MANSOON TOUR : LONAVALA AND MAHABALESHWAR

 

        Hello..! We have been on many tours since 2014 but never did the Monsoon trip. Now this year I used to make a monsoon trip with regular bike riders Naren, Vishnu and Afzal Bhai. After Evening talk with them we decided to go first Pune for some work and then visit Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar.

        August 11th Thursday evening at 7:00 PM we started our journey from Gadwal, Telangana by car. An hour later we reached Raichur and then had dinner at Yadagir and reached Solapur via Gulbarga. We stayed there for the night and got fresh in the morning and started our journey to Pune. after 250 km of road journey finally we reached Pune at 10:00 AM. 

        We completed our work in pune till evening and moved to our first destination Lonvala in the rainy weather.

Road Map of Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar

        After one and half hour journey from pune we reached lonavala in light rain at 4:30 PM. First we went to hotel for tea and purchased some famous chikkis, after that we wandered over the  lonavala street roads in a light falling rain and at 7:30 PM we check in a hotel room and stayed over night there..

Azam at Lonavala City Centre

 

        Early morning we check out our hotel room and went for local sight seeing..

        Lonavala is the most popular mountain destination in Maharastra. It is also the most favourite hilly gateway for travellers from around the world. Lonavala is a perfect place to enjoy ecstatic weather and scenic natural landscape to enjoy beauty. It offers the most pleasant temperatures, scenic views of the western ghats and lush greenery, making the it the most refreshing break from the nearby urban jungles. 

This hill station is located at 64 km from the city of Pune. We can visit Lonavala and Khandala in all seasons. I suggest the monsoon visits the most. However, monsoon exposes their real beauty. The monsoon in Lonavala is rejuvenating, what with clouds filling your face, water gushing from every corner, verdant landscapes welcoming you cheerfully.

Breath taking View in Lonavala

        This hill stations are spreading over an area of 38 square kilometers. It is often called the City of caves owing to the series of ancient natural caves of Karla, Bhaja that line the region. 

      Lets go through the best locations and popular attractions in Lonavala that travellers over the years have come, time and again visit and fall in love with during the rainy season. By now, you know that there is no other place quite like this slice of heaven in Maharashtra, India, that beckons us quite so strongly with its simple beauty.

Vishnu, Azam and Afzal Bhai

below are some of may favourite destination's who visits in Lonavala:

LIONS POINT :

       Loins point is one of the most mesmeric and frequently visited view points in Lonavala. This place offers astonishing views of the sunset. we visited this place on  morning while there are full of fog. In fog and rain we enjoyed lot. If you plan to visit places in Lonavala, you just cannot skip this place. It mainly known for evening and night trekking for adventure lovers.

TIGER POINT :

       After few minutes of journey a winding road upwards takes us to this next tourist spot, that is Tiger Point. This point is also mistiest point. On clear weather one can see amazing sunsets from here. With infinite views of the vast valley beneath and little waterfalls that bare their heads during the monsoon season in every nook and corner, It is a never miss place on any places to visit in Lonavala in rainy season make it worth the while, here every tourist should hangout for tea, hot vadapaos and other snacks. we also had it there.

Tiger Point or Tiger Leap

LONAVALA LAKE:

       We wandered so many times around this lake and enjoyed horse riding and enjoyed rich greenary, eye-soothing views, misty morning  sunrise and evening sunset. This lake is surrounded by natural scenery, about 1.6 km from the town. During the rainy season beauty of this place is worth enjoying. Please visit this place only on early morning due to heavy traffic after 10:00 AM and there is no proper place to park your car. So just park your car on road side and enjoy the views of waterfalls and catch corn and tea from road side stalls. 

View from Lonavala Lake

        Well this entire area becomes so lush and beautiful during the monsoons and it mesmerizes the visitors with simplistic beauty and serene nature around with waterfalls. This lake also known as monsoon lake, because it gets filled with water during monsoon and dries up during winter season. 

KARLA AND BHAJA CAVES :

       At evening we went to Karla and Bhaja caves. I recommended to visit this caves in the monsoon and evening time to get the perfect shot of caves. we travel around a zig zag dangerous road to reach the both caves. 

