TRIP TO RAIGAD FORT

                The Monsoon is here, we were still on with our trips. This time the destination was Raigad Fort.

HISTORY OF RAIGAD FORT
"Raigad is a hill fortress situated near Mahad, Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Maratha king Shivaji made the fort his capital in 1674 when he was crowned King of a Maratha Kingdom which later developed into the Maratha Empire eventually covering majority of modern day India.

The fort, which rises 820 meters (2700 ft) above sea level, is located in the Sahyadri mountain range. There are approximately 1737 steps leading to the fort, through today an areal tram exists to reach the top of the fort. The fort was looted and destroyed by the British upon."

It was 170 Kms away from Mumbai. This time the trip was with a different group of people and from two different starting points. Mathew and Myself  from Mumbai and Shibin and Tarak from Pune.

This time we could start by 06:30AM as decided. The expected time to reach the fort was 09:30AM. But due to the worst condition of the road we have reached below the Fort by 11:45AM only.

There were two routs to reach Fort from mumbai. One is through Mumbai-Pune Exp Highway - Khopoli - Pali - Nizampur - Raigad Fort. As we were in the bike we couldn't go through Exp Highway. Our rout was through Panvel - Pen - Vadkhal - Kolad - Indapur - Mangaon - Mahad - Raigad Fort.

We  have planned to meet our pune team at Nizampur and then reach Fort together. Panvel to Mahad was a part of Mumbai - Goa highway. Till Indapur the road was very bad. As we have started very early we were very hungry and had breakfast at Vadkhal by 09: 00AM.

 We met an another friend in Mangaon and he told us to go via Mahad as the Nizampur to Fort road was very bad. We have reached below Fort by 11:45 AM. By the time our pune group was 10Km behind the Fort. We have waited there for few minutes. The Fort is on the top of a mountain. There are two ways to reach the Fort one is by steps. There were 1737 steps to reach the Fort by walk. We didn't want to take that risk. So we opt to go by Rope-way. We couldn't see the Fort from bottom because of Fog.

Finally our Pune guys are here.

View from Rope-Way

Due to thick fog it was very cold in the Fort. So we had a cup of  coffee from the entrance and proceeded further.

About Raigad Fort by Archaeological Survey Of India.

 Entrance steps to the Fort 

 We knew that its worthless going to fort without a guide. So first we took a guide  from the entrance gate. There were lot of guides available in fort. The cost of guide was Rs. 350 per group. He explained us the history of the Fort and each and everything in side the fort. It was not so visible due to the thick fog.

 Ruins of the old palaces at Raigad Fort.

Guide explaining about Fort.

Statue of Shivaji Maharaj at the spot where his Rajyabhishek took place.

 Nagarkhana Darwaja

Bajarpeth and Nagarkhana (Market)

 Temple inside the Fort.

Shivaji Maharaja's Samadhi

Shivaji Maharaja's Dog's Samadhi 

(Behind Shivaji Maharaja's Samadhi)

The last thing to see in the fort was Shivaji Maharaja's Samadhi. After that we have decided to have lunch. There were no Restaurants in the fort. The guide has arranged lunch for us in his own house in the fort. That was  basically a hut and it was a different experience for us. 

 Guide and his Aunt preparing food.

After the lunch we have decided to leave the place. We saw a huge crowd near the rope-way system. Our waiting number was 22. We have waited for 2 hours for our turn. We have reached ground by 5 PM. As it was already late we have decided to leave the place without any delay. Because the route from Fort to Nizampur was too bad, Shibin and Tarak decided to come with us till Mangaon and then go to pune.

On the way back, after Mahad we have spotted a beautiful waterfalls. We have taken a bath in that waterfalls and had some snakes from the nearby restaurant and started the return journey. From Mangaon, Pune team has proceeded to Pune and we to Mumbai. There was heavy rain whole the way. It was really difficult to ride the bike due to the worst condition of the road and rain. We didn't take any stop between Mangaon and Mumbai. It was around 3 to 4 hours continues ride and we have reached mumbai by 11 PM.

Shibin and Tarak has experianced a heavy fog in Lonavala  region and they reached Pune safely by 12 PM.

Overall the trip was really fun and was a different experiance.

Trip Members: 

• Vizal Mathew
• Mathews Mathew
• Shibin Oommen Zachariah
• Tarak Purohit