Malshej Gaht - Bhandardara

Bhandardara

   Our next destination was Bhandardara, which in fact was the primary discovery on television as I have mentioned in my previous post. Malshej Ghat happened only because it is on the way to Bhandardara & as you’ve seen in the pictures there isn’t a better season than the monsoons to be in Malshej.

    Bhandardara also, is a hill station located in Maharashtra on the Rajur-Ghoti road. Being a hill station it enjoys a pleasant climate year round but the monsoons, as I witnessed make the destination exceptionally beautiful. The highlight of the visit there was the Lake Arthur & a Dam ‘The Wilson Dam’ constructed around it, during the pre-independence era.

    The MTDC resort in Bhandardara is located ideally, such that it’s opposite the lake for you to enjoy the view of the vastness of the lake & the cool wind that blows from that direction. It’ll make you wonder if you are indeed in Maharashtra so close to Mumbai where, if you live in the suburbs you seldom can feel any breeze let alone enjoying open spaces.

    The picture above was captured as we sat at the shore awaiting sunset. Its magnificent vastness & the beautiful color along with the small timid waves makes for a splendid spot for one to feel peace & harmony.

 
    Picture above is exactly as it can be viewed from your room at MTDC Bhandardara.

    MTDC here, I admit has a good location, however, the rooms were not exactly in the best conditions. The walls were soaked in water due to rains & smelt of mildew as soon as we entered & that made it loose the Brownie point, although, the bathroom & beds were acceptable for the tariff applicable. There are a couple of other lodgings around MTDC but I found their room charges extremely steep.

Here’s how you get to Bhandardara from Malshej Ghat.:

    Continue on from Malshej towards Ottur, which is 25 km from Malshej. Once you reach Ottur, you have to look for the ‘Ottur Bus Stand’ as there is a deceptive left from the main road which one might miss easily. We reached Ottur right around lunch time & found a reasonable good hotel here to have our afternoon meal. A chilled beer followed by a Chicken masala prepared in rural style with Chapati the added excitement & vigor for the future journey, just another 70 km. In fact, here we encountered the best State Highway with immaculate road conditions complimented by excellent weather & breathtaking landscapes on the way to the next junction, which is Brahmanwada.

Somewhere as you reach Brahmanwada, the roads intersect with the Akole-Rajur road & which is where you’d have to change your course towards. Rajur being the next point you’d have to reach before nearing Bhandardara. Locals are helpful & every few kilometers if you feel skeptical about the direction you are traveling, asking a local villager on his bicycle will guide you pretty efficiently. As a matter of fact, it is here at Rajur that will interest adventurers as the trekking destination ‘Harihchandragad’ falls in this Taluka. Again, the diversion for reaching Harishchandragad at Rajur is not very evident & a local will help you identify the left you are required to take on the Rajur-Bandardara stretch.

Harishchandragad, is popular amongst trekkers for it allows both mature & amateurs to scale the height without a lot of difficulty, yet giving the expected exhilaration of climbing atop a mountain & the view of a lifetime. It is considered a little troublesome climbing in the monsoon due to the rocks surface being slippery so do wear the right kind of shoes. My wife & I successfully scaled to the top however, we decided from a distance to the destination to retract as the rocks became a little too slippery. Dilemma is not always good, especially in such situations. So, we mutually agreed to turn back & descended the mountain & as most, who have trekked, will know that a descent is always more tiring than an ascent, taking almost twice the effort & time to reach the bottom. Once down the hill, it started to pour & were we glad that we had decided not to continue our trek atop. From here we rode back to Bhandardara & that evening I treated myself with some chilled beer & hit the bed early.