        If we want to reach Karla caves we should climb 200 steps. In between there are places to stop for food and drink on the way and also many stores with religious and pieces. The caves are stunning. There is Ekvira Temple, this temple is carved from the hill side. worth to visit.

Karla Caves

      The Karla caves consists of 16 rock cut excavations and Bhaja caves are a group of 22 rock cut caves dating back to 2nd century BC. The Bhaja caves are very similar to Karla caves in style and architectural designs. These two caves are the oldest caves in India. 

Bhaja Caves

BUSHI DAM:

       Bushi Dam is one of the picturesque spots, and the water running down the dam makes it look stunning down the monsoon. Young and old everyone enjoy sitting on the steps of dam and bath in rainwater. The water from the dam falls on the steps. The water falls from many directions into huge gaps in the rock, which makes the biggest one look like a huge bath tub carved by nature. 

View from the Dam side

          After staying one and half day in Lonavala and visiting many places we left for the Mahabaleshwar in the evening which was our next destination. while our journey we struggled a lot with the heavy traffic on top of the Pune highway and finally reached Mahabaleshwar. we selected a hotel and check in into that. 

        Early morning in fresh air and foggy weather we started our sight seeing in Mahabaleshwar. I below mentioning the visited  famous places in this destination.

MAHABALESHWAR

        

        Mahabaleshwar is also called as Queen of Hill Stations in Maharashtra. It has been a preferred weekend gateway for adventures. It is a small town and hill station located in the Satara district of Maharashtra. There are several places of interest that can keep all kind of travelers happy. A part from this, there are many mythological, historical and cultural stories associated with this beautiful hill station. You can discover them as you explore the hill stations.

1.  KATES POINT:

       Early morning first we went to Kates Point. This point is actually a combination of 3 view points namely Kates point, Echo Point and Needles Hole View point. From Kates point, one can enjoy the marvelous views of the lush green Krishna valley.

Vishnu and Afzal Bhai at Echo Point

        Echo point as the name suggests is where you can scream, to hear back the sound and from needles hole view point, one can see a natural rock formation with a hole in between, thus giving the name needle hole.

Azam at Kates Point

2.  PARSI POINT:

        After Kates point we moved to Parsi Point. This point is known for its extensive views of the lush green Krishna Valley and the crystal sky blue backwaters of Dhom Dyam. It is surrounded by lofty, green mountains on all sides, this spot is indeed a sight remember for a lifetime. this place can refresh the tired travelers and rejuvenate them from within by bursting all the stress and anxiety of everyday life.

A Spectacular View from Parsi Point

        Here visitors even avail telescope service to catch jaw-dropping views from different angles. There is a small shaky bridge made at a height of 4 ft from ground where people click a lot of pictures surrounded by a good scenic view. we also found some small stalls selling home made jellies, watermelons, fruit plates which are very tasty.

3.  TABLE LAND:

        Table land is the highest point of the entire region of Panchagani. It is situated at an approximate distance of 3 Km from Parsi point. Here roads are very small with heavy traffic. This land gives beautiful views of the surrounding hills and valleys. When ever I reached that place I saw the hills are covered in green and Table land was covered with full of wildflowers, green grass and bodies of water. we can also visit Tiger cave which just adjacent to Table Land.

4.  MAPRO GARDEN:

        Our next destination was the Mapro Garden. Mahabaleshwar is famous for Strawberries and when we are here, we can not miss visiting Mapro Garden. This place is always crowded from morning to night 8 PM. We can also try their different fruit syrups at the counter before buying free of cost. They have a store where we can buy jams, sauce, chocolates, fruit syrups. We also purchased some items there. Back side of the store there is a nicely decorated garden which we can walk around and take some pictures.  

Azam at Mapro Garden

5.  ELPHINSTONE POINT, SAVITRI POINT, CASTLE ROCK POINT, ARTHER SEAT:

        After visiting Mahabaleshwar temple we came back 5 Kms and turns into another road to continue our journey towards Elphinstone point followed by Savitri Point, Castle point and finally the Arthur seat. 

