Veranda Ghat - Where Waterfalls Galore

If a person is in love with the waterfalls, this is the place to be in the monsoons. Veranda Ghat - only around 120 Kms Pune towards Mahad via Bhor - is a place which is yet unspoiled by the crowd but still offers arguably the best of the sceneries of Sahyadri range in Monsoon. There is absolutely no dearth of waterfalls and greenery. On top of that, an out of the world view point consisting of rugged mountains covered with lush green, penetrated by the milky white waterfalls is always a bonus.

The following map provides the direction towards the same:

Starting from Pune, one has to take the Pune - Mumbai old highway near Katraj and drive towards Bangalore. Once you cross Kapurhol, you need to take the right exit and drive towards Mahad. If you are unsure, ask for direction towards Shivtharghal - a local temple of Swami Samarth Ramdas - from the local people. We also reached following this method only.

When we reached the hills, we took a break at almost every interval possible - such was the beauty of the heavenly place. Waterfalls - ranging from the tiniest ones to the big ones - were everywhere with magnificent vistas. Here are some of the snaps.

 

It was raining continuously but we had indomitable spirits, so nothing could stop us - we drove forward. We came to the main viewpoint - a cliff like area from where one can see all the gorges and the hills at every direction as far as eyes could see. the whole are was covered under the lush green, naturally with the monsoon effect. And through the green carpets zigzagging were the silver jets of water-streams. 

When we first disembarked the car at the main view point, we were spellbound and speechless at once by the spectacular vistas that surrounded us, as well as we were ecstatic that we made the wise decision to come this far. 

For sometime, nobody from the group spoke in awe of the nature. We were busy in sinking in the pure atmosphere and unpolluted greenery which was plenty and free of cost. This is so rare in our urban lives nowadays. 

The above are a few snaps of the place - I am sure they will not do full justice to the real marvel of the place, but I just hope that they would be able to give some idea to the more imaginative souls and make some more nature-cravers to be there.

The area was not that much commercialized, which is great in one sense - not everything should be polluted and corrupted by us. On the other hand, finding 'ok-ish' food will be a little difficult unless you are okay with the local foods - Vada Pav, Kandi Bhaji etc - as lunch. For us, this much adjustment was perfect on a trip. Moreover, the lack of a jazzy and luxurious meal were more than compensated by the mother nature with her offerings to this panoramic surroundings.

We spent almost the whole day in Veranda Ghat, but the trip finally ended as all good things unfortunately but surely come to an end. But without doubt, it filled our hearts with unparalleled joy and left us longing for more. Hence with a promise to go back to the lap of the nature, to embrace its pristine and unspoilt beauty, we concluded the trip (for this time).

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