Bhandardara-Igatpuri

Myself and Denzil had went to Bhandardara on 8th Nov 08. We had taken the gitanjai express and after getting down at Igatpuri at around 8.25 a.m. proceeded to igatpuri east .since it was early morning and being a small town, almost all the shops were closed just near the station there were auto-rickshaws, however the people seem to be decent since none of them followed us . we decided to walk to the bus stand , which as told be one of the shop-keepers was close by. within 10-12 mns we reached the bus stand , and there was a bus which was already standing. on enquiring one of the conductors told us to catch the bus which was about to leave in next 10-15 mns. we were lucky , since if we would have missed the bus, the next bus was after 1-1.30 hrs and that would be upset our plans. the bus started at sharp 8.45-50 a.m. and was quite empty . the bus after travelling through the city , joined the highway and took the direction towards shirdi. the journey was quite amazing as igatpuri seems to be blessed witn numerous mountain ranges which were visible on both the sides of the road. we were enjoying the bus ride since was not so dull and boring as expected. after travelling on the highway , the bus at a point took a right turn and moved towards bhandardara. the journey now became more interseting as the road was surround by trees and there was no sunlight falling . the bus by the time becomes crowded since the local villagers use for travelling to other villages. while travelling to bhandardara, one can see mount kalsubai on the right side--the tallest mountain in maharashtra. at around 10.10 a.m. we had reached bhandardara. the market place was a quiet and small palce and has no hotel of the size and look they we had imagined. they were small shanties selling vadapav, tea, missal, sweets etc. after getting down we were clueless as what to do, since nothing was visible in the vicinity. we started walking towards the MTDC hotels since that was an important landmark in that area. since we were not able to book the mtds resorts, while walking we came across a amll hotel and we asked him about any hotel which provides accomodation. luckily there was a young chap named mahesh who was standing and he offered to show us a place, myself and denzil followed him. he took us to a place which was roughly around 10-15 mns walk from the bus stand and around 05-10 mns before MTDC.
the place was a room which was quite huge, with an attached bathroom having a facility of hot water. the back side of the room was great since on opening the door, there was a lake just in front--one of the most important sight-seeing place in bhandardara. we bargained for INR 900 .00 for a one night stay. there are total 2 separate rooms in total and is safe even for family. mahesh was actuallly the care-taker of the room and was staying close by . the hotel seems to be of local panchyat and actually had a view which was better then of MTDC.. the facilites cannot be compared with that of MTDC, and there is an issue of non electicity at night.,mahesh provided us few candles, mosquito repellant.fan was not required at night, since the air was chilling at night. after taking tea and breakfast, myself and denzil decided to see the nearby areas. on the right side there was a dam however the entry has been closed on account of security concerns. there are tourist who are allowed however they carry certain passes, which we couldnt figure out how to get. just beside the dam there is a route which takes to the bottom and one gets the full vies of the dam. there is a big garden at the bottom which is frequented by travellers. we then visited the marketplace, and had vadapav and tea. the tea which are prepared are very sweet and the vada pav was quite good. the market place is quite small and we were not able to find any hotel which could match the ones we have in matheran. after taking breakfast we came back and asked mahesh of the places that can be visited. he told us of a pandu temple, a sunrise point and the dam. we asked him to take us to a place which was not frequnetly visited and had to be a mountian range. Mahesh brother had a maruti van which he used for the travellers to take to spots. we fixed up for these places and a back journey to igatpuri the next day for INR 1400.00 . we started the vist at around 2.45 p.m. and he took us first to a dam which was amazing and we could actually see the doors and was a huge structure. he finally took us to a route on which was restricted and was a area of forest departmet and there was a toll naka which charged us around 30 rs. the journey once we started inside the toll was such an experience that could not be expressed in words . i have till date never in my life came across such close to nature and the there was such a peace, quite that once would feel what life one is having in mumbai. there were hardly any tourist vehicle and we were infact the only ones travelling. we stopped at few locations and shooted videos of this amazing views. while travelling we actually came across lakes, ponds and infact there was one water ponds, where there was a special kind of mangroves which was like a tree surround by water, that was the most unimganiable thing i could have ever come across. finally we reached the pandu temple which has a shivling under the water.the temple is stunning and looks like it should be quite old . the temple is surrounded by mountains and we could hardly see any visitor. we had few bhajis, tea at one of the shanties selling and was quite tasteful. we started our journey back and it was already 6.45 p.m., and was quite cold and we had to close our windows. the most thrilling experience was that the road was almost deserted and it was we who were only travelling. on the way we came across the sunset point , which was truely great and looked great. we reached our place at around 9.00 p.m. after taking our dinner which was arranged by mahesh ( around 50.00 rs / plate).he arranged for a bonfire at night and charged us around 100.00 rs. that was amazing since we were enjoying the warmth sitting on the chair in front of the lake. this sort of arrangement cannot be even provided by MTDC. we decided to visist the market, however everything was closed , noteven tea stalls were opened.
next day morning we went for boating in the lake and for an hour the price was around INR 300.00. i was boating the boat with my own hands , since it was a non pedal one. this was regretted by me later since there was a pain in my hands for almost 20 days.
we trekked on a small mountain nearby and by 3.00 p.m. we started back for mumbai with the amazing experiences in our mind. the journey while coming was full of experiences and on the way we stopped at mount kalsubai, which stood as a hughe structure. we reached igatpuri station and caught the geetanjali express and by 10.00 pm we were at home.

key take-aways: book MTDC before going, carry medicines if kids are along,ask for the mountain journey, dam and the garden can be visited on your own.