        All these points are very near to each other and offer the same views from different angles. These provides some breath taking views of the nearby valleys.

6.  VENNA LAKE:

        Actually we wandered so many times around this lake also but evening we stopped our car and spent some time there with horse riding.

        Venna Lake is a beautiful lake surrounded by trees and offers boating to tourists and there is a mini train ride for kids. You can also riding here. You will find so many horses around this lake having particular names and trained professionally by their caretakers. They fixed rate Rs. 200/- for single person and Rs.300/- for double persons.

        There is also a market area around this lake where you will find some fresh raddish, cucumber, blue berries to buy with some eateries and tea stalls right in front. 

7.  WILSON POINT:

        Whenever our return journey we visited Wilson Point which have two ways to reach, we went back side road which is good. 

Caution : A part of approach road is quite steep and not well made. Venture on it only if you are extremely confident about driving and go there in day time.

        Wilson point is very nice has multiple view points and fog was around most of the time. At a point we couldn't see in front and there was very cold.  There are three watch towers around from where you get different views of the mountains and the valleys and terraced land. Greenery all around can be enjoyed through eyes. Such a soothing view of the nature.

Wilson Point 

We are at Waterfalls

Azam at Lonavala

            " The valley's rich green, eye-soothing views, misty mornings, foggy evenings, and funky breeze makes our monsoon trip rememberable for long time.. Thank you.."

        

WEEKEND TOUR TO BEAUTIFUL HILLS AND RIVER SITE : SOMASILA AND AMARAGIRI (TELANGANA OOTY)

 

        In this times of Sankranti Festival holidays on 13.01.2022, I and my friends Naren, Jakeer, Ravi, Vishnu and Raghu Anna suddenly decided to visit a small place in the Nallamala forest area, a distance of 60km from our home town Gadwal and 180 km from Hyderabad. This small places are called as Somasila and Amaragiri where there is a Beautiful resort (Haritha Resort), Krishna River, Srisailam Dam's Reservoir area, surrounded by the hills and trees.

I and my Friends at Kollapur Junction 

        It was a just one day tour which brought about a nice feeling and a great relief from our daily routine work burden.

        We started our journey from Gadwal at around 7:00 AM. After reached at Yerravally X Roads we had breakfast and moved to somasila through Pebbair, Jatprole and Kollapur. Finally we reached our first destination Somasila at 10:00 AM. 

        It took three hours to reach, but the reason was not a bad road or weather condition it was because of the beautiful greenery scenes and rainy conditions during the journey. we found many picturesque locations, we stopped and clicked so many extraordinary photographs.

    

        We went on a car and the road was really good. Some part of the journey is single lane road and that part is not going good as well. 

        After reached the Somasila we went to book a room in a Telangana State Government's Cottages (Haritha Resort) but rooms are not available. They told us you have to book the room online only and there is no booking for another five days. So while we have no option to book a room at this scenic destination.

Haritha Resort Cottages at Somasila

      Somasila is one of the famous attractions in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana for hills surrounding the Krishna river site. This Somsila village is located at a distance of 9 km from kollapur and 54 km from Pebbair.It is a very silent and thinly populated village but it turned out to be an over crowded place on the festival days with devotees visiting the temple in very large numbers on bikes, cars and buses from nearby and far off places. The whole place was reverberating with devotional songs, temple announcements could be heard on the loudspeakers.

Somasila Temple

        It was built in the 7th century by Chalukya rulers. it was magnificently constructed and supervised by the state branch of the Archaeological Society of India and the Endowments Department.

        A little away in the river lies Sri Sangameshwara Swamy temple, totally submerged in the water and surfacing once in a while in summers. Before our visit to Somasila, we came to know that it has partially surfaced and the temple Gopuram is visible. However, that time we made up our mind and tried to go to this temple but there was only one boat and he would not take us until there are twenty passengers and for just the six of us he was demanding the charges of all 20 passengers and it seemed dangerous for just the six of us. So we decided not to go. 

        we moved to temple premises and our friends after washing their hands and legs went to the temple for Darshan with a mask or maintaining social distance and came with prasadam. we are all taken some rest under the tree and had it for half an hour.

