Near Murbad: Malshej Ghat

On 18th July, I and Amit Bhalerao set out for Malshej Ghat (110 K.M. from Mumbai) in his Honda Civic. He picked me at around 7.00 a.m. from Gokuldham Gate and we took the Western express highway and via Jogeshwari Vikhroli linked reached the eastern express. We proceeded towards Thane and after passing Bhiwandi took the right turn and moved towards Murbad. The surroundings was amazing with lush green vegetation all around and was overall terrific being outside Mumbai. On the way we halted at ‘’Mamaji Dhaba’’ and had poha and tea. Total Damage: INR 80.00. The road was in pretty good condition and was not so crowded. As we started approaching Malshej Ghat, the landscape, atmosphere surprisingly took a marvelous change and was everything was looking simply amazing. The road was surrounded by lush green trees on both sides and huge mountain was visible on the right side. The roads were full of ups and downs and we were literally at 100/100 kmph. Finally we arrived at the ghat at 10.00 a.m. and as we started driving uphill we were in clouds and there was so much of fog we were not able to see things beyond few meters. Finally we had arrived at Malshej ghat—basically a road beside the mountain with multiple water falls at short distances and a valley on the other side of the road. We parked our vehicle like others and started enjoying the scenic beauty. There were lot of vehicles parked on the road side and travelers were enjoying the bath below the water fall. One however needs to go with his vehicle, since the place has lot of visitors who come drunk and actually create a nuisance. There are few small time vendors selling corn, tea etc. Its feels great enjoying corn and tea among the mountains. The area is surrounded by monkeys and one needs to be beware since they are interested in the eatables. We stopped for almost 45 minutes and proceeded on the same road towards Shivneri fort—Birth place of Shivaji. Roughly 5-10 minutes from the ghat on the left side was MTDC resort. As we went on we were followed by a river on the left side and the entire scene was terrific. After travelling for almost 30 k.m. we arrived at a small village, from where we took right. The road was pretty quiet with fields on both the sides. Finally we arrived at Shivnrei fort and the road goes upto the base of the fort. There are vendors selling tea, lemon water, wafers, and biscuits. After parking our vehicle we started the climb and there are 2 big doors on the way. The fort is on pretty good conditions and there is a garden build inside were one can take rest. Finally we arrived on the top after roughly 15-20 minutes of climb. There were water tanks on the way and as we proceeded further we came to this small place where Shivaji was supposed to be born. This was a small room, locked and has steps which can be climbed to arrive on the first floor. Behind this structure was a small water tank and with a walk of 5 minutes was a point from where the entire surrounding area could be seen. Near the birth structure with a climb for 5 minutes we arrived at the summit which had a mosque like structure. We climbed down and went on the other side of the mountain to arrive a temple which was inside the mountain and beside that were small caves which were basically used for storing goods etc in those times. The view from the mountain is amazing and we relaxed there for almost 30 minutes. Finally we started towards back home and took lunch at the shivneri village which was settled near the base of the mountain. The village was pretty big with ST stand, markets, small time hotels, schools etc. After finishing our lunch we proceeded to Mumbai and thus our one more amazing journey came to an end.

Key Take away: Visit only in rainy season; take your own vehicle, avoid driving at night since there are no street lights.

For pictures please follow the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30002962@N05/