Photo Drive to Tamhini Ghat in Monsoon 2016

This year (2016), during the monsoons I made a short half day drive to Tamhini Ghat. This was more of a photo drive than just winding up.

This was probably my fourth or fifth trip towards Tamhini but the place never ceases to amuse me with its breathtaking beauty. This year Tamhini received the most rainfall in Maharashtra (yes, surpassing even Mahabaleshwar), so the astounding greenery and the spectacular white streams were in abundance and perfectly complemented each other. 

We had to stop at several places and take photos to the heart's content.

Not a place to be missed during the monsoon, if you are in/around Pune.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IN MONSOONS.

The photos are clicked without any ND or CPL filters. I used a simple gorillapod to place my 5DMK3 on top of it.

The first spot where we reached by 8 am in the morning was the gigantic waterfall just besides the Mulshi Lake.

There were some tiny waterfalls around it as well.

And I certainly did not let go of any opportunity to try various angles and focusing techniques.

All these sources of water combined into one and a gushing stream was output through the bushes.

Everywhere as far as one could see, it was green all around...covered with white sheets of cloud...

...and small streams gently flowing to its destiny...

..and some tiny beauties...

..and some marvels of nature....

..and some fauna too...

Practicing with high shutter speed....

Monsoon brings out the explorers in us....

Sometimes only sitting in the car also can bring your attention to beauties around you....

And some more greenery on our way back...

We had a stopover nearby Mulshi Dam, and the beauty simply was breathtaking with the farmlands posing with a genuine grin (read 'green') in contrast to the last year's seriously dry spell..

Finally, before our ways part until the next blog, no monsoon photoblog can be completed without such pictures as below:

Time to say good bye. 

Thank you very much for taking your time to go through the post. If you like it, please leave your encouragement as a form of a comment.

See you!!

Mahabaleshwar in the Winters – A Different Experience - Part 3

Previous - Day 2

Day 3

We wanted to cover a few more places this day but the day brought some bad news for us – my car broke down completely. I had called the garage in and the car was towed away. We had nothing to do so we engaged ourselves in complete relax. 

MTDC Resort

At 4 pm the car was handed over to me again and literally we were all bored to death by watching tv and taking naps. So we planned to quickly watch the sunset, but not from the sunset point.  There was an adjacent point – called Falkland Point – which is not known to many. Before you reach the Sunset Point, one dirt road will lead you through the jungle to this point. The view was far better than the Sunset Point – we all agreed in unison.

We came back to the Sunset Point, when it was fully dark to have some snacks and moved to back to our pigeonhole in MTDC, shivering with cold.

Day 4

Time has come for us to leave. We had a great breakfast in the canteen and checked out.  We made a stop at Mapro Garden where some fruit juices, crushes were to be brought.

Flowers at Mapro Garden

Wasting not much time, we also covered a few places on our way in Panchgani.

Parsi Point – a great view of the valley where the Krishna river zigzagged its way through the hills.

Sydney Point – another view of the same valley, from a different angle.

Harrison’s Folly – We enjoyed this mini-table land more than the more famous one. It was windy and paragliding exercises were ON.  

Panchagni sightseeing took us not more than an hour. Since my parents were with me we planned to make a stop at the Ganpati Temple of Wai on the way.

Bidding Adieu to the temples once the rituals are fulfilled, we were again on the roads. We had lunch on the way and were again back at Pune before it is dark.

All in all, a great appeasing trip apart from the incident with the car on the 3^rd day, but it happens in life.

********************THE END********************* 

Mahabaleshwar in the Winters – A Different Experience - Part 2

Previous - Day 1

Day 2

On Day 2, we decided to have a leisurely trip around a few of the sightseeing points. Since most of the points present similar views from a different angle, we finalised on the ones we could not cover during our last monsoon trip to the ‘Queen of Sahyadri’. We hired a car since I did not know all the routes.

We started with old Mahabaleshwar. The older part of the town is not accessible during the monsoons because of poor visibility. This part of the city does not have much to offer apart from a few temples – Atibaleshwar Temples, Mahabaleshwar Temple and Panchganga temple – all of the places have restrictions on photography inside the premises.

Outside of Atibaleshwar Temple



Outside Panganga Temple, another small temple



The next on the list was a series of viewpoints located closely –

• Arthur’s Seat – the best of the views of them all
• Hunter Point – Not sure why the name
• Echo Point – we didn’t check whether it echoes there
• Malcolm Point
• Tiger Spring
• Window Point

All the points looked very similar overlooking the same valley and the gorge, but it must look fabulous in the monsoon, only if the visibility allows.

A view from Arthur's Seat

List of points



On our way back as well, there were three different points –

• Monkey Point
• Savitri Point
• Marjorie Point

Again almost same views at every point but from a slightly different angle.

We then moved to Elphinstone Points - lower and upper. Locationwise and in terms of view offered, in my opinion it was the best among the lot.

Our day trip ended within 3 hours and now it was lunchtime, we then came to the main city where we had a sumptuous meal. Then again we roamed around the marketplace, undoubtedly the most happening place in the city – the variety of shops did justify the crowd. One can get literally everything in the market. Tourists flocked in some of the more renowned shops, but in general all the shops were occupied. The most crowd puller was the strawberries beyond any doubts. The market yard gave me ample opportunity to do some amateur street photography.

We came back to our nest at MTDC to have a quick nap, which we really enjoyed. In the afternoon I continued my photographic ventures around the MTDC resort and then we headed off to the Polo Ground

The Polo Ground looked like a dilapidated barren land where just a few horses were standing, we were utterly disappointed and proceeded to Venna Lake.

The lake was thronged to the fullest. There were innumerable number of boats floating on the lake and people were waiting in queue to be on the next one.

We anyway were not part of the adventure boating trip so we went for another attraction of Mahabaleshwar – the ‘Strawberries with Cream’ which was just Yummy!

 

The dusk started to set in, the Venna Lake looked gorgeous in the evening. People did not loose their enthusiasm a bit, for a lot of boats still floating on the lake.

But our day was over since we only wanted to spent it relaxingly and that we did. We returned back to MTDC once again where a lovely meal and cosy slumber were waiting.

Next - Day 3, Day 4 and Return