    Up to afternoon we wandered around the river and resort area with taking some breathtaking pictures in the pleasant climate on beautiful locations of beside the river and the between the hills.

               

Ravi at Haritha Resort

        Get one jio sim if you are visiting this place because you will not get any airtel or Idea network here. There is no mobile signal, no disturbance. It was amazing. We also did off-roading there as you get few areas off-roading. People at Somasila are really helpful so if you stuck anywhere don't hesitate to ask for help

        

SAM at Swimming pool (Haritha Resort)

         after spending up to late afternoon we moved to Kollapur town which is just 10 km away from here. Kollapur was a princely region under Nizams ruled by Hindu rulers. Most of the Nallamala region along the Krishna River was under the control of Kollapur. There is a huge palace built by the rulers of Kollapur in 1871. The famous temples of Kollapur include Sangameshwara and Malleshwara temples. 

Amaragiri

        We searched some time for hotels in Kollapur but we didn't find a rich hotel after some time hardly we find a group of three hotels which are adjacent to each other. We ordered some food, fruits and water bottles. 

        Actually in Amaragiri you will not get much to eat. Make sure you carry good food from Kollapur only. It is a rural area and a very small village. There are living only fishermen. So you will not get good food to eat here. but some type of drinks are available here.

        after that we started our car and moved to Amaragiri which was just 6 km away from Kollapur. The road was very worst it was mostly off-road.

Beauty of Amaragiri

        

        Amaragiri is a weekend gateway because you don't have much to do here but to stay in a peaceful calm environment. You can do boating with seeing beautiful greenery scenic views between the hills.

        Amaragiri was surrounded by hills, pleasant atmosphere, amidst the beauties of nature. Non-polluted people in this village who depend on nature for their livelihood. Every step of the way to the village is full of sweetness. The village is a paradise on earth for nature lovers.

   

        After entering into the Amaragiri Village a person came and asked me for rent his boat for river riding. we decided to see backwaters of srisailam reservoir on this boat. So we agree for Rs.1000/- for more than one hour boat riding.

    

        After half an hour journey on boat we stopped and visited a Hanuman temple which was between the hills and we saw some place to eat our food which was taken from the hotel of Kollapur and had it with pleasure. That lunch was unforgettable.. because wherever we see there are all hills with breathtaking greenery.. that was amazing.. 

        After returning the Amaragiri on boat we send off to boat and starts our return journey to our home town Gadwal. 

        The journey was amazing and the destination is so cool, but if you are going on the bike just be sure that you have tubeless tires because if you go off-roading roads are really dangerous and full of stones. It's not a mud road, it's full of big stones only.

Jakeer at Amaragiri

         This outing will always remain in our memory for the visit of  ancient and historical temples, the beauty of Somasila and Krishna River, the long ride amidst fields, forests and hills and a very comfortable boat ride in Amaragiri. After a long time, we were happy to see a lot of birds, including the house sparrows and squirrels which were at one time a common sight.

         

        

ONE DAY VISIT TO SRI RANGAPUR TEMPLE AND DYAM

 VISIT TO SRI RANGAPUR TEMPLE AND FISHING

            Amongest the ups and downs of life between all challenges, during the lockdown time, one fine day dated 27 December 2021 I and Naren decided to go for One day trip to Sri Rangapur which is just 40 Km away from our hometown Gadwal. Naren has came to Gadwal at 10:00 AM from his village, then we started our bike towards Yerravally X Roads and Pebbair further crossed Kanchiravulapally which has Entrance statue of Sri Ranganayaka Swamy Temple. While we crossing these place no traffic has been encountered and cool nice breezy weather added much to the our ride. After drive another 12 Km we reached Sri Rangapur village at 11:00 AM.

