached around 8 in the evening, still under the trance of those thundering waterfalls penetrating through the hills, which not only serve as heavenly scenes but also give us some opportunity to rejoice and break free from the four walls within which we are confined most of the times.