A day monsoon trip to Dhom - Balkawadi dam, Wai

It was a lazy day as it was Sunday, I got up late at 8 am (yes, yes…8am is late for me as I usually get up at 6.30 am) and I was having breakfast while reading a newspaper and I saw some beautiful pictures of nature in the newspaper which triggered a thought to visit our farm at Jor, a small village in Wai tehsil of Satara district. The Krishna River’s source is near to the village and from there one can see Elephant's Head Point & Kate's Point which is among the best tourists places in Mahabaleshwar.  I just put thought into visiting the land and everybody in the home including my in-laws agreed and we left around 10.30 am from Pune.  

As it was already late we decided to reach the place without any stop as it takes almost 3 hours to reach there with nominal traffic. But usually, there is traffic at Khed-Shivapur toll junction, we almost got stuck every time. However, this time did not meet the traffic and could manage to reach Wai until 1 pm. 

More you travel towards the village nature becomes more and more picturesque, one cannot move ahead without clicking pictures so we. There were mountains on both sides, undisturbed meadow, lush and exotic greenery, veneer clean natural waterfalls tumbled down the mountain and drizzled onto the rocks. The flowers next to it were nodding gently...Ah-ah-ah, heavenly natural beauty… that’s it I can say.

Elephant nose point from Jor

Sahyadri Mountains

We threw ourselves under the waterfall, stood under the waterfall to cool down. After playing a lot in the water, it was so cold that we started shivering still continued to play some time more and enjoyed it to the fullest. Finally, we pushed ourselves out of the water and headed towards our farm, where spent time just sitting and watching surrounding grandeur. We threw little stones into the dam (Balkawadi) and tried our hands in stone skipping as it was my favourite childhood game. Aaravya (my son) was very happy to see such a large open space and he was just running here and there.

We :) 

It was 5 pm when everybody noticed that we all are hungry and especially my father in law who is very particular about his evening tea time demanded to have it in some time, so we had to leave. There are no hotels and restaurants on the way, it is possible to get tea and snacks only after reaching Wai. We were on the way to Wai and imagine who was there?? A Peacock...oh one more..oh my god!! Few more... spot the number of peacocks(they were 10+) on a farm around the dam, unfortunately, I could not capture all of them together. Later, after interacting with locals came to know that in the morning and evening many peacocks can be seen around the dam every day.

We were passing by the side of Dhom Dam and saw a Chowpatty so went there for water sport activities had boating, Aaravya enjoyed camel and horse ride and we resumed our back journey.

Dhom dam Chowpatty

After reaching Wai we went to Maha Ganpati (also called Dholya Ganpati because of its large size) temple which is a temple on the bank of Krishna River and it was actually on the way. The Lord Ganesh idol is very large and brightly painted and looks very cheerful and happy. Next to the Ganpati temple is the Kashi Vishweshwar temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has a beautifully carved Nandi bull and a nicely decorated Shivling. I would recommend visiting these temples if you are travelling to nearby areas there, believe me, you will not be disappointed.

Maha Ganpati, Wai

We stopped at Rohit Wadewale and ordered Wada Sambar, Kanda bhaji and tea and everyone literally attacked on the food and quickly grabbed it as all were too hungry. Kanda bhaji was very crispy, we all loved it. After finishing much-needed tea, resumed travelling towards Pune and reached home around 9PM.

It was a truly amazing, short but pleasant trip where we all enjoyed ourselves and our minds refreshed completely.

Thanks for reading my blog. Hope you liked it and wish to visit the places I mentioned.