Entrance to Sri Rangapur Village

View from Dyam Bridge

Pushkarini

        We went directly to prasad home which is very near to center of the village circle. Prasad is a collogue and best friend for both of us. He invited us with nice smile and pleasure into his home. It was first time for Naren but I visited so many times.  After spending more than half an hour in his home, we said Good bye to his son and started our bike to visit the surrounding places of that beautiful village.

In this out side of the village, we saw a General store, stopped the bike and buy some snacks and water bottle due to high humidity with bright sunlight. 

        First we visited a Pushkarini which had full of water throughout the year. Prasad said that just two days before at this pushkarini and their premises, A telugu movie shooting was completed. The Name of the movie is Tak Jagadeesh.

        Further we moved to Main Temple of Sri Ranganayaka Swamy. we parked our bike in the out side premises of the temple and leave shoes then entered into temple with capturing the beautiful sculpture's which was kept on the walls and Gopuram of the Main Temple.  

        Sri Ranganayakaswamy Temple is located at Srirangapur in Wanaparthy District. Sri Ranganayaka SwamyTemple was built during the 18th century A.D. This is an historic temple about 550 years old built in the era of Sri Krishna Devaraya, King of Vijayanagaram.

Entrance to Main Hall

        According to locals and legends, Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagaram ruler, went to Srirangam which was in Karnataka and was enthralled by the Sri Ranganayakaswamy Temple there. He desired to construct a Ranganayaka swamy temple in his kingdom. Later, Ranganayaka (Lord Vishnu) appeared in dream and told the king that his idol is lying in the kingdom and an eagle will direct him to that place. 

        The succeeding day, Krishnadevaraya followed the eagle and found the Lord's idol between Kothakota and Kanvayapally mountains. The king constructed the Sri Ranganayaka Swamy temple near the Ratna Pushkarini Lake. This temple is a classic example of Vijayanagara Architecture.    Now this temple was under the Raja's of Wanaparthy Samsthanam not under the  Endowment Department.

I am with Naren(Middle) and Prasad (Left)

        This destination has got good national importance. Pilgrims or tourists have been visiting this destination frequently from Karnataka (Raichur, Sindhanur, Gangavathi which are border places to the destination), Tamilnadu and Maharashtra.

        

    The authority performs marriages at high rate at the temple premises for villagers, who are residing in and surrounding villages and mandals and it works out to be about 300 marriages a year. About 500 people on an average attend for every marriage.

    Tonsure ceremonies also performed at the temple and these works out to be about 1000 numbers per annum on an average. During Navaratrulu, the flow of tourists is more than 20,000 per day for 9 days. The temple authority celebrate "Koti Vustavalu" on the occasion of Sankranthi Festival for a period of one month and the tourists flow during this period is more than 5,000 per day on an average. 

        In addition, the temple authority celebrates "Rathotsavam" during March for a period of 15 days and the flow of tourists to this destination is more than 20,000 per day on an average. During Sravana Masam, the flow of tourists is more than 5,000 per day on an average as the destination is having water body beside the temple.

    

        During the summer, winter and vacation holidays to schools and colleges, the tourists flow to the temple is very high for a period of 2-3 months about 2,000 visitors per on an average visit this temple.

        There is a painting museum with in the temple complex which has collection of Wanaparthy Maharaja family with rare golden paintings. That is open only with recommendation. Museum is in two levels and one floor is dedicated to Temple art and Gods other one is general paintings. Second one is covered under CCTV.

            After visited Sri Ranganayaka swamy temple and their premises we came at the parking area and started our bike to Sri Rangapur Reservoir or Dyam which is just one Km away and looks like beside the temple. The reservoir roads are very struggle and smudgy.  After reached the center of the dyam area we stopped our bike and found a small iron bridge to watch the beautiful scenery of Dyam and Temple. We taken some photos there and get down into reservoir for fishing. 

        After two hours of fishing we collected 3-4 Kgs of fishes and kept them in a bag and sat under the tree which is beside the reservoir water bridge. we have taken rest for sometime and we had lunch also at same place.

        At evening 6:00 PM we started our returned journey and reached Gadwal at 7:00 PM

       

" We spent a beautiful day with breathtaking places after lonely ness of lockdown period. "  Good Bye...